Barry Penfound, under the guise of Penfound Design, is making quite a name for himself building clean, crisp customs based on late-'50s and early '60s two-door hardtops. The past few years have seen a '63 Impala Sportsroof, a '59 Buick LeSabre, and a '64 Caddy, but the latest, this '59 Chevy dubbed Inpala, might just have presented his greatest challenge yet, owing to one remarkable feature. It wears its original paint. Obviously the bumpers and wheels have been color-matched, but the rest of it is the same paint that was laid on at the GM plant half a century ago! We'll let Barry explain:
"As a collector of early custom car magazines, I noticed a unique trend in the late 1950s. Back in the day, when the pocket-sized Rod & Custom was on the newsstands, bold car buyers would pick up their new '59 or '60 Thunderbird, LeSabre, or Impala, and get them customized as quickly as possible. There are stories of people driving new cars directly to body shops when they left the dealership, hoping to get their modified stockers back on the street in hours, not months. Instant customs were born.
"That is the idea behind Inpala-taking an original-paint survivor '59 Chevy and doing as much as possible without resorting to radical body modifications, paint changes, or engine swaps. The plan was to make the car smooth and clean and make the most of its already outlandish 'Mission to Mars' styling.
"While some of those '50s and '60s mild customs were the inspiration for the 'instant Impala,' the car also has elements with a contemporary feel as well. Body-colored, solid billet 18-inch wheels modified for N.O.S. Chevy dog-dish center caps have an old-school look with modern technology, a one-off stainless steel grille smoothes out the front, and one-piece California bumpers add a clean look. Of course, the stance, provided by lower springs all around, clear headlight lenses, and red, flat plastic taillights-from a how-to article in a '59 magazine-are reminders of those earlier customs.
"To keep the original paint intact, most of the changes were made to what could be removed and replaced. Fortunately, the aftermarket makes tons of reproduction parts for Chevrolets, so the hood eyebrows, headlight and taillight bezels, and rocker panel moldings were replaced with modified new ones. Bumpers and other trim pieces were out there waiting to be salvaged, which made it easier to remove and save the original pieces. The radical factory styling helped make it a successful instant custom.
"It was a great experience to do a mild custom quickly in a world that sometimes judges a car's success by how many modifications it has, how many hours of labor are in it, or what it cost. Extreme cars are neat, but there's something to be said for getting a car to the street in less than dog years!"
Barry purchased the Impala about seven years ago, its original paint and 50,000 miles helping the car sell itself. Having the first owner show up at Goodguys Indy last year brought its history full circle, too. Though, when Barry showed the car to the guy he'd bought it from-who knew he'd customized it-a 15-minute inspection was followed with a gruff, "I knew you were going to **** this car up." Barry's response to a friend? "I think that went pretty well, don't you?"
Thing is, there's nothing been done that can't be undone, and Barry kept all the stock parts, too. This turned out to be one of the most challenging aspects of the project-maintaining the originality of the car, while giving it a custom identity. As Barry put it, "Once you cross the line of repainting a car, anything is possible, but with an original-paint vehicle, the game is harder. Plus, with some of the dealer-installed accessories like the lower rear fender ports having been on the car for over 45 years, they'd earned their place." And lest you should think that Inpala is a show-only vehicle, with its low original mileage preserved at all costs, it's a driver-making the first leg of the Hot Rod Power Tour last year, driving for eight hours in the rain, as well as attending Goodguys events in Indy and Columbus, which is where we caught up with it in its home state.
Rod & Custom Feature Car
Barry Penfound
Elyria, Ohio
1959 Chevrolet Impala
Chassis
Classic Industries supplied the 2-inch dropped front and 3-inch dropped rear springs, though the remainder of the frame is as the General intended, down to the stock 3.36:1 rearend ratio, steering, and brakes. In the tradition of those instant customs of yesteryear, it's only what you can see up top that counts. The underpinnings are far less important.
Drivetrain
The 185hp 283 is the original engine that this car came from the factory with in 1959, and it's not often we can say that! It's completely stock internally and even has the factory option dual exhaust. It shouldn't come as any surprise to find the original Powerglide under the floor either, shifted courtesy of the factory column shifter.
Body & Paint
We've made a great deal of the stock paint on this car, but it's the accents that make this hardtop what it is. Painting the headlight and taillight bezels and hood eyebrows body color, as well as the one-piece bumpers with hidden bolts, has the dramatic effect of reducing the amount of chrome and stainless over an overly bedecked stocker, while the new grille and perfectly detailed wheels ensure you know it's not stock, but can't quite put your finger on why. Hand-cut flat red plastic taillight lenses and Chev's of the 40's-supplied clear headlights add to the updated effect, as does the subtle pinstriping on the bumpers by Dean Sadowsky. The backup lamps were also deleted from the rear valance, as were the door handle guards and door edge guards.
Wheels & Tires
Eighteen-inch Series 91 Wheel Vintiques billet hoops were supplied with polished rims, the centers being painted to match the bodywork after The Wheelsmith in Santa Ana, California, modified them to accept the N.O.S. Chevy dog-dish hubcaps. Goodyear Eagle F1 rubber measure 235/40/18 and 255/45/18, front and rear, respectively.
Interior
Again, the operative word here is "stock," though CARS Inc. supplied new upholstery and there's a full Custom Autosound system hidden in the interior, installed by Complete Automotive Services in Barry's hometown of Elyria, Ohio. Let's face it, there's not a whole lot that needs to be done to make a '59 Chevy interior any more impressive than the factory job!