The Doomsday Impala

doomsday

Introducing a 1968 Impala dubbed “Doomsday Impala.” This Impala has more attitude than a punk rock concert and we like it. The entire build was heavily influenced by punk rock which made into one bad ass car with an attitude. 

Dave Evans and Andy Bennett, owners of Never Again Racing and long time friends along with being Impala enthusiasts decided one day to build a full blown drag race car. Mind you, Evans and Bennett are no stranger to Impalas or drag racing. Both were former Impala owners with Dave owning a ’65 and Bennett owning a ’68. They knew that they loved Impalas, drag racing, and punk rock.

When all three of those combined what popped out was the Doomsday Impala. They asked the question “How do you like your 68 Impala? Rare? Medium? Or full of @#$%# steroids!” We have to agree this is one ‘roided Chevy.

 This car started its journey out as a genuine California Grandma car. She used it to buy groceries and putt around to her friends. The car was then bought by a gentleman restoring an Impala convertible who robbed the car of most of its parts, leaving nothing but a rolling shell. The remaining shell was very solid with extremely minimal rust. This is exactly what the boys at the Bomb Shelter were looking for. A deal was made and the car made journey across the pond to its new home in the UK. 

How the Doomsday Impala started life.

How the Doomsday Impala started life.

The second the car rolled into the Bomb Shelter they went to work, having laid out a blueprint months in advance. Their game plan started by having a complete SFI certified tube chassis made. This was accomplished by WRE with help from Never Again Racing. The frame is certified to run 6 seconds with a max weight of 3,200 pounds and is constructed out of 4130 chrome moly tubing. The final wheelbase was also shortened down 4″ to 115″ to stay within regulation. 

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Body Work

The body itself still has the original 1968 Chevrolet Impala shell, however the rear wheel well openings were stretched 4″ to accommodate the huge meats and shorter wheelbase. The rest of the car has custom made fiberglass panels. The entire metal front clip was welded together and smoothed over. From there a reverse negative was made of the front clip. Then fiberglass was laid in the mold to pop out a 100% fiberglass front end that fit the nose of the Impala. The same process was used as well for the doors and truck lid. 

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Once all the bodywork had been completed Autoline Bacup laid down the BMW 870 Blue Metallic that’s very similar to the stock blue these Impala’s sported from the factory. Finishing touches included airbrushing the front headlights, grill and Doomsday lettering that was done by Chris Rushton. 

Power Plant

The heart of any car is the engine. When you’re building a car for nothing but straight line performance, the engine is one of the most important things. This Impala is no exception to the rule. A 496 cubic inch BBC with four bolt mains was built by Jeff Bull and powers this car down the track in quick fashion. 

The short block is comprised of a bored and stroked 454CI BBC. A Scat crank, Eagle H-beam rods and JE Pistons fill the block. All new Clevite bearings keep things moving smoothly while a Crane roller camshaft completes the bottom end. 

The top end is finished off with a set of Air Flow Research 335cc fully ported heads. The stainless steel valves were treated to a 5 angle valve job and are held in place with Chet Herbert dual valve springs. A Dart intake manifold was fitted with an 1150CFM BLP Dominator carburetor ensures that the engine receives plenty of methanol. A Mallory distributor and MSD ignition help makes sure all the methanol is burned. 

The ponies are put through a TH400 transmission that was built by Andy Frost. The trans is equipped with a Precision Performance air shifter, transmission cooler and a Neil Chance torque converter. With a 5500RPM stall the Impala launches into the sky! 

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The Remaining Details

Once the body, tube chassis and engine were complete, the time came to finish off the car. A Ford 9″ rearend with 4:56 gears was put under the Impala and finished with massive Goodyear 33″ wide tires. The wheels on the car are Centerline Convo Pro’s with 15″ rims in the front and 17″ in the rear. 

This Impala may look pretty, but it means business.

This Impala may look pretty, but it means business.

What’s it all add up to?

After four long years of work Dave and Andy had themselves one bad ass Impala. They were itching to get the Impala on the track to see what it could do. With bugs to work out the Doomsday made its maiden voyage down the track at 9.0 seconds at 149MPH. They knew that there was more potential in the car. With so much torque being produced by the BBC, they were plagued with some huge wheel stands and so a wheelie bar was added. While the wheel stands looked awesome and made for some awesome pictures they were beating up the car and losing time. 

To date a best of 8.80 seconds at 150MPH has been pulled off in the Impala. During the European Finals in September of 2011 the car ran consistent 8.90’s. However the car suffered a crash when the splines on the steering became detached from the column. The car hit the wall at approximately 80MPH ruining the amazing paint job. A $5 fix later and the car was back to running 8’s down the track again. 

Launching hard!

Launching hard!

The Doomsday Impala is one amazing punk rock machine. This full size Chevy really exudes how hardcore people in the UK can be for our beloved Chevy’s as well. We hope to see more from the Doomsday Impala!

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About the author

Tim King

Tim grew up in the garage with his Father. From those early years grew a passion for anything with a motor. Helping his Dad and brother restore a '67 Nova is what fueled Tim’s passion for cars. At the age of 15 he bought his first car, a 1966 Chevelle which he still owns to this day. That car started his journey into the automotive world where he’s done just about everything, from being an auto mechanic to an aftermarket Sales Manager. Not only is he a gear head, but he also holds two Bachelors degrees from Cal State San Bernardino.
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