1961 Chevy Impala - Web Exclusive - Updating A Classic

Like most car audio enthusiasts, Misha Munoz loves a challenge. Otherwise, he never would have decided to turn her '61 Chevy Impala into a competition-ready vehicle a mere one month prior to the SEMA '05 show. Perhaps the biggest challenge he faced was getting people to help. "If you ever want to test a friendship ask for help building a complete vehicle weeks before SEMA while they are also working full time jobs," Munoz says.

Luckily, Tone LeVeck and Chris Haynes offered their assistance with the paint and body work, while Kevin Kuchman came through on the audio build. Add a sponsorship from Kicker who offered to provide whatever it would take to "bring this car to life," says Munoz, and you have enough support to conquer even a challenge as big as this one.

As if that weren't enough help, Munoz also teamed up with Jessie Forrester of Line-X in Las Vegas to utilize a unique sound deadening technique. First gutting the entire interior, the pair sprayed the headliner, inner doors, floor pan, inner firewall, and the trunk with Line-X. "This was the first time I had experimented with Line-X as sound deadening and found out that on full builds, it is the only way to go," Munoz explains. "The application time is about 1/8th the time that it would take to lay a deadening mat and the material covers completely."

Keeping with the car's unique tone, the trunk holds six Kicker SX series amplifiers (three SX 1250.1 and three SX 700.4) on a custom-designed amp rack. "This amp rack was designed to give the amps a "floating" look, so they do not appear at first or second glance to be mounted to anything," says Munoz.