Our family celebrates on Christmas Eve, which leaves the kids free to go celebrate with their SO’s families on the actual day. And that leaves us free to head for the coast for the afternoon, and get out from under the cold, wet blanket of a valley fog. It’s become a bit of a tradition in its own right…but it’s hard to get totally away from Christmas tree ornaments, which is what this shiny bauble looked like to me as it burbled into the otherwise deserted parking lot at the end of the South Jetty, overlooking the Suislaw River inlet near Florence. Of course now I had to find out if there really was a ’59 Chevy Christmas ornament.
Sure enough, but in the El Camino body style. Well, that is about the only one more flamboyant than the convertible. But the color is right.
May your days be merry and bright…
Nice! Was this really today?
Shot it a little over two hours ago, as we were leaving to head back into the dismal fog.
OMG! Someone actually fell for all those bolt-on options at the back of the ’59 Chevy showroom catalog! Contrary to restorer’s expectations, those parts (fake second antenna, fake exhaust port, continental spare, fender skirts) didn’t sell all that well. Dad would have the parts department keep one set in stock, because they were expected to, but odds are they were still sitting there at the end of the model year.
Nowadays, because they were in the catalog, vintage car owners feel they have to put them on. The only one missing on this car is the pair of spotlights (like police cruisers carry, only chrome, driver’s side on is real, passenger side is fake).
I wonder if it has the underdash tissue dispenser (the only bolt-on that actually sold in great numbers) and vacuum-operated ashtray.
When you think about it, all of those accessories had to end up somewhere.
I really like this car, even as is. But, I agree that you almost never saw all those bolt on accessories when they were new or in vintage pictures. I could do without them, the car is quite spectacular as the original stylist intended it to look.
These add-on accessories were never seen back in the days thes
e cars were new. The continental kit , the fake side exhaust , fender skirts , all are left over ideas from 1955.They don’t look right on a long , low body style such as this. IMO , all this just takes away from the natural beauty of the cars lines. You see the same things at many car shows, owners paste on every option they can find in a attempt to show off the car. The result is really the opposite.
Beautiful car! I always thought the ’59 Impala looked best in convertible form.
Nice visual Christmas treat. One of the few two tones of that era that works for me.
Snap! The ornament, not the ‘vert unfortunately.
Best wishes to all in CC Land – the most groundlessly optimistic kingdom of them all.
Nice Christmas treat!
Nice car.Merry Xmas to all.
It’d be nicer without all the tack-on junk.
+1 especially that Continental kit.
+2. It’s a really nice car, but I can’t stand those continental kits–unless it’s a prewar car or 1941-48 Lincoln Continental.
Why would you want to hide that magnificent Batwing rear deck with a spare tire?
Very nice photos Paul. The low winter sun and shadows, bring out the body contours and depth of the paint. It almost looks like a summertime sunset shot, which is nice. It’s a perfect color for this Impala. The car is a bit gaudy, but does reflect the era when it was born.
Great pictures of a ’59 in Tudor Blue. One of my first memories is the excitement surrounding my father pulling up in the driveway with my mom ‘s new ’59 Chevy coupe in Tudor Blue. It wasn’t a convertible (the next one would be) because my dad’s car was a Old’s 98 convertible and having two convertibles would be silly.
Nice find. I agree that this car looks very nice with its soft top. There were still some of these running around when I was a kid, and I remember very few with that 2 tone paint job. This always seemed to me the car that brought us into the 60s style with a single body color with (maybe) a contrasting roof.
I must admit, that having become sick of seeing continental kits added to almost (it seems) every restoration, and the fact that most look “tacked on”, I have to say that I appreciate the design of this one. No ridiculous extensions of the original bumper, just a centered section in the middle of the car. Well done! Now, just lose the fake exhaust port on the side!! 🙂
You mean like this? I have to wonder about the logic behind the Continental Kit seeing that the trunk was large enough to fit the bodies of at least for of your enemies would the spare tire really take up that much space?
I used to laugh at the Chevy Accessory Catalog at least in the late 60’s as they would show a Biscayne 2-door sedan all dressed up with dual mirrors, wire wheel covers, bumper guards, those little chrome window shades for the sedan door sills . . .
You and me, both. Every year, I’d look at the new year’s showroom catalog and, sure enough, that pot metal crap was back there. Again.
I see a lot of tri Chevys at UK shows with a strange fender guard like a motorcycle crash bar.
I think we have a contender for the 2015 CC Calendar. Beautiful shot!
That’s good camera work, Paul!
What a gaudy beast though… Syke, that’s pretty interesting, that you say ‘because it was available, people assume they were all like that’. I would’ve made the same assumption, because the ’50s were kind of known for being all glitz and chrome. And it raises an interesting thought: 50 years from now, big SUVs might well be considered ‘classics’ as well….to think that people MIGHT view a Hummer not as a paramilitary offroad vehicle but sitting on 24″ full face chrome spinners, chrome everything and a metallic grape jelly paint job. *shudder*
Those rear lights always remind me of the glasses a kid hating librarian with a voice from boot camp wore.She was a spinster who drove a Morris Minor Traveller and scared the life out of me as a kid.
The very first car I fell in love with …..and a convertible!…..I was 9 years old….I can still see it in the old neighborhood … I would become a Ford guy… but thats still a good look! …. Those of us, of a certain age … remember that car that made us car guys…..