It’s Only Original Once!

This 1958 Impala Sport Coupe still fires using its OEM spark plugs.

Owned by Bill Picou #22096044, Patterson, LA

Photography by Colin Date

As a young teenager in the ’50s, my infatuation with cars started with our family’s 1952 Chevy 2-door hardtop. My father sold insurance, which meant the car was driven everyday, weather permitting. I would wash that Chevy every Saturday for church on Sunday. In 1956, my father bought a new Bel Air sedan. He refused to buy a Sport Coupe due to wind noise and water leakage.

The years went on and my love for Chevys grew. Our neighbor’s boyfriend would come in from out of town driving his red 1958 Impala, which he would let me wash– and I would make a hefty $2! This was in 1963. That year, my father bought a new Plymouth Satellite (my dad’s brother was now the new service manager at the local Chrysler Plymouth Dealership). I wanted him to buy a ’63 Impala, but it didn’t happen. I inherited the family ’56, which I drove until I went into the Navy in 1966.