The '65 Impala "Impostor" Part 3/3 - ("Chip") Foose Design

YouTube (3:30 min) ^ | Sept 18, 2018 | Chip Foose

[ETL]

(Chip) Foose Design
Published on Sep 18, 2018

Foose Design captured an unprecedented 4th Ridler Award at the 2015 Detroit Autorama with their 1965 Chevy Impala, the “Impostor”

Includes footage of the finished vehicle at the show and an onsite interview with Chip Foose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1DEH6uB3hc

[ETL]

You are looking at the Impostor. This 1965 Chevy Impala is not what it appears, it is a C6 Corvette in Impala wears.

A 2009 Corvette was purchased brand-new from a Chevy dealership mere blocks away from Foose HQ.

To make it all fit, the chassis of the Corvette was stretched over 7” and the Impala body was shortened a total of 14”.

The theme for this build is "what if" Chevrolet’s Corvette studio modeled a muscle car in 1965 as well as the sports car we all know and love.

Build Specifications

Owner

• Don and Elma Voth

Vehicle

• 1965 Chevy Impala on a 2009 Corvette

Chassis

• Frame / Manufacturer: 2009 Corvette C6 stretched and modified / GM
• Rearend / Ratio: Stock
• Rear Suspension: C6 with monoleaf spring
• Rear Shocks: New
• Front Suspension: C6 with upgrades
• Front Shocks: Upgraded
• Steering: Stock
• Front Wheel Make, Size: Custom one-off Foose Design
• Rear Wheel Make, Size: Custom one-off Foose Design
• Front Tire Make, Size: Pirelli P-Zero
• Rear Tire Make, Size: Pirelli P-Zero
• Gas Tank: Custom

Engine

• Make: LS3 V8 with Magnuon Supercharger
• Exhaust: Magnaflow

Transmission

• Make: GM
• Shifter: Reworked C6 Six speed automatic

Body

• Body Style / Material: 1965 Chevy Impala / Steel
• Body Manufacturer: Chevy
• Body Mods: ’65 Impala Body on a 2009 Corvette Chassis; chassis stretched 8”, body shortened 14” (roof 8” shorter and 1.25” lower, additional taken out of the decklid and reworked rear quarters); new front and rear valances; exhaust ducts in front fender
• Grille: Custom Foose Design
• Paint type / Color: BASF Glasurit 90-Line custom two-tone mix / Impostor Pearl Dark and Impostor Pearl Light
• Painter: Tommy Marcotte / Freddy Valdez
• Headlights / Taillights: Custom aluminum bucket headlights / mid-60s Corvette modified rear taillights with custom bezels
• Bumpers: Custom
• Interior
• Handsculpted in clay mold with carbon fiber and epoxy parts
• Dashboard: C6 Corvette
• Air Conditioning: Stock
• Wiring: Stock
• Steering wheel: Stock
• Steering column: Stock
• Seats: Twin Corvette bucket seats
• Upholsterer: Lil John
• Material / Color: Leather

https://www.chipfoose.com/impostor/

[ETL]

[ETL]

[Tacrolimus1mg]

I’ve always been a Foose fan with one exception: Those wheels. Always 20”+, and always gaudy. To each their own, but I’m a purist, and prefer my cars as stock as possible. It also ruins the comfort of the ride to have wheels that large.

[umgud]

This was not a one week Overhaulin build.

[rockrr]

Same here. I like everything about that car - except the wheel/tire combination.

[Big Red Badger]

I’m mystified as to
“Why?”

[wjcsux]

I call them ghetto wheels. My 67 GTO has a set of Rallye II wheels that were available with the car when new. I have seen several 40’’s 50’s and 60’s cars with ghetto wheels, they really ruin the car. If I didn’t have the Rallye wheels, I would use Cragar S/S or American Racing D-spokes.

[CrazyIvan]

Same opinion of ghetto wheels. It could be worse, we see them on 4WD trucks around here. Really wide with car tread. Probably less off road traction than a 2WD with good tires.

[2111USMC]

Ghetto wheels and low profile tires look like crap on ANY vehicle.

JMO

[ETL]

I too hate the really large tires and rims seen mostly on cars owned by Hispanics. Also the tiny wheels on their Low Riders. However, for many resto-mods, I think the modern low-profile tires and rims are sometimes if not often appropriate. I’m referring to classics that have been dramatically modified inside and out and updated with many modern components.

[Dr. Sivana]

These crazy car wheels are getting out of control. I had VERY limited selection for my (since sold) 1994 Buick Roadmaster with the P225/75R15 size tires. I wound up having to get Kumho. Not my first choice.

[punchamullah]

Is the rougher ride due to the higher inflation pressure? I have noticed that on some of the tires used with larger diametre wheels, the pressure was as much as 80-100 psi. Assume this is due to lower sidewall height?

[BAN-ONE]

Why?
Because only Chip Foose would sodomize a beautiful car like a 65 Impala hardtop like this.

[Big Red Badger]

Ouch!
Hope Chip wore Protection.
Another Problem,
Was the Vette body put on
The Other Chassis?
Why not bury them both halfway
Nose down like Stone Hinge.
Goofy Project.

[smokingfrog]

I’m like most everyone else. The car is cool, but I don’t like the wheels at all.

[SoConPubbie]

Beautiful car!

[Revel]

I always loved the 65 Impala SS. In this case the tail lights don’t match. Even though there are three on each side.

[Lean-Right]

Agreed...
Taking out the lower body line
and rounding it out moves the
car out of the era in which it
was designed. It’s no longer a
65 Impala.

[Oil Object Insp]

I recall hearing Foose mention that the shop had worked on it for multiple years. The estimates heard was way north of 20M man hours, lots more that it would likely have taken to build several from scratch.

Someone could have built hard wood bucks and made it grim either steel or Al and not have ruined two cars to cone up with what they have here.