The year 1958 doesn’t represent any significant personal milestone for Tom Harmes. Yet it’s important to Nova Scotian, because it’s the model year of most of the vehicles in his collection. At home in Eastern Passage, Harmes has accumulated cars and trucks made by General Motors, and they’re all from the year 1958.
“In 1961, I bought a 1958 Chevy Impala,” Harmes says. “It was a daily driver for my wife Pat and for me and our family of four kids. I kept it on the road for 10 or 11 years before it had to be retired, and I moved on to other vehicles.”
Tom and Pat Harmes with their 1958 Chevrolet. They’ve owned the car since the mid-1980s, and in 2000, drove it trouble-free across Canada with the Canadian Coasters tour. Photo by Gary Porter
Harmes has spent his life involved with cars. Born in Nova Scotia, he’s lived in Eastern Passage since he was 10 years old. At 14, he got a job working in an autobody shop where he learned the intricacies of repairing and painting sheet metal.
He took welding at vocational school and went on to become a high-pressure pipe welder and then a welding instructor at Akerley Community College. He taught for 30 years and is now retired. In his home-based shop, stainless steel and aluminum welding are his specialty and he will still take on the occasional job.
Although interested in cars from an early age, Harmes used his autobody shop earnings to buy a piece of land. He built a house when he was 18, moving in when he was 19. For transportation, he bought $50 cars and “pieced them together and kept them running.” Later, he began building and racing oval track stock cars, something Harmes did as a hobby from 1968 to 1983. Shortly after hanging up his racing helmet, Harmes became interested in finding a 1958 Impala, just like the one he’d driven throughout the Sixties.
“I just thought 1958 Chevs had such a different design from the 1957 models, and I liked the quad-headlights because they were so different from the earlier years,” Harmes says of his appreciation for that specific model year.
First shown in 1956 at the General Motors Motorama, the Impala was a two-door sports coupe released in 1958. Longer and lower with a much shorter roof height, the Impala rode on a new X-design chassis with new suspension. Power could be had from an inline-six cylinder, or a choice of three V8 engines. Plus, the 1958 Impala was a single-year body style, and was only offered as either a convertible or coupe.
Longer, lower and with quad headlights, the design of the 1958 Chevrolet Impala was a departure for General Motors. Photo by Gary Porter
In 1961, Tom Harmes bought this 1958 Chevrolet Impala to use as a family vehicle. He kept it for 10 or 11 years before replacing it, but in 1983, he decided to try and find another ’58 Impala as a collector car. Photo by Tom Harmes
After searching out and finding a 1958 Chevrolet Impala, Tom Harmes of Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, decided to find other General Motors vehicles from the same model year. This is his 1958 Buick, and he has several other GM cars and trucks in his collection. Photo by Gary Porter
Nothing else on the road looks quite like a 1958 Chevrolet Impala. Photo by Gary Porter
Original dealer sticker indicates Tom Harmes’ 1958 Chevrolet Impala was sold new in Edmonton, Alberta. Photo by Gary Porter
Harmes searched for three or four years for a 1958 Impala coupe, finally finding one for sale in the Ottawa area. It was important that it have the 348 cubic-inch big block V8 engine, the same as his first Impala, and this car was so equipped.
Harmes and his son drove from Nova Scotia to Ontario. Once there, Harmes got behind the wheel of the Impala and drove it back home while his son followed. In 2000, Harmes and his wife drove the Impala across Canada with the Canadian Coasters on their coast-to-coast tour. The car gave them no trouble, and to this day, Harmes has simply maintained the Chevy without having to make any significant upgrades.
“The odometer showed just 11,000 miles,” Harmes says. “I have no way of knowing if that’s original, but it did appear to be a true low-mileage Impala sold new in Edmonton from Hugh McColl’s South Park dealership.”
Once he had the Impala, Harmes figured he’d like to have other 1958s produced by General Motors, including one from Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile – and trucks, too. He now has eight GMs from 1958 and is currently working on a rare five-window GMC truck project from that model year.
Interior of the 1958 Chevy Impala Tom Harmes bought in Ottawa, Ontario. The odometer showed 11,000 miles when he bought it, and while he doesn’t have documentation to prove it, he thinks it was genuine mileage. Photo by Gary Porter
Tom Harmes’ 1958 Impala is powered by a 348 cubic-inch V8 engine. Since he bought the car in the mid-1980s, he’s simply maintained the vehicle without having to do any major repairs. Photo by Gary Porter
After searching out and finding a 1958 Chevrolet Impala, Tom Harmes of Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, decided to find other General Motors vehicles from the same model year. This is his 1958 Buick, and he has several other GM cars and trucks in his collection.
The rearend of the classic Buick.
“People say GM didn’t offer a five-window cab in ’58,” Harmes says, “but they did sell it on their utility vehicles, and I’ve got two of those five-window cabs from ’58.”
While Harmes usually does all his own work, this 1958 five-window project has been entrusted to Alan’s Upholstery and Auto Restoration in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Owner Alan Oickle is bringing the truck to the next level, and it will be a show-quality build.
“I’m a do-it-yourselfer, and the more I put into the truck, the more I realized it could be one of the best,” Harmes says. “I’m not a perfectionist, but I just couldn’t get it to where I was happy with it and Alan took over.”
Harmes says the truck will be ready to appear at the 47th annual Speedsport show, set to run April 22 to 24 at the Moncton Coliseum in New Brunswick.
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or [email protected]
Keyword: A lifelong love affair with a '58 Chevrolet Impala