The Gangster
I met Jim Vanarey and Eddie Bosh one night at Harry's Diner and straight away knew these two blokes were old school as they come. Jim got me to come over and check out the 59, which belongs to Eddie, and straight away I was keen to feature it in Street Cruising. The car is a 59 Chevrolet Impala Sports Coupe with a Bright Gold Metallic base and a Crystal Pearl on the roof, and it has had a very hard life. It used to belong to a Mexican gang in New Orleans, was Candy Apple Red and had all the continental gear on the back held on with tons of bog and rivets, and the interior was all velour. She was a mess. If it wasn't tough enough on the old girl to be shot at in South USA gang wars, she copped another flogging in 2005 when it got filled up with water when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Who would have thought this was the same car today.
You get around a couple of blokes like Jim and Eddie, and you are guaranteed to hear stories going way back, and that was certainly the case here. The first hottie Eddie ever owned was a 1960 Tank Fairlane, and his list of cars is definitely long, but Eddie was not a happy boy when he first unwillingly bought this car. That's right, I said unwillingly. Eddie saw the car for sale at Wintersun on the Gold Coast and he did not want anything to do with the rusty old shitter. Jim and Eddie's daughter Leanne had other ideas though. Leanne managed to get hold of Eddie's bank details and took the money out and with some help from Jim, they bought the car. Eddie got a phone call from Leanne requesting a car trailer. When he got to the location of the pick up, Eddie was not happy with what he was loading onto the trailer. The conversion of the Mexican lowrider gangster continental rust bucket to the work of art you see today took 10 months. If you ask me, Eddie and Jim must be magicians to convert the car in such a short time.
The engine bay of the Impala is a work of art as well. There is a 350 Chev crate engine making around 290 horsepower with a 650 Holley carb. The fuel gets to the big engine from an Edelbrock mechanical fuel pump. The gasses get out through a twin 2 1/2 inch exhaust with twin Turbothrust mufflers and Pacemaker extractors. Most of the modifications have been chrome add ons more than performance or as Jim said "Lots of Bling". The gearbox is a Turbo 350 wiht a standard converter and a stage 2 towing kit. The rear end is a 3.25:1 geared Chevy 10 bolt Salisbury.
The car sits on a full set of King Springs, with the shock work being done by Monroes. The brakes are standard except for the 8 inch dual billet master cylinder, which is polished and it all rolls on a stunning set of Coy wheels in 18 x 9.5 on the rear and 18 x 7s up front. I asked about the rubber and was told "Round black ones" at first but then Jim went over for a look at found they were Nexens.
The inside of the car is completely restored as well. The trim is all Ivory leather, but restored to standard. The standard steering column has been replaced with a billet upgrade, and the shifter is a B & M Quicksilver. There are a few other nice little touches that have been added as well like the logo in the back seat and a Chev badge under the bonnet with '59 Sports Coupe' engraved into it. Altogether it makes this into one spectacular car and a beautifully restored piece of history.
Firstly, Eddie would like to thank Jim for all his hard work that has gone into the 59, as well as Mark Semen from Bayside Performance and Shane Webb from Image Trimming. For a car that was under water in Hurricane Katrina just over 3 years ago, this car has come a long way, and if cars could talk, I am sure the Impala would be very thankful to have ended up in the hands of a pair of old school car lovers like Eddie and Jim.
