I received this email from a fellow `59 lover in Texas.  Check it out!

It's a blue 4-door Impala with the original 283 engine and Powerglide transmission. I bought it from the father of my best friend's girlfriend. He's a real "man's man" and didn't have a son until recently. At the time he had 2 daughters, so he kind of took my friend and me under his wing as his surrogate sons. I saw the Impala, or the "Blue Goose" as his daughters named it, partially covered by a deteriorating car cover under his carport during the summer of '97. Having always wanted one, since there was one near my house when I was a kid and I loved the way the back end of it looked, I started drooling, and he noticed. A year later, his wife told him he had to get rid of some of his cars (he lives in rural north Texas, so he's got lots of space to keep them), so he called me up. It had been in his family since it was new: his uncle bought it in early 1959 and sold it to him sometime during the 1980's, so it was a big deal that he was selling it out of the family. However, he knew that it would be hard to find someone who would treasure it like I would, so he sold it to me. That was in late July 1999.

Now that you know the history, here are a few facts about it. With the exception of the wheels, rear dash cover (it's a piece of blue carpet), and a couple of minor mechanical replacements (voltage regulator, I think the carburetor's been replaced, and I'm going to replace the brake master cylinder with a new piece of stock equipment), the car is completely original. The paint is original, which is amazing considering the shape it's in and how much it's been driven. It's been stored under cover all its life, which is why it still looks as good as it does. It's got just shy of 150,000 miles on it, and I just had the transmission fixed. About 8 months ago, I was driving it to have it inspected, and it just decided to quit shifting out of first gear. I tore into the thing 4 times, trying to save a buck or two and learn something in the process; however, no luck. Thinking it was the governor, I finally took it into a shop earlier this week. It was the governor, but only indirectly. It was actually a pin in the rear pump that feeds pressure to the governor. They fixed it, didn't charge me too much, and now it's FINALLY back on the road. I did drive it while it was broken once in a while, but only around the neighborhood to keep it from deteriorating due to inactivity. It sure is nice to actually drive it for real again!

I'm now looking into fixing up the engine. It needs new rings, new main bearings (most likely), generally an overhaul. I'd like to keep it original as possible though!

-Mark Beebe

markbeebe@ev1.net

3/21/2001 -- Recently Mark told that the Goose's engine has finally bit the dust.  He is in the process of gathering all the necessary parts (and time) to rebuild the engine and keep driving his Favorite Car.  

Great ride, Mark!  KDC

So the Impala has made a bit of a comeback, after a rather long period of disappointing sick leave. Since fall, I had driven it maybe 3 times in about 4 months. Starting it up was a chore, it was firing on maybe 2 or 3 cylinders, and had just become depressing to drive. Don't get me wrong, I love the car, but when I'd get back home (finally), I'd get out, look at it and say "Poor old car!" It could barely get me to the store and back without stalling and the performance was lackluster, to say the least. Anyway, last weekend I decided to at least prepare it to be worked on, which meant getting it to a point where I could at least safely drive it to the shop. I knew the spark plugs it had were not exactly the right ones (different temperature, hot or cold, I'm not sure), so that seemed like a good place to start. I got some of the proper plugs and put them in. Then I started it up, thinking it might putt along a bit better than before. The thing ROARED to life! And I mean ROARED -- the exhaust is shot. So I drive it around a bit, and it's running better now than it has since I bought it! I knew spark plugs would make a difference, but I didn't think it'd be THAT noticeable.

Anyway, it brought the car back to a more manageable level of operation, and more importantly, it rekindled my enthusiasm for driving it. So you can expect to hear of further improvements to it coming soon.

4/25/2003 -- More Blue Goose pictures posted, second line of four at the top of this page.