![]() Furthermore, Chevy’s first small block V-8, the 265 cid Turbo-Fire, was available as an option.Īdvertising asked “would you like to boss the new ‘Turbo-Fire V8’ around…strictly in charge when the light flashes green… calm and confident when the road snakes up a steep grade? (Easy does it-you’re handling 162 ‘horses’ with an 8-to-1 compression ratio!)”Ĭhevy was now positioned for what would be called the “horsepower race” and the 1955 body’s up-to-date design was a bonus and an instant hit. ![]() A new body broke completely from the previous model, eliminated most of the bulges lingering from the prewar era and looked sportingly modern even as a four-door sedan. Nearly everything was going right for Chevy in 1955. Three per side mark the car as an Impala. Round taillights were for a number of years a signature Chevrolet feature. Just about any angle is a good one for a formal portrait of a 1962 Impala convertible. Chevy had built nothing but overhead-valve sixes for most of its life and then 1955 happened. ![]() But the American automotive world was changing in other ways as well and Chevrolet was about to jump in. The 1949 body with minor annual updates still looked good in its final year, 1952 and then Chevy was heavily restyled for 1953 and freshened for 1954. The lines were smoother and straighter, the hood seemed to tower less above the better-integrated fenders and the grille moved toward a horizontal theme under the less-sharply pointed hood. The Chevrolet that arrived in 1949 wasn’t completely new, as it relied on its predecessor’s drivetrain, but its look was more than an evolutionary step. With the rest of industry, Chevy had resumed production after World War II by gently updating its 1942 line and introducing it as the 1946 line while buying time in which to design a new postwar car. ![]() And in July of ’62, I bought a brand-new ’62 Impala.”Įven 57 years later, it’s easy to see the appeal of Chevy’s “rich new styling-the sculptured styling (that) stands out fresh and luxurious from any angle.” What gives pause, though, is a comparison with the 1962 Chevrolet’s ancestor of just a decade earlier. “My story,” explained Novatnak, whose Impala SS 409 is featured here, “is that I got out of the Navy in ’62 in February and in September, we got married. Mike Novatnak has a couple of excellent reasons to look back on 1962 as a year worth remembering. Aug| By Bob Tomaine He Took An Impala Convertible In Rough Condition, Installed a 409 From a Salvage Yard, Added In a Great Deal of Work, and Now Has a Car He’s Wanted for Decades. ![]()
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