We've looked at the original 1958 Impala before, in the form of a sweet Honey Beige convertible, but I've also spotted this Onyx Black Sports Coupe in the neighborhood. Doesn't it look the business?
The 1958 Impalas were built on the new full-size Chevy's X-shaped frame, but with the wheelbase extended 2.5" over that of the plush Bel Air, regular Biscayne and plebeian Delray. The Delray went away after '58, shifting the Biscayne to the bottom rung of the ladder, and the three-level system of Impala, Bel Air, and Biscayne replaced the earlier hierarchy of Bel Air, 210, and 150, and would persist all the way into the early 1970s.
Chevy hyped the 1958 models as being "lower, wider, longer", which became a trope for the styling trends for all the Detroit Big Three in the coming decade. They also touted the new "Sculpturamic" styling with its gull-wing rear fenders.
Base engine was a 283 small block V-8 with a two-barrel carb, making 185 gross horsepower. Optional 283 V-8s were a four-barrel unit making 230 ponies or a 250 horsepower version with Rochester "Ramjet" mechanical fuel injection. Making its debut in the '58 Impala was Chevrolet's new Turbo-Thrust big block V-8. Displacing 348 cubic inches, the single four-barrel version made 250 horsepower, while Super Turbo-Thrust version had three deuces and put out 280 SAE gross horses. You could also get the 145 horsepower Blue Flame inline six as a cost delete option, but why would you?
Motor Life magazine tested an Impala with the single-carb 348 and the Turboglide single-ratio triple-turbine gearbox. It weighed in at 3,684 pounds, averaged 12.9 miles per gallon, and stickered at $2,841 (the equivalent of $31,600 in today's dollars. The test car recorded a 10.1 second zero-to-sixty run.
This particular one was photographed with a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in September of 2021.
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