Texas rock 'n' roller Jimmie Vaughan put aside his guitar and created "Exotica" for his friend, Mike Young. Mike had a semi restored '60 Impala in his garage and Jimmie kept prodding him to do a custom. Mike let Jimmie create this cool cruiser out of his stock classic.

Jimmie built two other slick customs in the past few years, both of which have appeared in R&C. He worked on the Chevy with Gary Howard in Georgetown, Texas. Gary did the building, shaving, hammering, reshaping, welding and painting of the car.

The suspension drop was done first. Gary installed 2 1/2-inch dropped coils and modified the upper control arms, which were lengthened and reshaped. The steering arms were dropped to keep the front-end geometry square. The rear suspension was lowered and redone with a custom rear crossmember, air shocks, and a remounted sway bar.

Jimmie had a set of old-style 14 - inch chrome-reversed steel wheels trimmed with Cal Custom knockoffs and 2 1/4-inch whitewalls.

The powertrain has been left virtually untouched. It retains the original 348 Chevrolet V8, which has been decorated with finned-aluminum valve covers and a few chrome touches.

Gary designed the top chop to lean the roof forward, lopping only 2 5/8-inches out of the A-pillars and reshaping the rear section of the roof and window.

The side trim, handles, locks and door handles were shaved, the side scoop-molding was removed and filled, and the whole rear quarter was smoothed.

The door edges have been rounded, and at the rear, Gary shaped the metalwork for the taillights, which Jimmie fabricated. Gary also pancaked the trunk lid and molded in the rear edge to clean up the panel.

The grille opening was remolded and reshaped along the edges, with the hood and leading edges of the fenders extended 2 inches. Gary added a '59 front bumper. What appears to be a '60 Rambler Ambassador 990 grille with '63 Oldsmobile headlights.

Gary then mixed up a House of Kolors white base, adding the company's new Abalone flake to the blend. Thirty coats of color and clear created a dynamic effect. Jimmie then had Rod Powell add lavender scallops.

Silver-tongued Jimmie talked famed Texas upholsterer Vernon McKean out of retirement to create the spectacular interior. He created a perfect rolled and pleated pearl white interior, set all the trim with black piping, and added a custom split rear seat, new custom door panels, kick panels, dash cover, headliner and full-length console cover.

The Impala's first show was the 1995 Oakland Grand National Roadster Show, where it won many awards, including the much-coveted George Barris "Kustom D'Elegance Award" and the "Koolest Kustom" award from the KKOA.