Roger Mahieu's 1956 Chevrolet

1956 Chevrolet Convertible owned by Roger Mahieu.

Spotted in Saddle Brook, New Jersey in the mid 1960s

Ray Soff grew up in Garfield, New Jersey. "Around 65 or 66 I went to Saddle Brook to check out the town," he told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama in March of 2021. "I turned the corner, and there was the car for sale. Three of us guys rang the bell. An older guy came and said it's his son's car." The automatic transmission was slipping, and he wanted $800 for it.

over 10 years later Ray bought a house in Saddle Brook. "At the time I had a street rod. This guy came over to look at my car." The fellow told Ray that he had a custom 56 Chevy years ago. Ray moved across the town to where the Chevy was, and when he met the guy again he told him that he had traded it for a BSA bike. Later on, when Ray worked in a body shop, adjusters came to estimate cars. One of the adjusters told him that he almost bought a custom 56 Chevy convertible. It had been taken off the street, and it was in an impound yard. The adjuster went over to buy it one day, and the shop owner told him he could have it for 50 bucks. "He came back with a flatbed, but then it was gone." The shop owner told him that a fellow came by and paid the fees.

Roger lent Ray loads of slides of the car and photos taken at car shows. "Roger rand two shows. His dad had money and he had boxes of slides and movie film." Ray used some of the photos for a featured story on the custom in Kustoms Illustrated Issue 25.