1967 CHEVROLET Impala- Nevada

Text and photos copyright D. S. Brown, except for the Ad which is copyright Budget Rent A Car.

Someone stripped the chrome and badges off this Impala and left it to fade away. At one point it had a vinyl roof, now gone. The glass and doors are missing, but it retains bumpers and other sheet metal. I've seen far worse rust on cars in the salt belt still on the road.

Back in 1967 the Impala was riding strong. The Impala name traces back to the early 1950s when it was applied to a Corvette show car. The Impala name reappeared as an option upgrade on the 1958 model year Bel Airs. Since its introduction as an option Oct 31, 1957 the Impala quickly became its own series and amazingly popular.

By 1965 the Impala sold more than a million copies. Even bearing in mind the facts that 1965 was one of the best sales years of all time for domestic cars these are huge numbers. Amazingly, Chevrolet had also diluted the sales numbers of the Impala by adding a sub series on the Impala called the Caprice in 1965. If not for that extra model the Impala production would have been edging towards 1.5 million.   

The weather has destroyed the automatic console bucket seat interior. This Impala is slowly sinking into the ground in this windy cold field. You can see the marks left by the old 'crossed flag' emblems on the front fender and the spot where missing SS emblem behind the front wheelwell used to be. The 'crossed flag' emblems indicated either a 396 or 427 engine. 

 The round gauge dash is one of the nicest Impala dashboards of all. Below you can see a two door Impala for rent from Budget Rent A Car back in 67. The Impala was one of the most popular cars ever made so it makes sense it was used for a mass fleet of rental cars. This ad was in a National Geographic.