When most people hear the term “family heirloom”, they typically think of jewelry or other trinkets that have been passed down from one generation to the next. For gear heads, however, family heirlooms are typically project cars that have been sitting in barns, fields or garages for decades and are eventually re-discovered and inherited by a new generation of wrench turners. For Alex Koch, his story is no different, at least initially.

1965 was a pivotal year for Chevrolet; the Impala had just been launched into its fourth generation after receiving a face lift and would go on to sell more than one million units — a record yet to be eclipsed by any car manufacturer to this day. Early ’65 Impalas were even available with the veritable 409 “W” engine and dealers were selling them like hot cakes.

The population of the U.S. was roughly 194 million in 1965, meaning that approximately one in every 180 people bought an Impala that year. And Koch’s great uncle just so happened to be a part of that fortunate 1.074 million. The car rolled off the dealer lot with a small-block 283 and a three-speed manual. It quickly earning a place as part of the family.

Koch’s great uncle drove the Impala for a while but eventually the ownership of the car transferred to his grand father, who drove it until the early ‘80s. The car was eventually put out to pasture after the motor gave up the ghost — literally, it was put in a field. And there it sat for the next 30 or so years.

But even while it wasn’t running, the car has played a pivotal role in Koch’s life for as long as he can remember.

“I used to go out into that field and tinker with it all the time growing up,” Koch said. “I always had plans to get it going again.”

While most car guys would cringe at the thought of a car like this sitting in a field for all those years, it had one benefit; it gave the Impala an awesome patina. The car aged like a fine bottle of wine having only been made arguably better by the relentless march of time.

In the mean time, Koch grew to be a first-rate mechanic in his own right and decided to take on a project car. The ’65 Impala was naturally the first that sprang to his mind. The Chevy was removed from the field just three short years ago with the goal of turning it back into something special.

A longtime LS fan, Koch decided he wanted something a little more modern powering his old Impy than the dilapidated 283. The ever-popular LQ4 and a 4L80E were sourced from an Express van with 300,000 miles on the clock. Originally, the LQ4 was run with all its 300,000-mile components and even went 8.30 in the eighth before bending four connecting rods. 

 After self destructing, the first order of business was refreshing the high-mileage 6.0. It was stripped down, punched out .030 and freshened up using all new Clevite bearings and ARP head bolts. The stock crank was retained but the connecting rods were ditch in favor of a set of Callies Compstars. Wiseco forgings handle compression duties and provide the mill with a boost-friendly 10.4:1 compression ratio.

A set of factory 317 casting heads top the motor off and house the original valves. Brian Tooley Racing dual-spring valve springs keep the lift from the Lil John Motorsports Stage 2 camshaft in check. A Holly Hi-Ram intake was selected to handle induction duties and is fed boost from an 83 mm Bullseye CompR turbo stuffing 26 psi down its throat. A 4-inch core, front-mount intercooler keeps atmosphere at a respectable temperature and helps prevent detonation. A Snow Performance water-methanol injection kit — running on pure methanol — works with the intercooler to keep intake temperatures at bay.

The mill is fed a liberal dose of octane by a Bosch 044 fuel pump running in tandem with an AEM 380 lph that is activated via a hobs switch under boost conditions. All tuning duties were handle by Koch with the help of HP Tuners. 
The transmissions was treated to a rebuild with Jake’s Performance Stage 3 components and topped off with a Circle D Pro III multi-disc torque converter. A transbrake and an MSD two step also help get the Impala off the line and down the road. All said and done, the 4L80 should be capable of handling power levels in excess of 900 horsepower.   

The stock suspension — aside from Spohn tubular upper control arms and slightly upgraded shocks — locate every horse. Koch plans to convert the whole car to double adjustable shocks at all four corners in the near future.

Out back, the 12 bolt rear end out of ’65 Impala SS houses 4.10 gears and splits the torque evenly to both rear wheels via a Detroit Truetrac. Depending whether it is running on the street or at the track, the power is fed to the ground through a set of Nitto 555Rs or Mickey Thompson ET Street 275/60R15s respectively.

All this amounts to an estimated 900 ponies at the wheels. And while the car is well motivated, Koch says he sees it as more of an ice breaker than a race car.

“To me it’s more of a conversation piece than a race car,” Koch said. “It’s a nice piece of family history that I’m going to hang on to for a long time.”

The car has a full interior, no cage and weighs in in the neighborhood of 4,500 pounds, but don’t let that fool you. This car has gone as fast as 6.14 seconds at 117 mph in the eighth mile and 7.84 seconds at 133 mph in the 1,000 foot. Whether or not Koch deems it a race car, it sure moves like one.

“It usually draws a little bit of a crowd when we take it to the track,” Koch said. “But after we make a run, it draws a lot larger crowd.”

And despite how fast the old Impala already is, Koch believes it still has more in it.

“Typically we leave at around 4-5 pounds of boost,” Koch said. “We’d like to see it leaving at 10-15 to really run like we want it to.”

No matter how fast the Impala eventually goes, one thing is for sure; this ’65 will be in the family for generations to come. It even has a family name already: Slimpala.