Buddy Holly's first car : I remember seeing a picture of it years ago wrecked very poor shape, but it since has been restored as seen. I have a Buddy Holly 45 rpm record autograghed by Peggy Sue .
Buddy Holly's 1958 Chevrolet Impala
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - What if you could own the first car Buddy Holly ever purchased? One local collector claims to have the original car that Holly purchased in 1957.
Lubbock Chevy collector Bill Clements says he bought the car 25 years ago for $1,000, and he says it was originally purchased in 1957 by Holly for his parents.
Today it's owned by Peggy Sue Gerron—yes, that Peggy Sue. The 1958 Chevy Impala is up for sale on eBay, currently with bids exceeding $100,000.
Clements says Norman Petty, Holly's manager, bought the car initially with the Holly and the Crickets account. The Holly family had the car for about seven years before it was all but totaled, he said.
Clements has a trunk full of documentation proving the car is authentic, but he has run into some issues selling it.
"It's a resurrection," Clements said. "We used parts of other cars, and there are people that say, 'That ain't right. You're taking parts off of that original car. But, hey, it didn't have a front seat in it.'"
They were hoping to sell the brilliantly restored 1958 Chevrolet Impala at the 39th Annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector Car Auction in Arizona, on January 18-24 but it was pulled from the auction. "Maria Elena Holly, Buddy's widow, called the auction house and questioned the authenticity as well as our ability to use the Buddy Holly name without paying her," Peggy Sue Gerren said.
So with a tough economy and the need for funding their independent radio station - they decided to sell the car on Ebay. Hoping to sell the car and put the profits toward the independent KDAY radio station.
The story:
According to Clements and Peggy Sue - Holly took a liking to the Impala after his father and brother fell in love with the new design. When his record sales provided enough cash, Holly purchased his first car from Meadors-Stewart Co. in Clovis, New Mexico, at the age of 20.
"Buddy asked his producer and close friend, Norman Petty, to arrange the purchase," said Bill Clement, current owner of the Buddy Holly Impala. "One bit of genius on Petty's part was recommending the 50th anniversary coral color scheme being offered on GM vehicles in 1958."
It would be less than a year later, Holly died in a plane crash that also took the lives of Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.
More than a decade later, Clement, a Lubbock native, Chevy collector and owner of the well-known Chevy Craft shop, purchased the Impala after researching the car and confirming it had indeed belonged to Holly.
Related Link:
eBay Listing: 1958 Chevrolet Impala Buddy Holly's