1964 Chevy Impala Chico's -- Lowrider Magazine

Chico Castro of Gardena, California, has done it again! What do we mean? The man from M&M Hydraulics in Gardena has built another fabulous ride of his own, taking only a year to transform this clean, cutting '64 Chevy Impala into the beautiful baby blue boulevard cruiser that you see here.

A welder by trade, Chico worked his welding magic reinforcing and boxing in the car's frame, along with molding in the A-arms to leave the frame ready for his friend, the "not so ordinary Joe" at M&M Hydraulics. Joe got to work blocking and prepping the frame, making sure that it was flawless before laying out OG baby blue paint.

With the frame reattached to the body, Chico had his Impala shipped out to fellow Los Angeles C.C. member "Mexico" at Mexico's Auto Center in Paramount, California. Mexico and his handy workers went right to work on the body, pulling and straightening any dings or dents. Once they ascertained that the Chevy sheet metal was smooth, Mexico used the same OG baby blue paint on the body. Mixing and filling his paint gun and plugging the '64 into the spray booth, the car gladly absorbed the OG baby blue paint onto its primered body. Mexico didn't leave the car completely stock, however, as he patterned out the top to change the whole look from sleek to chic. Mexico added a coat of clear to lock in the bodacious baby blue finish. Chico then sent the '64 to master pinstriper Mike Lamberson, who accented the car with some very fine lines.

Chico moved on to redoing the interior. Using all of his resources, Chico shipped the car out to Martinez Auto in El Monte, California, where Raymond did the car's interior in its original stitch, flowing it into the car's trunk ever so gracefully. Raymond used the original GM aqua blue vinyl with aqua blue inserts and handed it back to Chico in a matter of days.

The 283-c.i.d. Chevy small-block was next on Chico's list. Joe and James from the shop cleaned up the entire engine bay and took off the top end of the small-block and replaced the stock intake with an Edelbrock intake and carburetor. The engine also includes many chrome goodies like brackets and pulleys, while any and all loose wires were disguised in blue wire loom. All of the chrome plating from the front suspension to the custom shortened rearend was handled by M&M Hydraulics.

Oh yeah, the M&M men worked their magic on a hydraulics setup built around a pair of their own M&M pumps with custom-made blocks. Four chrome Adex dumps, two solenoid blocks, 6-inch (front) and 12-inch (rear) cylinders, 11/2-ton coils, eight 31-1000 Series batteries, custom hard lines and six switches round out the hydro hardware. As soon as he acquired a set of custom 13x7 California Wire Wheels with baby blue spokes wrapped in Cooper tires, Chico was ready to hit the streets in his sleek Impala. Although it took him a full year to finish his ride, "Chico's '64" is so flawless it looks like it could've taken a lifetime to complete.