Why The 1961-1964 Chevrolet Impala Was All Things To All People

[Music] there's no doubt Chevrolet has produced during its lifetime many legendary automobiles so many in fact they would be too numerous to mention however the third generation 1961 to 1964 Chevrolet Impala proved to be one of Chevrolet's best Automobiles of the Golden Era during the 1961 to 1964 model years the full-size Chevrolet Impala easily beat in sales for its full-size Galaxy no other car brand in the US could touch Chevrolet in terms of sales at this time it was Numero Uno the great appeal of the 1961 to 1964 Chevrolet Impala was the fact that was a lot of car for the money for a full-size car it was extremely sporty with its long and beautiful flowing lines it was easy to see that nothing was an afterthought pertaining to its exterior styling a lot of work by Chevrolet stylist went into making sure the exterior body panels were unique and flowed well Chevrolet also made sure that it made substantial exterior styling updates every year which gave the Impala unique exterior styling during each of these four model years this increased the occurrence of repeat buyers who were willing to trade up to a new Impala every 2 years or even every year which helped to increase sales the Impala exterior had a very low stance and beautiful long stylish body panels with all four model years having four four round headlights and six round tail lights the 1961 to 1964 Chevrolet Impala's interior was more uniform with only slight changes from year to year it was very modern for its day had attractive accents had a modern looking Dash with plenty of padding and comfortable seating for its day starting with the 1961 model year a more upscale version with a sporty appearance package was born it was called the Impala Super Sport or Impala SS for short the Impala SS would soon take on legendary status because some of Chevrolet's best high performance V8s would be available in the Impala SS from 1961 to 1969 the Apollo was available in the following configurations two door sedan twodo sports coupe four-door sedan four-door Sports sedan and twodo convertible starting in 1962 a station wagon was added to the Impala lineup Chevrolet in its advertising literature touted the Impala's jet smooth ride they did not not lie the Impala had a smooth big car ride which was good enough to please most luxury car buyers at the time the Impala SS on the other hand with its upgraded suspension was geared towards the performance buyer who wanted an Impala that could conquer the tight turns and twisty roads better than the regular Impala the 1961 to 1964 Impala was available with a wide array of engines at the bottom of the scale was the 230 cubic inch turbo Thrift inline 6-cylinder engine and 235 cubic inch high Thrift inline 6-cylinder engine also available were Chevrolet's very popular 283 cubic in and 327 cubic inch small block V8 early in the third generation of pois production run was Chevrolet's w W series 348 cubic in Big Block V8 the larger displacement W series 409 cubic inch big block V8 which debuted in 1961 became the third generation Impala's most revered engine It produced 340 to 425 gross horsepower depending on model year and application it was the higher horsepower versions of the 409 which were optional in the Impala SS that made the 409 powered Impala SS one of the best performance cars of this era even the high performance Corvette was never available with this legendary Performance Engine there were four Transmissions available in the 1961 to 1964 Impala a three-speed manual a three-speed manual with overdrive four-speed manual two-speed power glide automatic and only for 1961 the three-speed turbo Glide automatic Chevrolet even offered in the 1963 Impala SS a genuine race car engine the W series 427 cubic inch V8 it had the same engine bore as the 409 and a slightly larger engine stroke and an incredible 13.5 to1 compression ratio it was rated at 430 gross horsepower but the true rating was closer to 500 gross horsepower to get this engine a buyer had to select the z11 package the result was 0 to 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds and the4 mile in 10.8 seconds at 120 mph for the 1963 z11 Impala s these figures are super fast even today more than 60 years later the Z1 was standard with a floor mounted four-speed manual transmission what made the 1961 to 1964 Impala so very popular was that it was an extremely affordable full-size car that had modern elegant and sporty styling the Impala gave buyers more standard features and available options for the money than a vast majority of new cars at the time in other words it was one of the best values a new car buyer was going to find during this era add to that the Impala was one of the best looking new cars on the road at the time and when the Impala was ordered from the factory with a healthy dose of options the Impala East easily fit the Bell as a reasonably priced luxury car however the main reason for the 1961 to 1964 and Paula's great success was it could be all things to all people it could be a Thrifty Budget Car a reliable family car a sporty car a luxury car or a serious performance car it all depended on which Impala was ordered and the options selected in other words words the buyer picked which Impala Persona that buyer wanted thank you so much for your support of this Channel Please Subscribe since your support is the reason this channel is a success and please make sure to click on the Bell icon so that you never miss a new video [Music] [Applause] release

Channel: OldCarMemories.com

Views: 84,343

Keywords: classic cars, vintage cars, old car memories, muscle cars, full-size cars, third generation impala, chevrolet, chevy, 327 v8, 283 v8, 409 v8, impala ss, impala super sport, impala sport

Id: Jg2MIBBzZRY

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024