Graffiti at the Gilmore

 The American Graffiti 1958 Chevrolet Impala 

featuring

A 327 Chevy

It’s got Six Stromberg’s

It will lay rubber

                                      TOAD’S SUPERFINE MACHINE

In American Graffiti the car may have belonged to Steve Bolander but it was Terry “The Toad” who had the most fun in it. On loan from Steve with strict instructions of only using 30 weight Castrol R oil Toad knew “Tonight things are going to be different”. After picking up a girl who looked a lot like Connie Stevens he would be ripped off by a bum, witness a hold up, get his car stolen, get sicker than a dog and then get in a fight. While discussing the events of the evening Toad said that he has a good time just about every night.

In 1973 Ray Evernham was a teen who spent most of his time playing baseball with his friends. That all changed when Ray fell in love at the local movie theatre. No not with the cute girl who worked the concession stand, Ray fell for this car. Evernham missed more than a few games that year sitting in the darkened theatre dreaming of the day he would own that 1958 Impala.

The future NASCAR Hall of Famer had to dream for quite a while. It wasn’t till years later that Ray was able to track down the owner and tried to purchase the car with no luck. A few more calendars down the road and Ray ran into the car again while shooting his cable TV show Americarna. Still no sale. Finally in 2015 after a failure to purchase the car at live auction Evernham was able to negotiate a deal with the man who had owned the 58 since filming.

The Star of Ray’s childhood dreams had seen better days. After all it was still a 57 year old car that had last been painted around 43 years ago. Ray set to work doing his Graffiti homework. Learning that there were a few things had been changed about the car since 1973 and wishing to return the car to it’s as-filmed appearance. Ray painstakingly mapped out the Impala’s fogged stripes. Recruiting some of Axalta Coating Systems finest employees to help re-create custom paint scheme.

It has not been long since the ground up preservation of Ray’s beloved American Graffiti Impala, but Ray has been kind enough to share his “Superfine Machine” for the first time with the Gilmore Auto Museum and it’s visitors. 

The Impala will be on display at The Gilmore thru the end of the year. Check the Gilmore website for details.  

Jeff

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