For the body, Legens smoothed out the decklid (adding one of their new smooth decklid latch kits) and the hood plus reworked the bumpers. The front had all the bracket holes filled; it was narrowed, then mounted close to the body. The rear had the boltholes filled, too, and was also narrowed, but then had a centersection from a station wagon added, which allowed the license plate to mount on the bumper instead of the middle of the decklid. Sherm’s Plating did all the chrome work, which contrasts the PPG flat black paint and flat clear Legens sprayed over the exterior.
The look of the car so far could be called “basic,” but the Black Widow really comes alive when it gets to the interior. Not only was the choice to run ’64 Impala SS interior pieces a great one, but the color choice of the material (metalflake blue) really lends itself to the era George was aiming at. The interior appears to glow under the white headliner.
The chrome reverse wheels...
The chrome reverse wheels (15x7 and 15x8) are perfect for the look of this car, and the Black Widow logo found its way here, too.
Legens used parts from Ciadella Interiors in Tempe, Arizona, (who specialize in ’53-64 Chevy fabrics and interior pieces) and made whatever else he needed himself. The Black Widow theme is prevalent, and Legens had the name and spider logo placed throughout the car and even had small medallions made to inset into the car’s interior where the SS logo used to be. You’ll also find the logo and name inside each of the small Classic Instruments gauges in the Erco housing mounted under the dash and wiring from American Autowire is used throughout.
Up on the steering column is a Mooneyes metalflake steering wheel and a Sun Captain America tach and, if you look on the dash where the clock used to be, you’ll find a portrait of George covered with the glass from a magnifying glass. Another subtle (but time-consuming when it came to fabrication) item are the door handles. Using ’64 Impala armrests required moving the location of the door openers, which meant Legens had to modify the doors to work that way, too.
A Captain America Sun tachometer...
A Captain America Sun tachometer is mounted on the steering column and located on the dash in front of the passenger (where the clock used to be), Legens added a portrait of George, covering it with the convex glass from a magnifying glass.
One thing you can say about George is, even though he has so many cars, he likes to drive them as often as possible. The evidence of that is actually how he met Legens in the first place: Legens’ shop did body and paintwork on several of George’s cars because, as he puts it, “I am pretty rough on some of the drivers that I own.” George also states he’s “been dreaming about cars since the ’50s” and that “no one loves any and all cars any more than I do.”
So, in a nutshell, he has them built because he loves them and, once done, drives the snot out of them. If any reader of STREET RODDER had the incredible opportunities George Poteet has worked hard to make for himself, would they do it any differently? Probably not. And George is just happy to spread some of that love around.