Believe it or not, but you can still buy a '60s Impala-a nice one, even-at a used-car lot. Baron Braatz did; in fact, he bought this very one looking as it does right here. He also found out that car lots to this very day still use slick paint and fast talk to mask a host of mechanical shortcomings.
Seriously though, Baron really did find this Impala on a lot-a classic-car lot, to be specific-and he really did fall prey to shiny paint and a good pitchman. In this case his newfound toy needed a new engine and transmission. While the 700-R4 overdrive he installed worked as promised, the same couldn't be said of the stroker Chevy that accompanied it. In fact, he had to rebuild it himself-did we mention this was a new engine?-to make things right.
By contemporary show-and-shine standards, Baron's a young'un. In fact, he's about a decade newer than his car, which may explain why he crammed the trunk full of audio gear-the boom, if you will. It was by luck, however, that he stumbled into a car with a rather sporty suspension system. The car's prior owner presumably used the car to carve rather than cruise, and the underpinnings have the Hotchkis and Wilwood names all over them as a result.
Sure, any big-wheeled, 'flake-painted bomb like Baron's Impala commands attention wherever it goes, but it isn't necessarily those two over-the-top things that make it pop, so to speak. If anything, it's the rather unlikely combination of elements that makes such a statement. For example, how many shiny flame jobs-'flaked ones at that-show up on flat-black cars? Sure, the custom and hot rod crowd has embraced the 'flake/flat look, but we'd hazard a guess that not many of its cars roll dubs carved out of the B-word.
If anyone would've told us about a 'flaked car with big wheels and black bumpers, we very sheepishly admit that we would've probably groaned or chuckled; it's a combination that could've-no, let's say should've-gone so horribly wrong. In this case, however, it works.
In fact, the combo works so well that even we can imagine Baron standing on that corner car lot, rationalizing the occasional puff of blue smoke or sloppy Second gear. We would've probably done the same.