We were saddened by the recent passing of Matt Bulmer, owner of this awesome 1963 Chevy Impala. Matt was a terrific bloke, and our thoughts are with his many mates in the car scene, and of course his wife Rachel, and kids Alarna and Cooper.

First published in Street Machine’s LSX Tuner #3, May 2016

Cruising the blacktop in a schmick piece of classic American iron is completely unlike driving any modern piece of machinery. It’s a very, very different experience that’s virtually impossible to replicate in any other way. Matt Bulmer, owner of this stunning 1963 Chevy Impala, definitely feels that way. Growing up as kid, the Bulmer family truckster was a 1964 Impala two-door Super Sport. Although the car moved on fairly early in the piece, photos of it hung around for years, burning into Matt’s psyche. Some two decades later, Matt was looking to revive those early memories, and put the feelers out for a
good ’62 to ’64 Impala. After searching for 12-months, a pristine example, fresh in from the states popped up at Dave’s Cool Cars on the Gold Coast.

“It was the only good, clean, rust-free car we could find,” says Matt.

That was circa 2007. For the next three years, the Impala proved to be a fun ‘n’ faithful cruiser, until the Chev 10-bolt diff exploded, smashing its way out through cover plate. This prompted a full tear-down and ground-up rebuild. Initial progress was truncated due to finances, bushfires and what not however that all changed about two years ago.

Good mates John Spinks (friend of 20 years, plus best man) and Damien ‘Chubby’ Lowe got involved and the trio started planning and scheming. In no time, things went from good, to better, to best. The simple flat firewall turned into a full sheetmetal engine bay. This included some trick work around the billet bonnet hinges by metal maestro, Aaron Gregory from Memphis Hell. Relocating the wiper motor under the dash, mounting the steering column, integrating the under dash pedal box are also Aaron’s handy work.

From there, the body and chassis were separated. While Merv Shipp and John Spinks tag teamed panel ‘n’ paint, the chassis was de-dagged, powdercoated then outfitted with Retro Rack power steering, new bushes and a set of super- low springs.

After purchasing a strong small block, followed by 396ci big-block, the LS option was eventually won the day after Matt did the math.

“Because the car runs so low, header clearance was a major issue,” says Matt. “I was looking at four-grand for custom headers. The LS conversion seamed the best way to go, as we could use factory HSV pipes.”

After a few nip ‘n’ tucks the HSV extractors solved the problem – too easy. The LS started life as a new crate motor from Eagle Auto Parts. Thanks to a set of Tuff Mounts and alloy Holley Retro-Fit sump, the LS2 slid easily into the engine bay. During the build, a full PWR blower kit complete with water-to-air intercooler fell into Matt’s lap.

“It was never going to have a blower, then I spotted this on eBay,” says Matt, “it was so cheap I couldn’t not buy it.”

To get it all up and running Sideshow (Queensland) modified a factory Commodore harness and reprogramed the Holden ECU. Big V (Vince to his mum) wired it all up, including the fly-by- wire throttle, and it fired first hit.

“Hearing that blower whine made it all worthwhile,” says Matt “I didn’t have the funds to rebuild the engine to handle the blower, so I got Ultra Tune (Blacktown) to put a 7psi soft tune in it to keep the motor safe.”

That said 320kW (430hp) at the treads is hardly soft, and it propels the Impala along plenty well.

Rounding out the LS2 install is loads of braided line and black fittings by Motorsport Connections Mobile, who did every fluid line in the car on site!

Shift Right got the nod to piece together a tough TH700 four-speed auto, but warned Matt that if he maxes out the engine combo the TH700 is probably not up to the task. Rather the stronger three-speed TH400 would be the better option.

“I’ve given the tyres a bloody hard time on a number of occasions,” admits Matt, “So far, so good…”

At about halfway through the build, things were humming along pretty nice when Matt and his lovely fiancé, Rachel, set a date for a stroll down the aisle. Getting to the wedding on time suddenly became an epic effort. Despite forgoing the buck’s day and working on the car at a feverish pace for weeks on end, it was well-short of finished come the big day (see Church On Time, below).

Having taken a well-earned break (or, honeymoon) the next big push was Summernats. A number of rushed things were redone, include repainting a few panels.

“John’s got very picky standards,” says Matt, “Everything has to be spot on, just like on his REV383 LX hatch.”

Again the crew was rewarded for their efforts, with the Impala scoring a spot in the coveted Meguiar’s Top 60, as well as taking out Top Custom Classic.

Modern niceties like the injected engine, four-speed box, power steering and monster Baer brakes makes the long ‘n’ low Impala a bloody dream to go cruising in. Rachel also absolutely loves the car, her attitude throughout the build was, ‘finish it, whatever it takes.’ Mind you Rachel is a lot happier now that Matt’s home at nights, rather than waking her up at midnight as he crawls into bed. It’s like one of those stories with a silver lining – except in this case it’s a gorgeous silver Impala.

Heart of the matter

The Impala’s LS2 is a sight to behold. The blower and block are painted the same red as the Baer brakes – everything else was black powder coated by Lowe Fabrications. This includes the PWR radiator, water-to-air intercooler and pulleys – even the catch cans and all the suspension spent time in Lowe Fabrications baking oven. Custom pieces include air intake (which connects to a K&N filter hiding behind the grille) and the one-off coil covers that Aaron Gregory whipped up the day before the Impala’s Summernats debut.

The Church on time

It was a mad thrash to get the Impala looking finished enough for Rachel and Matt’s wedding day. Although missing many bits, it was together enough for the photos. Everyone was doing huge hours, with boys not even taking a break for a buck’s day. In the end it came down to a massive three-day thrash, with Matt, John, Chubb and Ryan Mason all pulling a 30-hour shift before finally downing tools at 9:00pm the night before!

Matt & Rachel Bulmer
1963 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe

THANKS
John Spinks and family, Damien Lowe, David O’Brien (Merv Shipp Smash), Tony Naughton (PPG), Aaron Gregory (Lowe Fabrications), Graeme Bulmer & Mark Nehme (MN Upholstery), wife Rachel and daughter Alarna.