Oh, she goes pretty good. Yeah, I love being able to do that. Just being able to floor it. I remember I used to try to do it to my old cars and they would cough through the carburetor. I'd be like, 'Oh, no.' This is the best running engine setup that I would love to do in a bunch of my cars.
It's like two personalities, one cruiser, one bruiser.
Yeah. It's just good to know you have the other one if you need it, you know? Here we go. Let's put our foot in it. That was a long all right.
Welcome to another episode of Jay Leno's Garage. The car featured today, 1959 Chevrolet Impala convertible. There's not many of these '59s left. It's a one-year-only model. This one has been slightly modified, but tastefully done. As you can see, it's a low rider. It's got the lift kit. Well, we'll see what it is. This one is owned by an old friend of ours. I had him on The Tonight Show like 28 years ago, some crazy thing like that. You know him from Blink-182, Travis Barker. Travis, come in, my friend. Good to see you.
You know, there's a great documentary on his life on Hulu. Uh, what's the official name of it?
It's called 'Louder Than Fear'.
'Louder Than Fear'. Boy, it's really good. It's really good. It's emotional. Your father's in it, your children in it. We see your children being born. We see them. They taped it over 9 years, didn't they?
Yeah, you see interviews from way back when. You know, it's really...
But I thought it was fascinating. I watched it, you know, sometimes you kind of speed through stuff. No, I watched the whole thing. And the dad's tattoo and it was really good. So, congratulations. I think people will learn a lot about you and what type of person you are.
But let's get into this. Now, you've always been like a cruiser guy, right?
Yeah, I always loved Chevys and Cadillacs. I was raised on them right from my pops. He always had... didn't always have running vehicles, but we always had a, you know, one running Cadillac and a couple broken-down ones in the yard that he would be working on.
And what did your dad do?
Uh, my dad was a steel mill worker.
Steel in Fontana where I grew up.
Okay. So, being a drummer, that had to be... oh, what a sensible alternative that is to having a real job. Was he... I mean, I... well, I got from the video, he didn't quite get it at the beginning, did he?
No, I think drums are such a loud instrument.
It's, uh, you know, any parents that allow their kids to play drums, they're special, you know? Uh...
Yeah, totally. They were. My dad would come home every day, I would be playing drums in my garage, he would open the garage, bring his Harley in, um, and I'm still 10 times louder than his Harley.
The neighbors were constantly calling the police on me. Yeah, man, it's a really... it's a big commitment, but I had such supportive parents.
And, uh, yeah, my dad basically worked to provide for our family and help me with music.
About your story. It wasn't the typical rock and roll, the gratuitous OD, you know, the rehab, you know, all that kind of stuff. It, you know, loving family, dad supportive, mom supportive, the kids are great. It was really good. I think it's... I would call it a family thing you could watch. It, you know, if you have a mature family who kind of gets it, you know.
But it's a good life lesson how to lead your life and, you know, you can do crazy stuff and be cool and then... but always come back to reality.
And that's what I like about it. But all right, let's get back to the car now.
I remember these. These had the 348 in it. This originally had a 348, right?
Now you've got the modern...
Yeah, we have the LS3 in there.
LS3 in here. Okay. Well, I mean, the paint is flawless.
Yeah, I didn't touch the paint. This is from... it was a Texas car and this is the original paint from the owner that I bought it from.
Wow, I mean, it's just beautiful. Now, was it totally stock or was it modified when you got it?
Had the huge steering wheel.
Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah.
Yeah. That little smaller wheel.
It drove really well just the way I got it. But I also wanted to be able to cruise and not worry too much about, you know, an engine that was however many years old. Kind of be able to go anywhere and I couldn't help but look at this car and wish it was just a little lower. So, you know, um...
Well, you got the lift kit, so you don't drive it at this...
No, yeah, I don't drive it at this height. But, um, just being able to park and sit it down, lay it down is such a cool thing.
And this is a one-year-only model. I remember when it came out Chevy had this whole thing like these aerodynamic wings, these help stabilize the car at high speed. All this funny stuff. It was just a styling exercise.
But that was the year they changed the body. Every '57 had fins. '58 totally different. '59 totally... The whole car was a brand new car every year. '61, '62, you know, it's... It was an interesting time to live cuz I was a little kid, you'd wait for the new cars to come out, you know.
Yeah. Oh, I wish I lived during that time.
Yeah, yeah, I remember when I watched the Batman movie, one of these was in it and went by with the... That was... it was a sort of ooh, the bat wing, you know.
And wasn't this like what they called... This was kind of the version of like a stock Batmobile back in the day, right?
Yeah, somewhat. Yeah, I would think that's fair to say. Sure, sure. They've... it 14-inch wheels.
Yeah, I put Daytons on it like just OG, you know, wires. I have a couple Impalas, so usually I put wire wheels on it. Either that or like the stock hubcaps. I love both.
