1959 Chevrolet - Buddha Buggie - Tats Gotanda's Chevy - Bill Hines

1959 Chevrolet Impala restyled by Bill Hines for Tats Gotanda of Los Angeles . Tat's Impala is also known as the "Buddah Buggy". Bill Hines restyled the car by placing scoops in the rear quarter panels and at the sides of the headlights. He also added the stiffener ribs atop the front fenders. Perforated metal was used in all scoops to give finished appearance. The left rear quarter panel features sunken twin antennae. Lakes pipes emerge from the tunnels in the lower rocker panels. The grille was from a 1959 Imperial backed by plated tubes, obscuring the view directly into the ducts. Split bumpers were used front and rear. Once completed, the car's limited yet perfect metalwork was painted Candy Blue over a white pearl base coat on the main fuselage and powder blue Metalflake was applied to the canopy.


November 16 - 23, 1961, the Buddah Buggy was shown at the 2nd annual Tridents Rod and Custo-Rama at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. In the souvenir program from the show, Tats Impala is listed as a semi custom owned by "Tats Galanda".[2] After meeting Ron Aguirre and his X-Sonic Bubble Top Corvette, Bill got inspired and installed a full hydraulic lift system on Tats' Impala. Tats' car could be raised and lowered 8 1/2 inches. Chrome shields were made for the wheel wells to look good in high positions. The wire wheels were from a Buick Skylark. This car may have been the second low rider, the first being the Aguirres' X-Sonic. The X-Sonic was also shown at the 2nd annual Tridents Rod and Custo-Rama, so chances are that this was where Bill saw the X-Sonic.


In the souvenir program for the Tridents Rod and Custo-Rama, Tats' Impala is shown with a more traditional interior. Sometime after this [Eddie Martinez]] upholstered the car in blue frieze and white pearl Naugahyde. The carpets were done in fur. The rear seat was contoured to match the front swivel seats. The interior also featured luxuries such as a TV, a hi-fi stereo system and a telephone. Plastic door and dashboard knobs were made by Bob Hirohata. A Pontiac steering wheel topped the column.

The stock engine was retained, but it was equipped with a Duntov cam and an Edelbrock manifold supporting a pair of four-barrel carburetors.

In the 60's the car was sold to a school teacher who drove it for a while before he decided to park it. Around 2004 the car was dug out and brought back to Bill Hines for a full restoration.

Magazine Features
Spotlite Book 534 Custom Headlights & Fenders
Car Craft February 1964





http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Tats_Gotanda's_1959_Chevrolet

We have posted this car a while back now. 59 Impala called Buddha Buggy customised by Bill Hines in 62. 1st Impala ever to have hydraulics…after some research this car has been found, delivered back To Bill Hines below for restoration. We love that shit.
http://committedfew.co.nz/bill-hines-buddha-buggy/

1959 Chevy Impala - Buddha Buggy

It's 1963 and Tats Gotanda's 1959 Chevy Impala, dubbed the "Buddha Buggy", has appeared in just about every magazine related to custom cars or hot rods. Bought new by Gotanda in 1959, and delivered to Bill Hines, who made a number of mild body modifications before finishing the Impala in Candy Blue in 1962, it was one of the first cars to feature hydraulics, after Hines met Ron Aguirre and got a good look at his X-Sonic bubbletop Corvette. The "Buddha Buggy" had, and still has, 8 1/2 inches of suspension travel, enabling it to be driven at an acceptable ride height yet drop extremely low for car shows. The car was very successful on the show circuit, taking more than one trophy at every event it appeared at, but then Gotanda joined the military and sold the car to Warren Low who continued to have Hines modify it. Eventually, however, the "Buddha Buggy" was retired and disappeared from public life.

As with so many show cars of the time, that could have been the last anyone would see of the Impala, numerous similar cars ending up scrapped, sold off, or left outside to rust away. Many others continued to be modified beyond recognition, but the "Buddha Buggy" never left Warren's ownership or where he kept it in storage. Some 30 years after it was retired, Warren discussed bringing the car back to Hines once again for a full restoration to its show car glory days.

The truly remarkable part of this story is that not only was the car still 100 percent complete when it was delivered to Bill Hines, but his leadwork was all still intact, the hydraulics system was deemed sound enough to leave in place, and even the original interior was all there, though it had faded in places. In fact, the worst part was the surface rust on the hood, roof, and trunk, which necessitated a repaint. This closely resembles its original paintjob, but without the 'flake roof and with fadeaways along the sides of the hood and trunk.

But let's take a trip back through the Candy Blue nitrocellulose mists of time to the early '60s, to take a look at what Bill Hines did to what was already a pretty outrageous "factory custom". Curved scoops were added to the front fenders outboard of the headlights, with similar scoops at the rear ends of scalloped recesses atop each front fender, and yet more scoops, this time squarer, in the rear quarters between the door and wheel arch. Split bumpers allowed housings to be built up around the license plates front and rear, with more scoops beside (front) and below (rear) them. All these scoops were filled with perforated metal, as were the rear light housings that vaguely resemble the stock taillights but are elongated, recessed, curved, and fitted with three separate round lenses.

Beneath the rounded corners of the hood, which echo the rounded rear fin corners, a '59 Chrysler Imperial grille was backed by chromed tubing, while twin lakes pipes ran along the rocker panels out of molded tubes. A pair of frenched antennae rose from the left rear quarter-panel. Buick Skylark wire wheels finished the exterior, which was painted Candy Blue over a white pearl base, with blue metalflake on the roof.

As if the exterior wasn't wild enough, the Eddie Martinez interior was totally redone in Blue Frieze and white pearl vinyl with fur carpet. The stock front seats gave way to swiveling versions, with the rear re-contoured to match. Bob Hirohata allegedly made the laminated plastic dash and doorknobs, while a full-length console housed whiskey decanters and glasses. As befits the period, a TV, stereo, and telephone all made an appearance. Though stock with the exception of a Duntov cam, the motor was extensively chromed, and two fours on an Edelbrock manifold were added, though they made way sometime over the past three decades for a single four-barrel.

Once Warren brought the "Buddha Buggy" back to Hines, the exterior was restored and painted and the car shown at the Grand National Roadster Show, still on the original Buick wires and still with the remarkable Martinez interior, which came up surprisingly well after a good clean and a little touch up with paint. This is next on the restoration list, but I wanted to photograph the car with its original interior in place. While it can doubtless be recreated perfectly, it's such a well-preserved piece of history that it seems a shame to me to have it redone. Though these pictures were shot last year, the car remains today just as you see it here, still with the original interior. Of course it's not my car, but I for one hope it stays that way!

Read more: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1010rc_1959_chevy_impala/

Built in 1962, the ’59 Chevy Buddha Buggy was returned to Bill Hines in 2007 for restoration. Jerry Weesner



Hines plans his strategy on the Buddha Buggy restoration. Bill works in his shop every day of the week and usually has one of his trademark cigars stuffed in his face, even if it’s not lit. Anna Marco



The restored Buddha Buggy next door to Hines’ current shop in Long Beach. Anna Marco/Luigi Ciorra





Unlike some customs, the style of Buddha Buggy was more conservative than the original stock ’59 Chevy, although it does sport a Hines trademark: dual sunken antennas. Anna Marco/Luigi Ciorra




The Buggy’s interior was remarkably well-preserved and required mostly cleaning and new carpet. Anna Marco/Luigi Ciorra





Buddha Buggy’s Imperial grille is another theme that is repeated on other Hines cars. Anna Marco/Luigi Ciorra


http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/Book+Preview+_+Old+School+Customs-190719.xhtml