Gross Isle Road in Vermilion now has two TV stars

One road in Vermilion Parish is fast becoming the place to live on if you want to be a TV star.
Between Erath and Abbeville, off of La. 14, there is a road known as Gross Isle Road, which is a rural road with a handful of houses.
Living on that road is Koryn Hawthorne, the teen singing sensation who recently made it to the finals of The Voice.
Well, on June 18, a new TV star that also lives on Gross Isle Road will appear in a brand new ABC TV series called ‘The Astronaut Wives Club.”
The series is based on the best selling novel with the same name. The novel tells the story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history during the height of the space race in the early 1960’s.
Making a cameo appearance in a handful of episodes from Gross Isle is a bright red 1960 Chevy Impala Convertible.
The car was driven by one of the astronaut’s wife throughout the show. The astronauts were given Corvettes and the wives were given station wagons by NASA in the 1960s.
One astronaut’s wife, however, did not want a station wagon. She wanted a red convertible Impala, which she got.
So, when it came to shooting the TV series, ABC had to locate a red 1960 Chevy Impala.
Abbeville’s own Gerard Sellers, who is a location scout in the New Orleans area, was contacted by ABC to search for locations and vehicles for the series.
He just so happened he knew of a 1960 red Impala that was available in Vermilion Parish because he road in it for the Cattle Festival Parade that same year.
He contacted Francis Plaisance, the president of the Cattle Festival, who informed him who owned the car.
The owner of the car is Alvin Vallot, a retired sugar cane farmer who lives on Gross Isle Road, across the street from Koryn’s house.
ABC contacted Vallot and informed him that they wanted to rent his car for the new series they were filming in St. Bernard, near New Orleans. Vallot first turned down the ABC representative because he did not believe him, nor did he want to send his car to New Orleans.
In December, his family had to convince him to do it if a family member was with the car at all times. Vallot agreed but said he was not going to New Orleans.
“I turned them (ABC) down and they called back and offered me more (money),” said Vallot. “My son-in-law (Brooke Lastrapes) let me know he could go with the car.”
“You got to understand, my dad did not want the car to go unchaperoned,” said his daughter Iris Vallot Lastrapes. “He would not let it go by itself.”
So, only if his daughter or her husband could escort the car, the red Impala could be used. ABC agreed.
When ABC needed the car, a truck was sent to Vermilion Parish, the car was loaded into a covered trailer and driven to New Orleans with the Lastrapes in the truck. They returned that night and the trailer stayed parked in the front yard with the car in it until the next scene.
“We had to tell people not to get too close to the car, watch your belt buckle because we do not want to scratch it,” said Iris. “I knew if anything happen to the car, my dad would have never let us bring it back to New Orleans.”
The great news is that the car survived without any scratches.
When the TV series starts on June 18, the Vallot family and friends are expected to be gathered around the TV to watch the newest star on Gross Isle Road.
“Yes, I am going to watch it to see the car,” said Vallot.
Today the car sits behind his house covered in a garage, waiting on its next movie gig.