Now, Pegasus, is that a car club?
Yeah, Pegasus is a car club from here in Los Angeles.
Mr. Cartoon, he has amazing cars.
Yeah, yeah. And you keep the top down all the time?
Well, you know, if you're going to store it, you should store it with the top up.
Well, just because you don't get the permanent... Start with the top up, park it in the sun, sun takes the creases out. Then when you take it out, you know, you drive around, you put it down. But you should always park it with the top up. It just keeps it tight. And it won't get, you know, this kind of stuff in the back window, you know, the cracks and lines.
Yeah, of course. Let's see what we got.
Yeah, I've actually made that mistake where I, um, I've left the top down, and then I'm actually having a bunch of problems putting the top up or it felt like tight or hard to fasten it again, you know?
It doesn't hurt to put a little WD-40 on the joints. Wow, that's nice and clean.
Yeah, it like looks like an old, you know...
They've done it the right way. They've got Wilwood disc brakes here. Those are about the best you can get.
We like Wilwood. We use them on everything we have here, too.
And it's nice you finished under the hood. Boy, they did a nice job here. What's that? About 300 horsepower? Something like that?
Yeah. That's very nice. Cool. What else we got? You got your air conditioner? Did you add that later?
Yeah, we put like the Vintage Air in.
Right. Yeah, that works good, too. We use Vintage Air on everything. Great company, and they make the switches and adapters that you can keep it your stock, you know, air conditioning slide and all that stuff.
Yeah, where everything looks original.
I like the blackout on the valve covers. Very nice.
Yeah, we can shut it again. There you go.
Do your kids like this thing?
Oh yeah, cuz this is so unlike cars they grew up with.
Yeah, it's so different than a modern car. I guess like the closest thing you get to how an old Chevy or Cadillac drives is maybe a Rolls nowadays. You know, as far as luxury or just feeling like you're floating.
Used to call that a boulevard ride. You just...
Yeah, I love that. I think also I work and I love working so much or I'm in the studio so much. When I'm in my car, I just want to be comfortable.
Right, yeah. Yeah, that's funny.
That's also called getting older.
Yeah, yeah. But, uh, no, I think from the... and I saw my pops from the time I was old enough to drive, that's what pops was rolling around in was bigger...
Isn't it funny how when you're a kid you're so influenced by... My dad, being Italian, had a friend named Mario, was a carpenter, and he had one of these convertible, and he would have the cigarette pack rolled up here, right?
And he had the hair goes back. And my mother one day said, 'All the women always swoon whenever Mario goes by, you know.' So one day Mario came for dinner, you know. And while sitting at the table, I look at Mario, look at my mom, and look at my mom. She goes, 'What? What are you doing?' Well, how come you're not swooning? What do you mean? You said the women always swoon when Mario...
My mother was so embarrassed. She just ran out of the room. It was hilarious.
But you know, the most Italian guy, you know, the cigarette hanging out, this thing rolled up, little Brylcreem, the whole deal. Really funny. Really funny. Well, I said Wilwood brakes. Discs in front, I assume?
Yeah. Custom exhaust system.
Oh, Magnaflow exhaust, yeah, yeah. Oh, you got to have the Continental wheel kit. That says the whole thing, yeah.
Yeah, that was like a must for this car when we were building it.
I did not even realize that was available for the '59, but I guess it was. I don't know if that was factory or an accessory that you got after the fact.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, cuz when we were building it, we were contemplating like, do we do it? Do we not? And I'm like, oh, it looks so cool and it just feels like the car is even longer.
Do you have a tire in there now?
Yeah, okay. Again, the paint is so flawless. And this is my... you look like you're fishing with these two... when these two antennas are out, you look like you're in some catamaran in your...
Yeah, yeah, hilarious. And it is a big car. And you got the top down with the air conditioner on. It doesn't get more California than that.
That's the best. That's my favorite thing to do ever.
It's funny. It's funny. And what color is the top? Is it red?
Oh, that's yeah, I think that looks good, yeah.
I like the interior. Very nice.
It looks stock. I don't know if it is.
Is that a stock interior? This is like one of those kits, but it looks great. I like that.
I think it's very similar to like the stock interior, but it's not the stock interior, yeah.
And you got power steering, power brake, all that kind of stuff.
Yeah. The goal is to make all the vehicles to where my wife can also drive it and enjoy it, too.
Whereas when we first got it, she was like, how do you drive this thing? The steering wheel was so big, she couldn't turn the wheels.
See, that's what I look for. Oh, honey, I'm sorry, you can't drive it.
Yeah.
No, I try to keep the cars, yeah, yeah.
You're a very understanding man.
I like the dash cuz the dash looks like it's right out of the Corvette. Uh, that was sort of the look back in the '50s. Big speedometer in the center with the gauges on the side.
