The Chevrolet Impala came on the scene in 1958. It was created as a new high level, sporty trim package created for the popular Chevy Bel Air. The Impala became a model of it’s own in 1959 in two and four door versions.
The car featured in this article is a 1961 Chevy Impala Two Door Sedan which was added to the line in 1961 and that year only. As a result there were not a great number sold and today the Two Door Impala Sedan is a sought after collector car. The Chevy Impala Two Door Sedan had a 1961 production total of about 153,000 vehicles.
Chevy’s New Super Sport
During mid year production for 1961 an SS “Super Sport” kit was also added. It was available only on the top-line Impala. Along with that was the new big Turbo Fire 409 cubic inch engine that delivered 360 horsepower. Both of these additions proved to be very popular with car buyers. It’s interesting to note that only about 443 of the Impala SS models were produced in 1961. You can run across some people today that may not even know that Chevy produced an SS model in 1961. These are certainly rare collector cars today.
To give you an idea of how well the SS models caught on, production totals for 1962 were approximately 100,000 vehicles…in 1963, approximately 153,000 vehicles and in 1964, approximately 185,000 vehicles. The V-8 hardtop and convertible model SS Impala are the top collector cars as of today.
The 1961 Chevy Impala
The Chevrolet Impala is a full size Chevrolet and was the Chevy Division’s most costly passenger vehicle at the time during the early 1960’s. It was also the best selling full size passenger car in America. It held that position for about a decade. In 1965 Chevrolet sold some 1 million Impalas which achieved a record.
The 1961 Impala was the beginning of the third generation Impala and as such was restyled. Probably the biggest design difference and one you’d readily see is that the 61 Impala’s had no tail fins. The 61 model did still remain on the GM B-Body and kept the 119.0 inch wheelbase. The new 61 Impala was a bit shorter than the 60 model (1 1/2 inches) but still kept the three taillight design that the model was noted for. It was those tail lights that differentiated the Impala from Chevy’s other full size models. In fact, the three taillight design became an Impala trademark.
The 1961 Chevy Impala
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