Ride of the Week… Marc Magid’s 1959 Chevy Impala Wagon

As the writer for Ride of the Week, I get to meet a lot of interesting people and see amazing cars.

And, as you know, the whole point of this column is to share those stories and hopefully inspire you guys to do the same, to get out into the world and create positive change.

Now, you can do this in a very simple fashion, as all it really takes is to share what you love with others. And when someone approaches me with a cool car and story, I’m grateful and appreciate their desire to share.

So this week’s Ride of the Week goes to Marc “Squid” Magid and his 1959 Chevy Impala Wagon.

Magid, a frequent attendee of my Wheels and Waves show here in Malibu every third Sunday, revealed to me the story behind the minty green Impala and what it took to build.

“Ross Peterson took two years to build this,” he begins, noting that Peterson used three different cars to build the one-of-a-kind automobile.

“A ’75 454 was punched out to 468ci,” he said. “An Edelbrock 75 carburetor on the stock four-barrel intake. Chevy aluminum valve covers and a Mooneyes air cleaner, coupled with a chrome water pump, alternator, brackets and A/C compressor make it all fancy.”

Ooh, now we’re talking.

“A new stock 700-R4 transition had a shift kit added before it was attached to the big block,” he continued. “Interior is period stylish with seats adorned with metallic mint to green designs and all gauges have been updated to digital Dakota, filling the stock dash. Scott from Hot Rods & Hobbies out of Signal Hill gave this ‘green machine’ a total makeover and many, many layers of pistachio paint.”

Seriously, you want to walk up to this car and just lick it.

The car ended up in Magid’s hands a little more than four years ago.

“My neighbor saw it at a picnic in the city of Hawthorne and I knew I had to have it,” Magid said. “I grew up delivering newspapers with my dad out of the back of his station wagon and this car brings me back to a much simpler time in life.”

And there it is. A key point in restoring cars always seems to bring us back to a positive time when things were good, thus putting more love in the world.

“The best part about this car, besides it being totally unique, is that I bought a ’46 woodie and brought it home, told my wife that we had to sell the ‘green machine’ now and she refused to let me,” he said. “Can’t beat having a car that the wife loves!”

Yeah, that’s an understatement in a massive way, considering that many of my friends were given the ultimatum of “the car or the wife.”

But Squid’s favorite story was picking up the “green machine” from Hot Rods & Hobbies as they were going with them to Good Guys in Del Mar.

“We knew it was a special car when their guys were taking pic[ture]s of the ‘green machine’ as we drove off,” Magid recalled. “It was a fabulous weekend with them and we won Builder’s Choice Award out of over 3,000 cars! The feeling of driving through the tunnel to accept our award from Charley Hutton was unforgettable.”

Again, the feeling behind having these cars is what keeps car culture alive.

And Squid confirms something else: the love of cruising the coast with car club friends and going to different shows.

“I never was able to play Little League growing up because I was delivering newspapers with my dad and I never got to win a trophy,” Magid said. “And now, since I got the ‘green machine,’ I’ve won several. I feel so lucky and humble.”

You guys getting this? Do what you love, and good things happen. Yep, that’s the ticket. If only more people would understand that what you put into the world is what comes back to you in droves. You have to be conscious.

Squid’s parting thought references our love of this town.

“I love coming to Wheels & Waves in Malibu and cruising the wide open highway with the surfers over our shoulder,” Magid said. “Fireball has made this a monthly tradition to meet up with some good quality people who care about keeping the car culture alive. The laid-back vibes of Malibu reminds me of surfing with my buddies and you can’t beat PCH at 7 a.m. when no one else is on the road!”

As always, thanks for coming out, Squid!

Want to be featured in Ride of the Week? Send Fireball an email at askfireball@fireballtim.com.

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