This Badass ’63 Chevy II Lived and Thrived on the Streets of New York
By Scotty Lachenauer – Photography by the Author
Neil Zimbaldi wasn’t looking for any golden fruit when he spotted an Azure Aqua Chevy II sitting under an apple tree in upstate New York. What he was really looking for was a vehicle to take on the streets of the “Big Apple.” Born with an appetite for speed, the young hot rodder was in need of an appropriate ride to build as his new street fighter. This basic box Nova piqued his interest from the first day he laid eyes on it.
“I remember seeing it when I was a grade schooler riding the bus back in the early ’70s. I kept an eye on it for over a year. One day I asked the owners about the car,” Neil says. They were interested in selling and wanted $75, which believe it or not was kind of crazy for a basic used car back then. I could have gotten a beater for $25 at the junkyard.”
Unfortunately, the young gun was still a few dollars shy of pulling off the deal, so he begged his mom for the extra $50 needed to buy the car. “My mom was a tough Italian woman who never spoiled me,” Neil states. “She soon relented but never let me forget that cash gift for the next 35 years.” The next day Neil and his buddy, John, picked up the Chevy and drove it home for 2 miles … with no brakes. “With ground-down drums, I just missed running into the garage door trying to get it to stop,” Neil laughingly reveals.
Once the brakes were functioning properly, the first thing to go was the six-cylinder. In its place went a stout 283ci small-block backed by a three-speed manual, rowed with a Hurst Mystery shifter. Sun Blue Line gauges followed, along with a quartet of Ansen slot wheels. But the icing on this proverbial cake was the Nova-bred 12-bolt he sourced out back. “I got it from a hippie dude who probably just needed some weed money,” Neil jokes.
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This configuration got Neil through high school, but bigger things were on the horizon. Street racing was blowing up all around New York City, and especially near his home in Westchester County. There was plenty of local competition and none were greater than the duels between Neil and the members of his own club, the Street Screamers. That 283ci was soon replaced with a 2.02 Fuelie-headed 327ci, 365hp Corvette engine built up with wheelwell headers and an M22 Rock Crusher trans. Skinnies up front and slicks out back were added soon after.
Neil started working at a junkyard during the week and got the chance to join the pit crew for Angel Rosa and his Travel Agent Pro Stock Camaro, campaigned out of Dollinger’s Speed Parts Center in Elmsford, New York. During that time, a Hemi Roadrunner came into the yard. Neil Jr. laughs as he remembers it like this: “It was Dad’s job to chop up the car for resale parts. That night the Dana 60 and Hemi four-speed came back to the house in the trunk of his ’69 Caprice dragging the bumper all the way home.”
Neil got to work on the Chevy, inserting his new performance goodies into the chassis. It was then sent off to Jinkin’s Chassis in Jackson, New Jersey, to help with the transformation from streetcar to Street Pro Stock (a precursor to Pro Street). Once back, Neil stripped the paint, added a big “tombstone” hood scoop, and basted the car in GM Martinique Blue. The 327 had been loaned to the Travel Agent Pro Stock crew as a backup, which they detonated one day at the track. Now a roller, the car was pushed aside for the next 15 years as Neil and his wife saved for a new house.
Things had changed over that decade and a half, including the birth of his kids, son Neil Jr. and daughter Lisa. Family life took precedence and the Chevy continued to sit. Once Neil Jr. reached driving age he bought a Chevelle to restore. That put a fire under his dad to get back to his own car. “Once the Chevelle was running, he pushed my car over and got to work on the Chevy II,” Neil Jr. says. “He bought a Chris Alston’s Chassisworks front clip and had the suspension updated at Valley Chassis Works in Poughkeepsie, New York. He also got a 388ci stroker from a good friend.”
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A garage fire damaged the car and put a damper on the restoration effort. However, Neil quickly got his wits about him and redid the bodywork where necessary while Neil Jr. purchased the parts needed to finish the car. Though he had that Hemi four-speed he decided to go with an Auto Gear M23W four-speed handbuilt by Jeff Collins of Midwest Muncie to back the stroked small-block. “We had custom headers made from Valley Chassis Works to accommodate the need for the large primaries with the Z-bar from the manual trans,” Neil Jr. conveys.
For paint, Neil went with a custom mix based around Chrysler B5 Blue. The hood is custom-made from a fiberglass hardwood piece and scoop. The grille is from a portion of Neil Jr’s. broken Chevelle grille, which was cut to fit. Every old piece of the Chevy II was dug out, polished or painted, and restored before making their way back on the car.
The resurrected Fallen Angel made its debut at a show in Peekskill in September of 2017. It was put on by the car club that Neil’s father-in-law started back in the ’50s. “We drove our cars to the show—Dad in the Chevy II and me in the Chevelle. It was the first time in my life I ever saw Pop’s car out on the road,” Neil Jr. says. They even met up with some of the original Street Screamers that day, some of which had their high school rides in attendance.
Neil Jr. sums it up. “This is a 40-year story. My dad drove this car to high school and it survived a few girlfriends, one marriage, two kids, two houses, and one fire. It has been restored four separate times and fallen from grace numerous times, but it always came back badder than ever. Hence the name ‘The Fallen Angel.’”
TECH CHECK
Owner: Neil Zimbaldi Sr., Carmel, New York
Vehicle: ’63 Chevy II
Engine
Type: Chevy small-block
Displacement: 388 ci
Compression Ratio: 13.5:1
Bore: 3.750
Stroke: 4.060
Cylinder Heads: Chevrolet Performance angle plug heads
Rotating Assembly: Forged pistons, forged rods, forged steel stroker crank
Valvetrain: Complete solid roller setup
Camshaft: Solid lifter
Induction: Chevrolet Performance aluminum manifold, Holley Ultra XP 950-cfm carb
Ignition: MSD 6AL-2 ignition, Pro Billet distributor, MSD crank trigger
Exhaust: 1 7/8- to 2-inch scavenged headers by Bob Laregina (Valley Chassis Works in Poughkeepsie, NY), 3.5-inch straight pipes, Pypes Race Flow Mufflers
Output (at crank): 550 hp
Drivetrain
Transmission: M-23W wide-ratio four-speed
Rear Axle: Narrowed Dana 60 with Spool, Strange 5.13 gears
Chassis
Front Suspension: Chris Alston’s Chassisworks front clip, Varishock coilovers
Rear Suspension: Back-halfed, rollcage, frame connectors, tinwork by Bob Jinkin’s Chassis (in 1977), AFCO coilovers
Brakes: Wilwood front discs, Mopar drum rear
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Cragar S/S 15×4.5 front, 15×12 rear (custom offset)
Tires: BFGoodrich Silvertown 640 R15 tires front, Goodyear Eagle Drag Slicks 32x14R15 rear
Interior
Upholstery: R Dees Upholstery (Newburgh, NY)
Material: Vinyl
Seats: High-back buckets
Shifter: Mr. Gasket Vertigate
Dash: Stock
Instrumentation: Stock, Sun Blue Line gauges
Exterior
Bodywork: Neil’s Auto Body (Carmel, NY)
Paint By: Neil’s Auto Body
Paint: PPG Chrysler B5 Blue mix
Hood: Custom Scoop mounted to a 4-inch Harwood fiberglass cowl hood
Grille: Stock
Bumpers: Stock
Body Mods: Trim holes filled, rear wheelwells stretched
