Allen Duke

Allen Duke on his Harley Davidson panhead chopper in 1963. Photo courtesy of Howard Gribble, from the Kid Deuce Flickr Page.

Allen Duke's 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS. Allen's lifted Impala went through several changes between 1965 and 1969. This was how it appeared in 1969, after it had been transformed into Bloody Mary.

Allen Duke of Wilmington, California. Born in 1947, Allen grew up in the Harbor Area of South Los Angeles. His early interests included model cars, bicycles and later, motorbikes. In his early teen years, Allen began driving the family car when his parents attention was diverted elsewhere! By the time he was old enough to legally drive, he had acquired a 1951 Ford. The car had a broken transmission, and Allen had to pay $15 for it. He replaced the transmission with one from a junkyard and started cruising the streets. A number of cars followed, mostly tri-five Chevys, before he ended up buying his parent's 1958 Chevrolet.

In late 1964 Allen decided it was time to make his mark in the custom car world that he was seeing daily on the streets of the community. With his parents as co-signers to a loan, he purchased a brand new 1965 Chevrolet Impala from Seaboard Chevrolet on Pacific Ave. in San Pedro. The payments were $106 a month. Custom wheels and other mild modifications followed shortly. Unfortunately, less than a year later the car suffered an unfortunate accident and was wrecked front and rear. Repairs were made but he ended up trading it in for an almost new 1964 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport that was on the lot of Cormier Chevrolet in Carson. Allen remembers that the completion of the deal was delayed a couple of hours by a power failure caused when the Goodyear blimp crashed into electrical lines near the ARCO refinery!

Allen Duke's cars

Allen Duke's 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS
Allen Duke's 1965 Chevrolet Impala