Squeaky Clean '64

Being the youngest member of an established car club can have its perks. You have the advantage of learning from fellow members who have paid their dues and who can pass along the knowledge of building a tight ride. So who is this fortunate individual that has access to this knowledge? Well, that would be 24-year-old Sergio "Squeaky D Dogg" Ruiz, who's straight outta Compton, California.

The young lowrider is a member of Classic Memories Car Club and makes an honest living as a self-employed landscaper. All of that time out in the sun produced a lot of green to get his ride to be a "Squeaky Clean '64." Squeaky picked up the hardtop for $5,500 and dropped five times that amount into the Chevy Impala Super Sport.

Squeaky and twin brother Carlos made darn sure that the OG 327-c.i.d. was built to last as well as make a visual statement. That meant hooking up an Edelbrock intake manifold and carb setup, refinishing the block, bolting on detailed billet air cleaner and valve covers, and upgrading the ignition system. Tons of plating and polishing throughout the "pimped out" engine bay and car is courtesy of Joe Garza, owner of Garza's Plating in Long Beach, California. A set of Hooker headers is mated to an aluminized system that ends up with chrome-plated tips.

While we're down there we might as well talk about the "love" that went into the belly of the beauty. The details on the undercarriage start with a fully wrapped Canadian frame that's been powdercoated silver. The A-arms are molded and plated, and the suspension was gathered together by Squeaky, Carlos and Diablo Cervantes. All of the suspension components were also refinished or replaced to continue the car's quality.

This was done by G's Hydraulics in Compton with owner Gerardo Yanez doing the awesome setup as well. Four all-chrome pumps were custom built by Squeaky and the backing plates were engraved by EZ's Engraving in Long Beach. The symmetrical setup features custom bent steel tubing, oil-filled Hi-Low gauges and three square dumps. The batteries, eight all together, are secured to a chrome-plated rack with polished steel panels to brighten up the trunk. The plumbing to the cylinders is #8 hoses, while the coils at the corners are 41/2-ton springs. The driveline was extended to accommodate movement when locking the booty up tight.

The car was acquired from Evan's Auto Body in Riverside, California, and was already painted platinum silver pearl, but the firewall itself was shaved by Conrad "The Bad" Garcia, who also had a hand in the color scheme of painted accents. David Bazua of Imperial Motor of SouthGate, California, pulled his camelhair brush over body lines and components beneath the hood using sunburst yellow and lavender as his colors. Other exterior touches include mirror inserts on the hood and trunk by David Bonilla and custom 13x7-inch 100-spoke wire wheels. The wheels were built by Wheel Network in Paramount, California, where a combo of sunburst yellow and lavender laces and custom engraved knockoffs etched by EZ's Engraving made the SS look quite proper.

A meticulous interior was done up by Squeaky using color-matched leather in the cabin and out back in the trunk cavity. A couple of Alpine head units, one in a custom console that fits in front of the SS floor shifter, gets Squeaky busy when hitting the streets. Since he and his bro Carlos installed the system themselves, he figured that he'd go with a pair of Inter-Fire amps, Alpine crossover and JBL speakers, 61/2-inch separates and 6x9-inch coaxials in the rear package tray, while a pair of 10-inch Kicker subwoofers bump and thump the low-low to go with the flow.

Winning Best Engine, Best Hydraulics and Best in Show on recent outings doesn't come without a bit of help from fellow members. "Long days and longer nights from buying the car to bringing it out to this photo session (lots of cleaning!) couldn't have been done without Conrad Garcia, Diablo, Alex Mercado, Jerry, my twin brother Carlos, Tomas Cervantes, David Bazua, David Bonilla, Kevin and Ruben, Tony and Adrian," says Squeaky, who asked that we specifically mention these fine lowriders who helped build such a killer ride.