The Road So Far: How Supernatural Inspired A Classic Car Rebuild That Brought A Family Together

At first glance, it’s the simple story of a man inspired to rebuild a classic car. Looking under the hood? It's a story of facing challenges through almost insurmountable odds. Of how a passion project brought a son closer to his father. Of a little good luck and a lot of hard work and the power of believing you can do anything. This is the story of Eric Bates and his 1967 Chevy Impala, and just like Supernatural, the show that inspired it, it is ultimately a story about family.Click thumbnails to enlarge.

S&C: Do you have a funny/interesting anecdote to share about any parts of the job?EB: The challenge of the project is that you can’t find parts for this model car and nobody really makes aftermarket parts. Craigslist was my friend, but that resulted in some crazy situations.  I remember squatting down in a backyard to look at a replacement fender and turning to my left and seeing a pit bull’s face two inches from my face.  As I froze, he basically lick-attacked me.  Sweetest mean-looking dog I’ve ever encountered.  I met all kinds of interesting people including a Berkeley grad student who sells used Impala parts on Craigslist as his primary job.  He and I disassembled an Impala dash together and discussed political theory one morning (mainly Machiavelli as I recall).  I bought a $100 trim component from a guy in S. Carolina that I found on Craigslist.  Something got mixed up with the box dimension entry when he shipped it, and FedEx charged my account $2,200.  They wouldn’t back down until I provided them with surveillance camera footage of the delivery which proved that the package was not as big as a VW Bug. Everything was impossible with this car—but somehow we worked through everything.Note to Supernatural writers - THIS is the backstory we want for Dean and John Winchester in an alternate reality.