Does anyone have completed pics of it's restoration? I know it was found i believe in the late 90's in a salvage yard in his home town, and from what i read it was under restoration by another local shop.. But i can't find any photo's of it done.. I've searched the net with nothing found..... Anyone have pics? Just a Holly fan that would love to see it brought back to life. Thanks. Tony
I don't know how it would've escaped Bill Clements. I lived in Lubbock for awhile, never heard of it. If his wife thinks she has a claim on it, look out!
From what i read, Bill still own's it. The local shop that restored it offered thier labor for free providing Bill covered the cost of parts etc.. The shop spokesman said they were not doing it for publicity, but rather to keep the history of lubbock where it belong's, in Lubbock. Not sure how much was true. I read it in a Local Lubbock paper that was on the net. This was dated around 99. But they did say it was at the shop and under restoration at that time, so i'd think it would be done now. I'd just love to see it finished..I would have loved to see it in it's 'found' state in person too.. Can't explain why...just an interest i guess.
I am from the North East and I heard about it up here. It's been a while but I remember a story running about the car being found and getting restored as well.
I'd love to see it. I did a google search for it and came up with just some YOUTUBE stuff on it. The powers that be have youtube blocked here at my work so I'm dead in the water till I get home.
I'm sure i'm not the only one who look's deeper into object's like this once owned by icon's. I was never a thought at that point being born some 15 year's later than his death, but the interest in early rock and roll has been with me since i could hear thank's to my dad.. And Buddy Holly has always been one of my favorite Artist's ..so.... Here's a link to the youtube video in it's found state.. Pretty cool.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mppMPqfe1FY
Ya know, I always knew I LOVED Buddy Holly. Had plans as a kid to marry him *duh*............... A 58 Chevy just gives me one more reason to try and make it to heaven. * * * * * Or Hell with a weekend p***.
I can pretend to be him ...although i can't play guitar, can't sing...and don't have a 58..ahh hell, nevermind!
you guys want to check this out then...hope this helps a bit...pretty cool movie...I LOVE BUDDY HOLLY!...some of the best music ever!... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mppMPqfe1FY
Funny how this subject came up today, 4 days after the anniversary of the death of Buddy, JP Richardson & Richie Valens
I like how the guy at the salvage yard says it could be restored with for a few million dollars and a few million hours, people who own old cars much be rich and have lots of free time on there hands.
cool vid but it makes you wonder what kind of friggin ***** would just let buddy's last car go like that...
That's a shame! Can't believe that it ended up in a salvage yard. Must be a bunch of *****s like flh4speed said!
Just a Holly fan that would love to see it brought back to life. I couldn't agree more. Restore it or at a minimum leave as is and put it in a museum somewhere. I did find this: Buddy Holly's '58 Impala Found in Texas--By Chris Mc Loone. March 1999 LUBBOCK, Texas­In Buddy Holly's home town, it's not uncommon for someone to claim he or she has an item that once belonged to the music legend. So about 15 years ago, when a man offered Buddy Holly's '58 Chevy Impala to Bill Clement, he didn't pay much attention. "That's a running joke around these parts," says Clement, owner of Lubbock's 1950s radio station--1590 AM KDAV--and a 400-piece Chevrolet car collection. "Everybody's got Buddy Holly's everything." But about a year later, the man called Clement again and said that he had to get rid of the car, and reiterated that it had once been Holly's car. Clement's interest was piqued and, after some investigating, he discovered that the car had actually belonged to Buddy Holly. With the Chevy in his possession, Clement set out to find a collision repair shop to restore the car, and a true labor-of-love story began. Proving the Authenticity After he received the second call, Clement contacted Holly's brother, Larry, to find out if Holly had ever owned a '58 Chevy. Larry Holly checked with his mother, who confirmed that her son had indeed owned a 1958 Chevy Impala, and she had the ***le to prove it. Larry Holly delivered it to Clement, who went to take a look at the vehicle. Clement found the car