1963 Chevrolet Impala Wagon - Like a Longneck, Only Better

Long in the tooth, loooong in the roof

A four-door, huh? If it’s a dedicated class car that fits the bracket best with four ports rather than two, or if it’s some sort of gnarly collectible, then that’s what you must have. Otherwise, most people leave these cars where they are, orphans of a sort, body lines severely interrupted by those extra lines and creases. We don’t want sleek; we just want simple. The exception, of course, is a four-door with a long roof trailing behind.

The venerable station wagon whispers something different about its owner; in very short terms, it’s a willingness to gleefully step beyond the usual. For many of us, wagons were the prescribed mode of suburban family transport in the middle of the last century, that wonderful era before the inundation of the minivan and the grossly mislabeled Sport Utility Vehicle. Station wagons appealed to anyone with a penchant for space and utility, from hauling your buds from one riot to the next or just toting those bales of slightly soggy peat moss. For grassroots drag racers, they also provided the basis for a fine tow rig and you didn’t have to think very hard about that.

Mark Morehouse of Cottage Grove, Minnesota, had this idea in his head for his ’63 Impala: “I wanted to build a station wagon because they are overlooked as a hot rod. I got the car from a farm field and spent the next five years restoring it.” Morehouse has done this before, built the car mostly by himself but like most rodders, he parceled out the body treatment and the interior upgrades. “I have had many cars,” he said. “Too many to list.” He’s put lots of toil and lots of loot in this shooting brake, though, something on the order of $125K, compounded by a five-year stretch in garage jail. One proud day in June 2011 Mark’s Orphan rolled out under its own power and since then Morehouse lives in it about a 1,000 miles a year.

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And his investments have since provided a tangible return: Best Wagon at Goodguys Iowa. Mark blows minds at Back to the ’50s shows in St. Paul, Minnesota, and at many local gatherings as well. It’s a car that people tend to remember. It stands out by virtue of exclusivity. In the day, the ’63 sedans looked dowdy compared to the sleek ’62 bubbletop predecessors. They weren’t (and still aren’t) popular and the wagon was way out there somewhere near Mars, nearly 18 feet stem to stern with a monster 119 inches between the wheels. Curb weight hovers around 3,800 pounds so this is neither a lightweight nor a fleet-of-foot drag racer. Mark’s Orphan’s Revenge Impala is simply a cruiser in the finest tradition, one that makes the ants scream at the flip of a switch.

Though there are complete custom frames available, Mark stuck with the original ’rails that he scrubbed, re-welded, and powdercoated. He used this heavy platform and customized it with bits from several manufacturers to complete the system. He began the conversion with Classic Performance Products (CPP) 2-inch drop spindles, RideTech tubular control arms companion to the ShockWave air springs and a Hotchkis antisway bar. Around the rear of the chassis, Mark inserted RideTech’s StrongArms system to locate the 9-inch housing and accommodate the air springs. Untoward body roll is controlled by the other Hotchkis bar.

A standard-ratio 605 steering box points the car on 18x8 Intro Prowlers swept by 245/40 BFG g-Force rubber. The CPP discs are 13.0 inches in diameter and utilize dual-piston calipers. At the aft end, we see an 11-inch disc CPP conversion shadowed by Intro 20x10s fitted with 275/35 g-Force intimidators.

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Since power for the big Imp was not meant to be the least bit scary, a smooth, civil, low-talking small-block more than met Mark’s criterion. A crate engine from the Edelbrock portfolio sufficed nicely. He chose a Signature Series 383 (#23 production) that features a forged crankshaft, an RPM hydraulic roller, pump-gas pal 9.5:1 compression ratio, Edelbrock E-Tech 200 aluminum cylinder heads, and Thunder Series 800-cfm carburetor on top of a 75161 Air-Gap intake manifold. On the other side of the cylinder heads, 1 3/4-inch primaries dump into 2 1/2-inch stainless steel exhaust pipes that carry the flow to exits incorporated into the bodywork just ahead of the wheelwells. On the Edelbrock dynamometer, this engine produces 460 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque, just the ticket for Mark’s slow rider, but for the receiving end of this conservative bullet (and likely thoughts of increasing torque), he sought a transmission with a kryptonite demeanor. It’s a hefty 4L80E transmission monitored by an HGM Electronics Compushift controller—a unit that requires no computer assistance to make it sing. Grunt spirals down to a Ford 9-inch utilizing Strange Engineering axles, a positive traction device, and a 4.11:1 gearset.

Where the mechanicals are more or less standard items that don’t require much fabrication to install, the changes to the big Imp’s metal were extensive and administered by Macik’s Paintin’ Place in Hector, Minnesota. The underside was thoroughly scoured, primed, and painted to match the planned exterior treatment. Dane at Macik’s tuned up the shiny side, too, blending in those areas that tend to break the big car’s busy lines. After correcting the quarter-panels on both sides of the car and fabricating new footwells and floor sections (the legacy of the raw earth in that farmer’s field in South Dakota), he eliminated the cowl grille at the base of the windshield, removed the door handles and sideview mirrors, and filled the trim holes.

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But the most extensive creativity is found in areas that are normally invisible. The engine compartment is unlike anything we’ve ever seen on a ’63 Impala, or on any other car for that matter. It represents the virtual socket that the engine seems plugged into, a sculpted, seamless flow from the grille-to-radiator filler panel and inner fenders to the smooth, unencumbered firewall. With the bonnet open, these changes completely affect the look of the Impala, streamlining the usually busy maw and lending a feeling of completeness. Macik’s massaged the rear storage compartment, too, secreting the RideTech air tank and its ancillary equipment beneath that trap door. Macik’s Dane and Adam handled the prep work, application of the primer coats, and then the Ford Mineral Gray and Black. When it was time, Dane fired up the airbrush and laid down the “trim” on the Impala’s flanks.

Despite its subtle shades and decidedly un-racy demeanor, the interior is nonetheless warm, savory, and inviting. Though the stock dashboard appears an exotic touch, it was transformed by the Dakota Digital instruments and clean looks in the style of the original. Mark put the critical RideTech keyboard directly beneath the gauge flock and a Ron Francis wiring scheme snakes beneath it. The stock benches were swathed in tough, easy to maintain black and natural Ultraleather as tailored by Weber’s Custom Interiors in Alexandria, Minnesota. Mark then cozies to a Billet Specialties Fast Lane steering wheel (on an ididit column) and nudges that cheeky Lokar shift stick.

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Mark puts it in perspective: “If it weren’t for Dane, Dennis, Penny, and Adam at Macik’s, I would never have gotten it done. They are the best.”

So what’s the upshot? That the ready supply of vintage tin is fast dwindling and the darlings are becoming a lot rarer now, making the not-so-popular pieces look very attractive – stuff that should command the same respect as their brethren. That old thief time won’t wait. Let’s get to it.