Tropic Treasure

Nelson and Kathy Andrews • Tallahassee, FL

It was 1961 and I was a senior in high school. I was bagging groceries and had a paper route and had saved up $800. to pay for a 1958 Chevy Impala. My father died when I was 12 and although my mother had co-signed the bank loan, buying a car was my responsibility. The 1958 Chevy’s weren’t the most popular at the time, losing out to the 1957. I loved them anyway. My Impala was a solid black 2-door hardtop. It had a 348 with 3x2-barrels and stick shift on the column. My favorite Sunday afternoon activity was taking her to the Bainbridge, Georgia drag strip. I also remember sitting at the local drive-in restaurant, Mutt and Jeff’s, watching the girls and waxing my car. After getting married can you believe that I traded this car in for a 1963 Corvair? It took only 2 months for me to realize I wanted a '58 again. This time I bought a 1958 4-door sedan which I kept for several years.

I never forgot my love for that first '58 and 25 or so years ago I started thinking about one day finding another one. We inherited a 1942 Ford military Jeep that had been my father-in-law’s since 1947. We restored it to its original condition. I think that really whetted my appetite for an Impala.

Knowing that I was talking about retirement and wondering how I was going to keep busy and out of her hair, my wife Kathy and a friend, Efrain Prado, who restores Corvettes started searching for an Impala. After several calls and dead ends, one was found in Dothan, Alabama, 90 miles from Tallahassee at Auto Investors. It had a 348 with 4-barrel carburetor and 2-speed Powerglide transmission. The Tropic Turquoise 2- door hardtop almost sold itself. It only took two visits and a short test drive to know that this was THE CAR. My wife, Kathy, and son, Bryan, bought the car as a retirement gift for me. It was delivered to us on November 9, 2007.

Even though the car looked perfect, problems soon appeared. The brakes starting locking because the master cylinder needed rebuilding. In doing the brake job we found that the rear brakes had two long shoes on the right side and two short shoes on the left. After repairing this, the car was in good running order. I had assured my wife that this would be a car to enjoy and not one to restore to show quality. We were invited by our friends, the Lamberts, to drive the car to the 2008 Chevy Classics Winter National car show in Kissimmee, FL. When we drove the car into the main registration area, trying to just find out where to park, we were asked if we would like to have the car judged. On a whim, we said yes. While I was filling out the paperwork Kathy signed me up to be a judge because it would save us $20. This turned out to be very educational. My car scored 899 out of 1000 points. I was pleased and surprised, but this challenged me to bring the score up. The judging experience helped me to know what to improve.

Buddy’s Garage in Tallahassee pulled the engine to have it rebuilt and repaint the firewall (it was black and needed to be turquoise). The engine was sent to Kinco in Moultrie, Georgia and there it was discovered that the block had stress cracks on each side and had been welded. Jimmy Knight said that the engine could be rebuilt if the car was going to be trailered but if we wanted to drive it, the block needed to be replaced. Our friend, Efrain Prado, found a complete engine in Oakland CA for $550 with matching numbers. After Kinco’s rebuilt the new engine, it was returned to Buddy’s Garage. Greg, the shop foreman, and Jimmy, a fireman, spent many hours making sure that the engine compartment was restored to the original factory condition. that’s how you celebrate your 50th Birthday!

Since then we have replaced some chrome, the seat covers, and carpet and to make my wife, happy, put in an air conditioner. After many hours of polishing and waxing we returned to the Kissimmee 2009 Chevy Classics Winter National. This time we scored 959 points. We are hoping to top this score next year. I have retired and we plan on driving the car as much as possible. A '58 Impala is somewhat a rarity in Tallahassee and we enjoy the attention and very much enjoy talking with people about her. Thank you so much to all the people that have made that possible.