at the bottom of a pile of wrecks at a body shop storage yard. Using a dentist's mirror to get a look at the manufacturer's plate inside the car, he found that the last four numbers on the plate matched those on the ***le. Clement later learned that in the early '70s, the owner of the body shop had received a call from a man claiming that his car had been hit in the rear. The person who'd run into the car had insurance, so the man who had possession of the car brought it to the shop and the insurance company agreed to pay for the damages. The problem was that the individual who had the car did not have the ***le. At the time of the collision, says Clement, Holly's father still technically owned the car, and it is unclear how the person who possessed the car came to have it. Holly's father signed an affidavit so that this individual could get the car fixed. But after the insurance company issued a check, the man who had brought the wreck to the shop took the money and abandoned the car. Clement now has the ***le as well as the canceled check drawn on Buddy Holly and the Crickets' account to purchase the car. "And I've got a lot of paperwork from years gone by that substantiates the ownership chain," says Clement. Once he acquired the car, Clement had to decide what to do with it. "I've had it for 10 years just sitting, trying to decide the best way to show the car because it's rough," says Clement. "It still had the original paint--original everything--but it was very rough. We finally decided to do a restoration on it after a lot of [input from various parties]. It still has Buddy's hand print on it somewhere. It will be his car, but it will be a restoration--kind of like the axe that Washington used to cut down the cherry tree. It's had two handles and three heads subsequently, but it's still the original axe." Restoring the Car The car languished in that pile of wrecks for about 15 years after being abandoned. According to Clement, as soon as the body shop owner realized he was stuck with the car, he began to remove useable items such as the battery, tires, carburetor and seats. The car was badly damaged in both the front and rear, and the trunk was rusted through. Now, several people are playing a role in restoring the car, which resides at Bigham Automotive and Electric Inc. under the care of Rick Bigham. The engine sits at Dubose Automotive and Machine, where technicians are working to rebuild it. Bigham came to Clement and offered to work on the car for free. "It's a matter of keeping Lubbock on the map, a matter of restoring history," says Bigham. "It will never become a private gain thing. We just don't want this to go away. I'm having fun with this. There are a lot of '58 Chevrolets around, but there's only one Buddy Holly car. It's kind of a labor-of-love type thing." Volunteer State Chevy Parts, located in Tennessee, is contributing parts for the car. "It seemed like the thing to do," says Don Trevitt, owner of the business. "We manufacture some of the '58 stuff. It seems like a fun project. There are few things left that we get to do that are actually fun, and this may be one of them." So far, Trevitt's company has donated sheet metal and taillights. Clement has worked with Trevitt in the past to obtain the rare parts in which Volunteer State Chevy Parts specializes. "That's how he got us to jump on board," explains Trevitt. After the Rebirth Since the car's existence became public, there has been some outside interest in purchasing the car. One casino owner in Reno called Clement with the idea of restoring the car, putting it on display at the casino and creating a '50s musical revue with Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and the car as the centerpiece. Another group from England came to Lubbock to take a look at the car, a**** them the president of the English Buddy Holly Fan Club who proposed buying the car in "as-is" condition for a "ridiculous amount of money," according to Clement. Although he stood to make a lot of money on either deal, Clement declined both. Plans for the car now include constructing a gl*** "building" in a vacant lot adjacent to Clement's radio station, or adding the car to a museum that is being built across the street from the radio station. Buddy Holly's story will be a part of the museum when it is completed. Clement also hopes to have the car ready for the town's annual Buddy Holly birthday party so attendees will be able to have pictures taken with the car ... and ensure that this piece of memorabilia will continue to keep Buddy Holly's memory alive.
