Rags To Riches - 1962 Chevrolet Impala

Joseph Mendez is no stranger to the pages of Lowrider Magazine. This is Joseph's second centerfold car in as many years and he's certainly outdone himself with this one. This '62 Chevy Impala ragtop features a trick setup, colorful paint and plenty of tricks and treats everywhere you look. Amazingly, this project was being built simultaneously with his "Yellow Rose," but then Joseph got burnt out on this project and focused on his yellow '61 Impala convertible (April '05 LRM).

Joseph's initial plan was to purchase a '59 Impala, but he needed to buy a donor car that would have to sit in front of his house. Since that's a no-no in his Bakersfield, California, neighborhood, he decided to buy this '62 located in New York that was in good shape and running.

Once you see this vehicle in person, you'll appreciate the five years of time that went into taking this car from "Rags To Riches." Being a resident of Bakersfield, Joseph had a few of the necessary resources right at his fingertips and, having had Yellow Rose built, he knew who he could count on for some quality work. With Yellow Rose, he paid the body shop to shut down for a month to knock out that project, so this one sat for 10 months while it was being completed.

Inspired by the colorful colors used by Lifestyle C.C., Joseph decided to step out with something bright and eye-catching. The magenta with its hot-rod sparkle looks pink when it's all said and done. Add to that some cool paint tricks like the Crystal EFX pearl and green iridescent and you have some visually pleasing things going on. The totally engraved side moldings proved to be a cool look, but had Joseph taking a hard gulp when he was surprised with the $3,000 price tag! Being different costs and it's all about how much you're willing to spend.

After admiring Ted Wells' work for years, Joseph had the chance to meet him and decided that he wanted to build an "old school"/"new school" hydraulics setup. He also wanted to be able to compete with the big boys in the setup department and knew that he would have to do something special. Aircraft pumps and Adex dumps were initially going to be used, but then Joseph came across the unique "Pistola" dumps and that's where the idea of combining the old and the new was born. Ted even helped out with some of the initial setup and, when it was all done, Joseph was left with one of the most unique setups in quite a while.

Taking a look at the wheels you might notice that they're something that you don't see very often and that's a set of triple-laced Daytons. These aren't something that you can order off of the shelf; they're special order items and will set you back a cool $2,800. Add a set of the revised 5.20s from Coker Tires and you have a timeless classic tire/wheel combo.

Joseph's faith is an integral part of his life and Rags To Riches has an even deeper meaning. Like the Lord removing the sins of many, Joseph had his '62 cleansed and brought to a higher level.