Check out this immaculate 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport coupe parked out in front of Good Morning Mama's on 54th Street while its owner was inside enjoying a delicious brunch.
In Crocus Yellow with a black vinyl roof, this thing sure is a looker. While the late third generation "six-four" Impalas get all the love, I think the more flowing lines of the early fourth gen cars make them the best looking Impala SS of them all. That sloped rear window blending into the sculpted rear fenders is an aesthetic improvement over the more vertical rear window on the '64.
Despite what you might think, not all Impala SS's came with V-8s. The base motor on the 1965 Super Sport was the 140 horsepower 230 cubic inch "Turbo-Thrift" inline six. Next up on the option list was the 2bbl L77 283cid V-8, rated at 220bhp.
The "327" fender badges and single exhaust outlet tell us that the buyer of this car sprang the ninety-five bucks for option L30: which was Chevy's 327 cubic inch "Turbo-Fire" V-8 with a 4-barrel Carter WCFB carburetor and 10.5:1 compression ratio for a rated output of 250 SAE gross horsepower. (For $138, they could have gotten the higher-compression dual-exhaust 300bhp L74 327.)
Car Life magazine road tested a '65 Impala SS coupe with the L30 327 and a 2-speed Powerglide and measured a 0-60 time of 9.8 seconds and a 17.8 second quarter with a trap speed of 81 mph. Top speed was clocked at 107.
Dig those groovy taillights!
These pictures were snapped in March of 2024 using a Nikon D700 & 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.
As a kid I remember thinking how the 64s looked so badass, but the 65/66s were so sleek.
ReplyDeleteThe muscular haunches on the '65s are what do it for me...
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