My parents had a 1967 Impala coupe when they got married in June 1967. Sad to see the Impala being put out to pasture. Anybody has good memories of owning/driving an Impala?
I had mixed emotions about my 6-cylinder 2007 Impala. It was a very comfortable car for me, handled nicely, and had a smooth ride. Only driving performance complaint was the extended lag between tromping the gas pedal for rapid acceleration in appropriate situations and actually getting the rabbit acceleration response.
On the other hand, there were far too many electronic and mechanical failures from day one, many which kept recurring. I just happened to get one that had far above average problems.
When I got rid of it after only 7 years / 54k miles I seriously considered a 2014 Impala because it was such a nice vehicle to drive. But the track record of problems with the 2007, the lack of driver visibility, and price tag ended up making me decide against the 2014.
I’m sorry to see Impala go.
Naw we never could afford the Impala but had the stripped down Biscayne. I always was a little jealous of the better seat and door upholstery, the trim, full wheel covers with WW, back up lights, and so on. All the goodies.
Not to start this again, but anyone else figure out what GM is doing? You take iconic brands like Olds, Pontiac, and eliminate them? Sure the Impala was not fun to drive anymore and boring like a Camry, but fix that rather than eliminate it. It’s kinda like Coke eliminating the Coke brand-Oh they did that once didn’t they?
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The current Impala is just another generic vehicle that is not selling well . So not really a major concern for me other than the employees that might lose their jobs .
I bet “Impala” is not gone for good, just retired for a while, to reappear on some CUV or EV.
Just my guess, in that scenario I’d bet on an EV getting the badge.
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The Impala of today has nothing in common with the Impalas of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s other than the name. The older ones were full sized cars, the current one is not.
My dad had a new Impala similar to the pic, I think he nearly cried when it got rear ended by drunk driver within a month of when he bought it.
The current impala is a full size car by today’s definition. That’s the problem. Not enough people want sedans in general, and full size sedans least of all. I test drove a 2017 Impala Premier in 2017. It was the best full size sedan I tested. The Avalon is a good full size sedan, but I preferred the Impala. I would have bought one, except that I could get an Accord EX-L with about the same interior room for about $7000 less. The Impala was quieter and accelerated better, just not $7000 better. RIP Impala.
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In my world a full size car has a wheelbase of >= 118". The Impala of today is 111.7. The Avalon is an intermediate to me.
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That was a great car.
+1
The Impalas of recent years are infinitely superior to the too-softly-sprung, bad handling models of the '60s, which were also highly flawed because of GM’s decision to put that cheapo “X” frame underneath them. I know a couple that was very badly injured and permanently scarred from a side-impact collision because the other car wound up in the middle of the passenger compartment of their Chevy.
Of course, if somebody opted for one of the more expensive offerings from GM, then they got a perimeter frame instead of that cheapo, dangerous X frame.
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My high school Impala looked liked thins one but with an all orange interior. Not a speed demon as it only had a 283 2-barrel with a Powerglide but a great car and fun to drive. Slash my wrists to have it back.
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@ok4450 That era of cars was quite stylish, many with cavernous trunks and generous leg room. I rather prefer such horizontal “belch fire fins” than equally oversized vertical fins.
I recall riding in quite of few Impala’s, late 60’s. I didn’t particularly like the exterior styling myself, but the interior was well appointed and overall seemed to be a pretty good car. Wasn’t it the current Impala that was getting good Consumer Reports reliability ratings ?
My Dad traded in a 1966 Impala SS (327 with a powerglide) for a 1975 Pinto. I’m still upset. I still have my late Father-in-Law’s 1993 Caprice for the full size experience.
Ed B.
My neighbor across the street had one. Traded in their 58 for it. Gray with a white top. I really liked that car. Then coming home one Sunday ran into the back of something. They decided to fix it themselves so it was my first look at real bodywork at about 11 years old. Radiator, fenders, hood, etc.
The interior in that 59 Impala of mine almost glowed in the dark. It was all a bright fluorescent orange.
Headliner, carpet, seats, dash, steering wheel, everything.
The bat fins were a love/hate thing with some people, They either liked them (I did) or they didn’t. In 1960 they went to the 6 round tail lamps and squared the fins off.
The worst car I ever had in my life was a 72 Impala with a 350. It was 3 1/2 years old when I bought it from a friend who was a cost accountant for Chevrolet. It had been driven for 6 months by an executive before he bought it as a program car. It got horrible gas mileage, 12 on the road no matter how I tuned it and it was also slow. it was the slowest V8 I ever owned. Slower than my 56 330 cube Desoto, slower than my 56,259 cube, Studebaker Commander and Slower than MY 61 Dart Phoenix or 66 Plymouth Fury wagon. It was also the worst handling car I ever had and the frame had the structural rigidity of wet spaghetti. It went down the road with a nasty swaying motion due to the lousy rear suspension system system that made it a real handfull on snow or ice. It only had 45000 miles on it when I bought it and it never made 90,000 miles. My friend had had the engine replaced under warranty, and I lost both the differential and the transmission. It ate coils and distributor caps at least once a year. If you were driving during a snow storn, the snow blowing in would close the choke and stall it and I would have to throw the air cleaner in the trunk and stick a screwdriver down the carb to get home. Just to jack up the car to change a tire you had to take the bumper jack up to the top notch to get the rear tire 1/4 inch off the ground. I cannot think of one good feature the car had, although the car was huge there was a lot of wasted space due to style over function. It was my first, and last Chevy. I only owned one other GM car, a 98 Olds Intrigue that actively tried to kill me, but that is a story for another day.
I have also driven a lot of Chevy and GMC class 8 trucks, school buses and Impalas, Suburbans and small buses on GM van chassis in school bus service and never drove one I liked. Lousy ergonomics, low seats. not enough headroom or legroom and in the less than class 8 vehicles, bad ABS systems that were constantly malfunctioning. It was so bad that when the mechanics gave you bsck the vehicle, they would say, well, the brakes are fixed again, for now. With the van chassis and suburbans they would say the same things about the transmissions.