That's one of the thing's that got me thinking about it again. Normal life has a way of blinding us from relatively insignificant thing's like this.. I've thought about it a few time's every now and then, but when the anniversary was here it brought the thought's back and i thought it would be great to actually see it all shiny new like when it was first bought.. Thanks for the info Big T.. i did find that last night as well. there's actually a few decent write up's on it, but for the most part they all pretty much all say the same thing..But still no pictures. I thought about contacting the auto shop that was doing the resto on it, but just didn't want to bother working men for something so trivial. I do find it odd however that there's been no photo's of it anywhere considering how many other car's have been 'found' that were owned by celebrities or icons and do***ented over the years.. Kinda bring's me down a bit really...you can see pics of a truck owned by Charles Manson here on the HAMB, but searching the world wide web you can't locate a pic of an American rock and roll legend's ride.. And i couldn't agree more with the statement about it sitting outside as it was too..The guy's talking about the car like it's his pride and joy, "Buddy Holly's 58 Impala", yet it sit's outside with nothing even covering it.. I've stored absolute ****boxes with no significant value at all inside just because they were old car's... Hopefully pics of it will show. Anyone who live's in that area ever seen it finished? Tony
According to Bill Griggs, who is definately the number one holley historian, that 58 impala is all BS, and not the real car Holley owned. He wrote an article on it, but I havnt been able to locate it. He did have the bill of sale for the car on ebay a feeks ago though. I'd definately trust Grigg's word over the guy who wants to think he has Budd's car. Griggs is a family friend of the Holley's, and has dedicated his while life to researching buddy, ritchie, and the bopper, but mainly buddy. Here is his website: http://www.rockin50s.com/
Wow...no ****! Now that would **** if this is all a hoax.. Thanks for the link and info.. I'll check it out. Tony
About 15 years ago, K-MEMBER, MARSHALL and I were involved in restoring a GTO. When stripping the car for total restoration MARSHALL found some eye gl***es in the glove box. "Hey, I found Buddy Holley's gl***es". It was good for a laugh. Later that day the GTO owers son showed up and we laughted about it. But the kid paniked and called his dad and told him the news. Shorty soon after dad arived, paper work in hand. Was indeed Buddy's gl***es he had paid big money for at auction. True story!!!!..................OLDBEET
Pretty damn interesting....I was watching la Bamba the other nite and wondering to myself what might have happened to the vehicles these guys had owned. Pretty kool info!
I've heard that too, last time I saw the car it was sitting in the shop that restored it covered in dust. Maybe Bill Morgan will chime in, I remember talking about the '58 with him awhile back.
no it was actually waylon jennings who had buddys motor cycle it was in his living room, waylon actually played b*** for buddy and was going to be on the plane but took a bus instead,he was never a cricket he filled it for his normal player ,had a hard time living with his death ,but it was him that had the bike i think it was sold in a estate sale after waylon died in 2003
I did some checking on the site Chad s posted, and also kept digging on the net and eventually found a site that Bill Griggs himself had posted on stating that the car is not Buddy's 58 and that Clement evidently admitted it once given Griggs 7 month search results..... What i'm confused about is if the paperwork received showing the puchase in the name of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, with a matching vin..and the car matches how the is it not....unless of course the do***ent was forged to match the car or vise versa... Now, if it is in fact not his car, then where is his?? I mean, he was a 'star' at that point so you would *think* it wouldn't end up lost, especially considering it was only a year old at the time.. veeery interesting... What a ****ed up deal if it's not it... now it's got me wondering where the real car is if this isn't it....
There is much speculation about Buddy's car in the Lubbock area to this day. I lived and went to school in Lubbock between 2001-2006 and got to know several of the local car guy's in the area. When I purchased my 65 Rivi I bought it from a gentelman named James Dean from Lubbcok, Tx ( stay with me here). James and I became really good freinds and he and I would spend seeral hours in his workshop reading thru his old hot rod and custom rodder mags he had since he was in high school very neat stuff, and alot of life lessons and phylosiphy went on in that workshop. James was about a year older then Buddy , but his wife Connie was In the same grade and graduated with him. Well over the years weve remained friends and James has shared and repeated several stories of growing up in LBK TX and some did involve Buddy. But Connie is the one with the stories that keep your attention, Connie dated Jerrry Allision from the crickets .She also has her yearbook with Buddy in it but no signature. So eventually the topic of Holly's car came up when I first asked about the car Connie said she didn't know what happend to Buddy's oldsmobile....What oldsmobile you my ask his first car was a 54-55 olds eighty eight I can't remember which year but the answer is phone call away, Regardless I asked about the Impala she remembers the car but not what happend to it. legend has it that it was stored behind a gas station in Amarillo until it was found and restored by a locall car dealer in lubbock. Another legend is that a local yard had it until it was "found" and restored this was mentioned earlier in the thread from what the local guys say this too is untrue. Truth of the matter is no one knows for sure and at the time it was just a used car there was no frame of historical reference to compare the significance of Holly and his personal belongings. The car was prusemed sold a traded thru the years like all cars and eventually ended up in the crusher or is still sitting in a cotton feild around Lubbock. I make a sabatical to Lubbock about twice a year now and I talk to James about once a month on the phone. I have more info but the details are kinda fuzzy so until I speak with the Deans Im not going to put my foot in my mouth and add fuel to all the theroies about the car. But what I do know is the cars that have been "found" are not Holl'ys car's .
The Jalopy Journal
