Axalta Will Reveal Refurbished Car in the Axalta Booth at the 2016
SEMA Show in November
GLEN MILLS, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
For TV host and former NASCAR® champion crew chief, Ray
Evernham, the featured car in the movie, American Graffiti, is
the holy grail of hot rods – a car that inspired his life-long passion
for cars, rock and roll, and the American car culture. Now, after
pursuing the car for most of his adult life and finally acquiring it, he
faces an even bigger challenge – preserving it for the enjoyment of
generations to come.
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Ray Evernham has partnered with Axalta Coating Systems to bring this piece of movie history and Americana back to life. The car will be unveiled in Axalta’s booth #22391 at the 2016 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas on November 1-4. (Photo: Axalta)
Ray Evernham has partnered with Axalta
Coating Systems (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global manufacturer of
liquid and powder coatings, to bring this piece of movie history and
Americana back to life. The car will be unveiled in Axalta’s booth
#22391 at the 2016 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in
Las Vegas November 1-4.
“When I was a teenager growing up in New Jersey, this car represented
everything that was cool about America’s car culture – independence,
coming of age, freedom and enjoying your life with your buddies,” said
Evernham. “This car has been on my dream list forever. To now own it and
lead the preservation of this incredible piece of American history is
truly an honor. To me, it’s like preserving the ‘Mona Lisa’.”
“To save this car for future generations, we have to go back 42 years to
its original movie condition,” noted Evernham. “It really is a forensic
preservation. We have to completely take it apart, catalog every piece
and then repair those pieces. Every piece of chrome will be straightened
and re-chromed. The emblems will be re-chromed as well. The nuts and
bolts will be re-plated. The interior has been entirely disassembled,
cleaned and will be reinstalled. Everything we took off is going back on
the car. Even the rear tires are original.”
Using Axalta’s Cromax® ChromaPremier®, Evernham
will also replace the paint and famous red striping on the vehicle to
make it look exactly like it did in the movie.
“Paint technology has come a long way since 1958,” stated Harry
Christman, Axalta North American Cromax Brand Manager. “The paint scheme
still represents the most recognizable aspect of this iconic car.
Axalta’s goal with this restoration is to precisely match the original
colors to preserve the vehicle’s heritage and protect this unique piece
of history for years to come.”
“The paint was more than 40 years old and hadn’t been maintained,”
Evernham explained. “If it were left unprotected for much longer, the
car would have just been bare metal. We digitized and made detailed
templates of the striping for exact duplication and placement. Axalta
was even able to recreate the exact paint colors, so we’ll return this
car to the condition that moviegoers have seen for years.”
Following the debut, Evernham plans to show the car at a range of car
shows across the country. The restoration will appear in an upcoming
season of “AmeriCarna” on Velocity.
To learn more about Axalta, follow us on our North America Refinish
social media channels.
www.Facebook.com/AxaltaNArefinish
www.Twitter.com/AxaltaNAref
www.Instagram.com/axaltarefinish
www.Pinterest.com/AxaltaNAref
www.YouTube.com/AxaltaUS
www.Axalta.us
www.Axalta.ca
About Axalta Coating Systems – Celebrating 150 Years in the Coatings
Industry
Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and
providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable
solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish
applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings
are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the
materials we coat to last longer. With 150 years of experience in the
coatings industry, the approximately 12,800 people of Axalta continue to
find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries
better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and
technology. For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com
and follow us @axalta on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
About Ray Evernham
Ray Evernham has more than four decades of experience in the automotive
and racing industries. He’s worked with the biggest names in motorsport
history, including Gordon, Andretti, Foyt and Earnhardt, was a vital
force in resurrecting the International Race of Champions (IROC) series,
won three NASCAR® Sprint Cup championships as a crew chief
for Jeff Gordon and built Evernham Motorsports into one of the most
successful teams in NASCAR. Currently, Evernham consults for Hendrick
Motorsports, hosts his own television series on Velocity, “AmeriCarna,”
which highlights the effect automobiles have had on American culture,
and is very active with his foundation, Evernham Family – Racing for a
Reason, which funds a community center in Davidson, North Carolina for
young adults with high-functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome called
IGNITE.
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Source: Axalta Coating Systems