Local man’s custom ’65 Impala honored at recent Tulsa car show

Gainesville-area resident David Culp took his resto-mod 1965 Chevy Impala to the Darryl Starbird Rod and Custom Car Show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in February and won the show’s prestigious Fine Nine Award. The award represents one of the finest nine cars in the show that is the largest car show in the midwest.

Culp showed off his one-of-a-kind build that was 13 years in the making to an Ozark County Times reporter last week in his shop just north of Gainesville.

“I’m very proud how it turned out,” said the 75-year-old Culp as he lifted the custom car cover to reveal the polished razzleberry paint job. “This is a custom color and it wasn’t cheap,” Culp said. “I think it was around $2,500 per gallon and it took about three gallons.”

The specs on the Impala are this:

1965 resto-mod Chevrolet Impala that was frame-off restored and reengineered that boasts a 572 cubic inch all-aluminum fuel injected V8 engine that was dyno-tuned at 680 horsepower and produces an impressive 711-foot-pound of torque.

The beastly power plant is handled by a beast-of-its-own turbo hybrid 475 transmission and custom coil-over suspension and Watts link rear suspension and a carbon fiber driveshaft.

It has a custom one-of-a-kind hood that sports a scoop from a 1972 Chevy Nova Super Sport. Culp cut the hood and welded and fit the scoop into place.

The Impala has innumerable other custom touches.

A retired pipe fitter and plumber/welder for the Local 172 in the South Bend, Indiana area, Culp said he was introduced to working on cars by his late father.

“When I was a young man, I came home one day and lifted the garage door and there was the ugliest ’55 Chevy I’d ever seen,” Culp said laughing. “My dad told me to go get a GM car repair manual and rebuild that car, and that’s how I got started working on cars.

Included in the pristine interior of his ’65 Impala are two gauges that sit front and center on the center console. The gauges are from one of his dad’s old cars. Culp said it is very special to have a piece of his father’s love for cars in his Impala.

The custom-stitched upholstery includes seats from a C5 Corvette. In the trunk there is a custom-stitched design that features an eagle draped in American flag colors and the words “LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE.’

A Vietnam veteran, Culp said that design was a salute to all who have served.

The car build was the first such Culp has ever done.

“I did all of the body work myself up until I hurt my shoulder and I couldn’t lift the heavy fender panels,” Culp said. That’s when he turned the resto-mod project over to Ozark Mountain Classics, a Mountain Home, Arkansas, area shop that does high-end custom car builds.

“I was thinking the Impala would cost about $70,000 to build,” Culp said. “When it was all said and done, I think it was around $230,000, and that doesn’t include my time.”

Culp has an eye for design, from numerous custom accents on his Impala, to the designer-quality features on his 3,300 square foot octagon-shaped house he built on an Ozark mountaintop north of Gainesville.

History of the car

So why the ’65?

“The make and model of the car really wasn’t that important,” said Culp. ‘It just had to be a 1965.”

Culp explained: “I graduated from high school in 1965, and for eight months I didn’t have to answer to anyone, not my parents, not a girlfriend, nobody … I had total freedom. So this car represents my eight months of freedom.”

The car started its journey in life as a simple white 1965 Impala. Culp found the car sitting in a field with another Impala in Colorado during one of his trips.

“The guy didn’t want to sell the car at first,” Culp said. He finally talked him into selling him the car, and the metamorphosis began.

Ozark County connection

So how does a pipe fitter from Indiana end up in Ozark County? Culp said when he met his late wife, she was from Koshkonong.

“We met online, and so I came down here from time to time, and when I decided to retire I had my real estate agent looking for me some property,” Culp said. “I wanted some land with a nice view. You know Indiana is kinda flat in most places so I loved these hills.”

Culp’s custom home is like his Impala. It’s a one-of-a-kind that has panoramic views of the Ozarks, including Caney Mountain.

Culp built the house himself, oftentimes working on it and his Impala project at the same time.

“We love it here,” Culp said of himself and his current wife Janice, who does high-end custom stained glass artwork in a workshop carved into his shop.

Show car for now

For the next year, Culp plans to show the Impala and not use it as a driver. He ordered a custom car-hauler enclosed trailer, and Culp plans to show the car later this month in Springfield.

He will also take it to the Ultimate Auto Car Show in Mountain Home, Arkansas, on June 3. “So if anyone local wants to see it up close, they can come check it out there,” Culp said.

After that, he plans to show it in Louisville, Kentucky, in August before taking it to his high school class reunion in September in Indiana.

“This is a show-quality car that I plan to drive,” Culp said. “I’m going to show it for a year, and then I am going to enjoy it,” he added.

Another project?

The Impala project has also landed Culp a job, albeit part time, at Ozark Mountain Classics. “I just connected with those guys, and I love what they do … we see eye-to-eye on a lot,” Culp said. “So I started working there part time. It gives me something to do, and I’m working kinda for shop credit for my next project.”

So what is his next project?

“Janice has decided she wants a 1964 Ford Falcon Sprint,” Culp said. “She’s a stick-shift gal, so that’s what we will be looking for,” Culp said.

“She had kinda mentioned it to me, but I wasn’t sure if she was really interested,” Culp said. “Then one day I saw her surfing the internet, and she was looking at Falcons, and I thought ‘wow, she’s really interested’ … so we are on the hunt for her Falcon.”

In the meantime, Culp is enjoying his show Impala as he puts finishing touches on his custom home. “It keeps me young I guess, me staying busy,” Culp said.