Buddy Holly's 58 Chevy Impala

If this has already be discussed on the HAMB, forgive me. I did a search and couldn't find anything.

Last night I was reading a 1996 Rod and Custom and there was a short article in there about how they had found a 58 Chevy Impala in the back lot of a body shop where it had been sitting for about 30 years. The story said Buddy gave the keys to a friend of his to use while Buddy was on the Winter tour, and as we know, he died on that tour and never returned. The story said the car was later damaged and taken to the body shop but the friend took off with the insurance check, which Buddy's Dad had signed, and so the car just layed there for years.

Here is a Youtube on the first part of the story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mppMPqfe1FY

Eventually, the car was completely restored and scheduled to be sold at Barrett-Jackson in 2010.

http://www.drivingtoday.com/news_this_week/2010-01-14-4498-driving/index.html#axzz2BpxDhZUd


Don

 

Don, there is at least one good thread here if not more. Well worth the search.

 

I tried, sorry. Not only did a search but an advanced search.

Don

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=241153&highlight=buddy+holly+car

There are more threads.

 

Well I haven't seen it. never the less don you deserve a serious tongue sticking for not finding it before you posted.

I need to look at the Vids, it sounds interesting. Now if someone could just find Rudy Valle's Bombita we would be in good shape.

 

Me and computer searches are like oil and water.

Don

 

Don't worry Don. I was the kid that knew the Dewey decimal system and card file like the back of my hand. Always found my assignment early so I could go read magazines at the library while the rest of the class sweated out theirs!

 

This seems to come up every year or so, doesn't it?

 

... and the newspapers came on bamboo poles.... ahhh those were the the days.

 

Tip when searching, click advanced search - select titles only - sort results by relevancy. I used to hate the hamb search function till I figured that out.

 

Don , The Buddy Holly car was proved to be a hoax by local Buddy Holly historian Bill Griggs. He even called Bill Clements out on it publicily. Clements tried to sell the car at Barrett-jackson and they pulled the car just minutes before it was to go on sale. They even did a public announcement during the braodcast as to why the car was being pulled. Clements scammed a lot of people into donating money, parts, or services under the pretense that it was "Buddy's" car. Lots of local businesses jumped on board to promote a home town boy. all a scam. Griggs had tons of home movies and interviews that blew Clements story out of the water........

 

Clements was also well known for "Creating" collectable cars. He also sold tons of repop trin tags, VIN tags, etc. He had a aluminum headed 70 convertable Chevelle in one of the top car magazines and it was later proved to be a fake. He's a real piece of work......

 

I forgot about the bamboo poles! I was in college in the early 90s, when our library got hooked up to the net there were 3 computers for a campus of 10,000! I had just moved from typing my term papers in the "Typewriter room" of the library to typing them on our Macs in the ad department.

 

Restored 1958 Impala for sale again.
by Randy Steele » 27 May 2011, 22:43

A restored 1958 Impala is for sale again. Sometime back, it was reportedly going to be sold at Barrett-Jackson auctions but was "pulled" from the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...276579QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks#ht_47600wt_1163

In the December 2001 issue (#55) of Bill Griggs' Rockin50s magazine, pages 16-20, Bill Griggs conducted an interview with Bill Clements, the owner of the restored car now being offered on eBay. Bill Griggs questioned many of the stories surrounding this restored 1958 Impala, including the origin of the car, VIN numbers, etc. Bill Griggs reported this particular restored 1958 Impala had more than one serial number on the frame, with one of them being from April of 1958. Buddy purchased his 1958 Impala in December of 1957.

At the end of the Rockin50s article, Bill Griggs, known around the world as THE authority and considered by many fans to be the historian of Buddy Holly and The Crickets, stated that in his opinion, this restored 1958 Impala was not Buddy Holly's 1958 Chevrolet.

At the close of the article on page 20, Griggs reported the owner of the restored car, Bill C., had offered the following comment:

"I knew this day would come. I'm glad it's you and not someone else. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. All of us wanted this to be the car. I think it succeeded in doing what I set out to do, get the people together and get the enthusiasm going. There's no cover up. I would like to deny all of it but facts are facts. This just got out of hand. This was small and began blossoming and you can't stop it. I knew that if I was ever asked about this, cornered by this, I'd have to admit it."

Bill Griggs died March 29, 2011.

Randy Steele

via: http://buddyhollycrick.createforumhosting.com/restored-1958-impala-for-sale-again-t1029.html

 

The "Buddy Holly" Impala is on Aussie Ebay at the moment for $455,000, supposedly in New Zealand .

 

Here is the 58 up for auction, If it is not really Buddy's Chevy then someone's trying to sell a clone for a whole pile of cash, looks like Peggy Sue's in on it too!
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/chevrolet/impala/auction-492213476.htm

 

always someone trying to scam someone.. it never ends..

 

should have a trifecta ...sell the REAL Buddy Holly , Richie Valens and Big Bopper cars as a package ...call it the B.S. Baffles Brains Special .

T

 

Wait until I sell my Beechcraft Bonanza!!!

 

I guess he figures if he can sell it down under they won't have heard that its a fake.......

 

I know that is the real one because the mileage is in Kilometres!

 

Are ya gonna put N3794N on it and make it authentic??

Pretty shitty it's being sold as his car still..sad...

Tony

 

Wow, I didn't know about the 58 being a scam. Thanks for that info.

Don

 

I understand what your saying...

quite a few years ago up here.. there was a guy claiming he had the 55 Chevy from Graffiti and that it was also used in Two lane Blacktop... I seen the car and it looked the same.. its just hard to imagine the stuff said out there without full documentation of the cars nowadays.. of all things it was sitting in the back alley behind his home..

its hard getting provanance ...

 

i really like Buddy and 58 impalas--i wish it were true----clements always has a great story for his creations---he has shown us we need to do our own research

 

I doubt Peggy Sue even knows its a fake. She is an employee of Clements at the radio station on lubbock. Most women don't know a lot about cars........

 

To keep a job nowadays,~~~don't make waves.
.
.

 

So is the NZ car the same car Clements had?

 

I'm guessing that Clements still has the car. If the guy in NZ is a friend of the (un-named) owner, the real Peggy Sue is handling the details and the real Peggy Sue works for Clements in Lubbock, it all kinda ties together. And it kinda has an odor to it.

 

Like a fishy smell?