Haute Wheels: Al and Renee Cravens’ Super Chevys 
by Stephen Faure
“The hardest thing to adjust to is not being able to go to an Astros game lickety-split,” Renee Cravens says. She and husband Al are sort of reverse-refugees from Houston. As hordes of New Orleans area residents became Houstonites in the months after the storm, Al was transferred here as area manager for Gulf States Toyota. With a territory covering Biloxi to Lake Charles, he wasn’t sure where they would settle down. When Renee landed a job with Shell Oil Co. in New Orleans, they chose the northshore as the place they wanted to be.
Their Madisonville home is replete with Texas imagery—Lone Stars are the motif, decorating everything from a rug in the living room to the sconces on the back porch. Renee’s collection of Houston Astros memorabilia is front and center in the living room, and there’s not a tiger or anything colored purple and gold in sight.
But they have grown fond of the northshore, they enjoy exploring the area and are really happy with the people they’ve met, especially those who share their interest in things that are loud and go fast. Their collection of Haute Wheels includes several motorcycles, a hot-rod pickup, the pickups they drive everyday, and some special Chevrolets featured here: Al’s 1967 Nova Super Sport and 1966 Impala convertible and Renee’s 1936 Harley Davidson-themed Chevy street rod.
Renee’s street rod was a “welcome to the northshore” gift. After being in Madisonville only about two months, the couple heard about Covington’s Columbia Street block party and took Al’s Nova to the car show there. While strolling down Columbia Street, Renee spotted the street rod. “It grabs a lot of attention because of the color,” she says. “I saw a little ‘For Sale’ sign on it. I told Al, ‘Look, it’s for sale.’ Al said, ‘They’re all for sale,’ and we kept walking. Then I wanted to go back and look at it again.”
On the second look, Renee, a big fan of Harley motorcycles, noticed all the little Harley Davidson details worked into the car’s design—tail lights in the shape of the Harley logo, “HD” monogrammed into the headrest of the leather seats and other details—and Al started thinking he was in trouble. The third time they came back to the car, one savvy onlooker said to another, “He’s gonna’ buy her that car. You watch.” And before the evening was out, Al did.
Bought from a man from Bush, the Chevy was originally customized in Tennessee. It features suicide doors (with the hinges on the rear of the door so that it opens backwards), air conditioning, an electronically controlled transmission, an electrically raised and lowered trunk lid—and it’s all powered by a fuel-injected Corvette engine.
“I’m not allowed to go to the block parties anymore,” Renee says jokingly.
Al’s 1966 Impala convertible is special to him. “It reminds me of my dad. His first car was a 1966 Impala station wagon. I was 6 years old then, and we went everywhere in that car. It was his pride and joy.” Al’s Impala is not a muscle car or a hot rod, but it is unique, having been perfectly restored with its original parts. The wheels, which are chrome and are fitted with more comfortable and safer-driving radial tires than the original bias tires, are its only non-stock parts. “It only has 41,000 original miles on it and all the numbers are matching, which is very desirable to collectors.”
Growing up in Illinois, Al Cravens was into motorcycles, riding off-road at age 12 and street bikes when he was 16. He still rides on- and off-road. His accomplishments include becoming the 2006 Overall Expert Champion in Texas in an off-road motorcycle endurance competition called the Hare Scramble, commuting ten hours each way to participate in the series of races after being transferred to Louisiana. He was 46 years old then; the closest competitor was 19.
But back in Illinois, “All my friends had hot rods—1960s Camaros, Chevelles and Impalas.” Not that he was jealous; he loved his friends’ muscle cars, but was just too busy with motorcycles to own one. Eventually, he decided he could afford both. “Eight years ago, I was riding my motorcycle down a country road outside of Houston and saw a Nova for sale, which rekindled some old passions. That’s when I started my search.”
Al began scouring the internet and finally came up with a hot prospect in Florida. Without seeing the car in person, he bought it and had it shipped to Houston. A great internet experience, the car was everything the seller said it was. But for Al, who was holding out for his vision of what his Nova should be, it just wasn’t peppy enough.
He continued searching, and found one in Pennsylvania that had been modified from a drag racer. “I drove 36 hours only to be disappointed,” Al says. The car could not be driven on the streets. “There were no windshield wipers, no speedometer—anything that could have been stripped out to save weight had been taken.” The owner would not return his deposit, so Al brought the car back to Houston and had it made street legal. But it still was not what he was looking for.
He found this car, a 1967 Nova SS (Super Sport), and took two years making it into the car of his dreams. It’s street legal, comfortable and highly drivable, with the engine and performance of a dragster. He took a small-block Chevy engine, added a B.D.S. 671 model supercharger, two 650 Holley carburetors and a NOS nitrous oxide injection system for an extra boost, which all adds up to a dynamometer-tested 696 horsepower.
He installed creature comforts, such as air conditioning and an automatic transmission with overdrive. “So you can drive it on the interstate,” he says, adding, “You could drive it to Lake Charles if you wanted to, but you’d stop for gas a lot.” He says it gets six to eight miles per gallon, which means it doesn’t wander too far from home.
Has he fully tested the car’s capabilities? “The fastest I’ve driven it was on a two-lane country road in Texas. I estimate we were going 145 miles per hour, but the speedometer only goes up to 125. It passed that, and wrapped around almost to the beginning.” Renee looks at him and says, “Maybe 145-ish.”
It must have been thrilling.
