1961 Chevrolet Impala four door hardtop

1961 Chevrolet Impala Lamar Walden Automotive Dual Quad 409

This 1961 Chevrolet Impala four-door hardtop has the appearance of an unassuming nice old classic.   Look past the restored factory trim. beautiful paint. white wall tires and hubcaps. and the plot begins to thicken.

The factory column shifter is in place. but the indicator shows a selection of three forward gears; Chevrolet automatics in the early sixties only had two.   The 2. 5” exhaust under the car is run like a factory V-8 car might have been in 1961. but is a little larger. a subtle difference.

Under the hood. things get exciting and. yet. what you see is still not what you get.   The engine compartment is full from front to back and side to side with a dual quad 409.   The 409 engine appears to be an all original 1963 425hp dual quad 409. dressed in its factory chrome air cleaner and valve covers.   Factory style carburetors and factory style exhaust manifolds seem to confirm an original 425hp 409.   Slow down now; this is not a factory '63 dual quad 409.   It's better than that.   Lamar Walden. one of the original General Motors engineers who developed the 409 engines in the sixties. has laid his hands on this engine.

A stack of paperwork documents the engine in this car.   Lamar made the LWA (Lamar Walden Automotive) engine number include the last six digits of this vehicle's VIN.

All of this is collectible. but the engine is so much more than a '63 dual quad.   Lamar Walden Automotive has been perfecting high performance 409 engines for decades. and Lamar is the world renowned guru of 409 high performance engines without equal.

In the dyno sheets you will see that the horsepower blows past the 425 mark to 460 horsepower 498 foot pounds of torque.

To continue an unassuming approach to cloaking horsepower a pair of stock 409 dual quad carburetors were sent to LWA to be tuned with the engine on the dyno.

The generator on this engine is actually an alternator produced by Powermaster with a generator like housing. The radiator is an aluminum radiator with stamped aluminum tanks to give the appearance of a brass and copper radiator and is painted black.

The starter is a permanent magnet reduction drive starter that bolts to the 409 block; dual quad 409s were four-speed cars and the starter usually bolted to the bell housing.

The torque converter is a high quality converter produced by Precision Engineering.   The transmission is a built turbo 400 with a tuned governor to move shift points up into the power band of this engine.

The original 3. 36 gears were retained in the rear end and a carbon fiber Eaton positive traction unit was added to aid in hooking up horsepower on both rear wheels.

This is a very nice car with incredible paperwork and a must-have item for any 409 enthusiast.

*****Miles listed on this sale are miles Since Engine Rebuild -  400 miles; This car will be sold miles exempt.

Also published at eBay.com

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