LAS VEGAS -- For Ray Evernham, restoring the original 1958 Chevy Impala from the 1973 movie American Graffiti was a 40-year labor of love.
It took Evernham, a consultant for Hendricks Motorsports and former NASCAR crew chief, that long to find and purchase the original car in the movie; and from there the real work began. Evernham spent more than a year restoring the vehicle, purchased in 2014.
"American Graffiti really drove me more towards cars than any other thing in my life," Evernham said.
He, in partnership with Axalta Refinish Coatings, unveiled the restored vehicle at the 2016 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
One of the original stars of the movie, Candy Clark, who played Debbie, was on hand to see the vehicle.
Evernham did a full forensic restoration of the car -- all original parts were restored and restraightened. The rear tires are the original tires, and Evernham even left some parts that were "adjusted" for the movie as they were. This meant some parts had holes and adjustments in them to account for microphone and camera wires and cables.
Matching the paint was the biggest challenge, as he needed to find a finish that replicated that of the lacque from the 1950s.
He watched the movie hundreds of times and even pulled stills from the film to ensure the vehicle was a perfect match.
