Vehicle Sighting - 1964 Chev Impala SS convertible

[4WD]

Please. The correct verbiage was, "Pump ethyl if she's workin".
I loved working at the Mobil station!

Dang Jeff … you sure it was not still Magnolia way back then

 

[jhs914]

A friend of mine in high school had hard top, 327 4 barrel, and 4 speed manual. A sharp car but not as fast as the muscle cars of the era. I am not a fan of the wheels or the color of the car in the original post. The '64 Impala looks better in a dark color to my eyes.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Spotted this a few days ago. Fortunately the owner was there to give me a tour and share a bit of the car's history.

He bought it cheap as a rusty and battered hulk 38 years ago (so 1983), and drove it to his high school grad. Over the ensuing years, he's fixed it up, including replacing the tired original 327 with a 454.

Cool that he kept it so long. I am Not a fan of the GM crate 454 or the WELD draglites or that he tubbed and back ended and made it a hot rod,
But his car his preferences. I'd love to see a solid cammed 409 in there with a close ratio 4 speed.
I always try to approach and talk to guys about their cars. It is my passion. Thank for this great post!

 

[CheezWhiz]

Cool that he kept it so long. I am Not a fan of the GM crate 454 or the WELD draglites or that he tubbed and back ended and made it a hot rod,
But his car his preferences. I'd love to see a solid cammed 409 in there with a close ratio 4 speed.
I always try to approach and talk to guys about their cars. It is my passion. Thank for this great post!

i am with you in terms of my preferences, but it's still a sweet car! makes me sad, i was in my 20's in the early 90's and there were a still a fair number of these cars on the road, chevelles, gtos, firebirds, etc., younger guys using them as daily drivers. you never see that anymore, they stay in garages except for the occasional car show.

 

[TMoto]

IIRC....A couple thousand '65 Impala's had 409's....Too use them up.

My first car was a '65 SS with the 409 and Powerglide. If memory serves, the 409 evolved from the 348 truck motor. It was my dad's car until he gave it to me at 16 after he taught me to drive. Was big and heavy, and my dad had glass packs and side exhaust so it sounded great. I took my girlfriend, who is now my wife on dates in it. She hated that car while I wish I'd kept it.

I do like the look of the '64 though.

 

[Number_35]

My first car was a '65 SS with the 409 and Powerglide. If memory serves, the 409 evolved from the 348 truck motor. It was my dad's car until he gave it to me at 16 after he taught me to drive. Was big and heavy, and my dad had glass packs and side exhaust so it sounded great. I took my girlfriend, who is now my wife on dates in it. She hated that car while I wish I'd kept it.

I do like the look of the '64 though.

I believe you're right about the 348 and the 409.

The '65 was the first year of the "Coke bottle" styling, and was very different from the previous generation.

One of the '65's bids to fame is that you can see the back end and tail lights of a canary-yellow one in the background of Norman Rockwell's excellent painting "Moving In".