The Engagement is a ’58 Impala Convertible lowrider owned by David and Raquel Novelo of North Hollywood, California.
Raquel Macias caught the eye of David Novelo while she was sitting across the bar at a restaurant. Once he built up the courage (drank a few beers), he went up and talked to her and invited her to the Santa Maria car show the following weekend. She accepted and the two attended the car shows in David’s ’59.
“Ever since then we’ve been together,” explains David. “She’s always liked classics cars and would always point out the ’58s at the shows.” He told her that one day he would propose to her with a pink slip to a ’58 instead of a ring.
For three years, David tried getting one of his buddy’s all-original ’58 Impala hardtops. “I wanted that one because it was silver-blue with a white top and it would match my ’59.” After three years, his friend agreed to sell it and he was finally able to propose to her.
After two years with the ’58, she wanted to upgrade to a convertible. So they sold it and began looking for convertible project. “A couple of weeks after selling it, I was on Craigslist and found this one for sale.” The car was in great shape and the original owner was selling it. They worked out a deal and the old man gave David a month to come up with the money.
Since he was a kid, David has bought, sold, and collected classic cars. He decided to put his ’58 Buick and another ’58 Impala that he had for sale in order to raise the money. It only took him two weeks to sell them.
Once he had the money, he called up the original owner and asked to see if he could testdrive the ’58. “I didn’t get to testdrive it the first time because he couldn’t get it out of the garage due to other cars blocking it.” After test-driving it, David cashed out the owner on the spot.
David would like to thank his wife Raquel for supporting his car addiction and his mom Maria Teresa Figueroa who lost her battle with cancer in March of 2013. “She was always a huge supporter of what I do and she guided me through everything.” Since he began buying classic cars as a teenager, his mother would always give him a rosary that he would hang from his rear view mirror.
