Earlier this year, I spotted a burgundy Impala with wider white wall tires, and some comments suggested thinner white wall tires would look better. Your wish has been granted.
This one doesn’t look as clean as the other Impala, presumably an all season vehicle. It has few scratches here and there, and tires look a bit dirty. Both Impalas came with tan interiors.
This time I took a closer look at the tire brand, and it’s Michelin.
The black Impala was spotted in Troy, Michigan, the burgundy one in Waterford, Michigan.
Extra bonus: A Toyota Camry with wiring hubcaps.
Spotted in Gaylord, Michigan.
A good start, but without the vinyl top and opera lamps it’s just not right. 😉
Terrible. Nothing that looks even remotely swoopy or modern should have white walls.
But the Camry with wire hubcaps is worse. Probably for the same reasons.
Michigan pix are always interesting to see due to the relative lack of foreign brands (for obvious reasons).
Usually the percentage of imports is lower on the road in Michigan but the variety is pretty high. I didn’t see Iranian cars in Michigan yet, but I saw some Polish cars, Chinese cars, Taiwanese cars and dozens of French cars.
A Dacia? In this country? Now that’s a first. For me, anyway. Nice find!
Of *course* the Impala has whitewalls. If you wanted blackwall tires, you should have gotten a Biscayne or Bel Air!
If you wanted the redlines, be sure to check the SS option.
General Altima RT43 tires do not have a White Wall or raised white lettering otherwise I would have had that side facing out. It is interesting to see these Impalas fall down the socioeconomic ladder as the years go on. At work there is a Burgundy one owned by a coworker where the clear coat has failed in several spots and the paint is facing. It also has Blue Bowties instead of Gold. Then at the same time there are Impala Classics still being utilized as rental cars though at least one has a oil burning issue.
Id say after the ’60s that ladder was kicked out from under the Impala name. Basically in those days, it filled the spot that the tri-five chevies did a decade earlier: One line of cars that could be a dowdy grocery getter, a muscle car, big family hauler, convertible for cruising or fodder for the hot rod/low rider crowd. In other words, there was an enthusiastic culture surrounding them and yet they were accessible every day cars as well. From the 70s on, theyre either big land barges for the older crowd to now, just another blobby faceless appliance. Granted, theyre well made and reliable these days…but not the kind of thing the kids are going to want to get their hands on and personalize. IMHO, that’s the mark of a truly great car…when it makes a cultural impact as well as having mass appeal.
Took me a minute to figure out where the photo of the black Impala was taken. Heritage Square on Big Beaver Road. Hocking Media across the street. That’s a rather intact Cadillac in the background; usually they have shed some of their lower stainless cladding by now. I suppose that we do have a higher percentage of domestic vehicles here in SE Michigan; I just returned from Fremont, CA, and domestics are thin on the ground out there. Budget did give me a Ford, however, from their “Cool Cars” category – a CMax Hybrid. Took me 3 days to figure out how to start it.
That Cadillac is mine. It’s put away from the snowy and salty season these days. I took the photo of Impala when I was there in early November.
IMO
The all new Impala body style is one of the best looking full size cars for under $30k
I only occasionally see one on the road, kinda surprised.
I would have one in my garage if I didn’t like practical easy in, easy out SUVs so well.
Who was that? It was my whitewalls, my whitewalls, from a past life…
Subtle. Very subtle. But I like it.
I always asked that my new tires be mounted with the white wall facing in. They get scuffed and dirty so quickly, I can’t see why someone would want them.
Because when they are clean they are the shizzle!
https://youtu.be/2fEWAc85ed8 White walls say: Look at me! Love me!
I kinda dig ’em. Maybe it’s the dawning of a new style – they say fashion trends always repeat themselves. However one could also say “Them ain’t whitewalls” and pull out some giant ones from the really olden days where the whole bloody side was white! Possible there is some Macklemore influence and somebody just popped some tags…
Back in 1965 I had a set of triple white walls installed on my 1960 Impala HT
Bought them at Monkey Wards, they looked cool but were a bear to clean.
I used Wesley’s tire cleaner with a SOS pad. I’ve never seen any like them before or since. I can also rem. color wall tires we’re available back in the later 1950s or early 60s. Another after mkt. item in the 1950s was a color tinted lacquer in spray cans that was applied before winter to prevent Chrome from road salt “rust and pitting” later to be removed using a solvent. Another memory… during the Chicago winters some guys would smear grease on chrome bumpers, grilles etc. for salt protection, really looked like hell after a short time between the road salt and dirt attaching to the grease.
My parents had triple white walls on 2 of our tires when I was young. I thought we were sooooooo cool. I didn’t know that all four tires were supposed to match.
I’ve seen a Honda CR-V in my neighborhood that has white walls. At first I thought it was really bizarre, but after a while I got to thinking that it actually doesn’t look too bad… but then again my childhood memories of having to clean my father’s white walls have been suppressed for many years, enabling me once again to admire them.
impala-wide whitewalls-nope!
impala-narrow whitewalls-still nope!
And brake dust covers, too?
Brake dust covers?!?
Is that a new word for wheel covers? – Never heard it before.
Special discs that prevented brake dust from collecting on the wheels. I believe they went on the inside of the wheel. That could be wrong, but they were hidden.
Yep, that’s it. They were a fad for a while but haven’t seen them for some time. There might have been an issue with them causing the brakes to overheat due to lack of airflow.
I went to an auto supply store in Muncie IN during a summer theater conference @ Ball State and picked up four wide Port-A-Walls. Walked there and back with them around my neck for easy carrying.
When I got home they went on my parent’s 66 Mercury Montclair sedan. Bless em both for that and allowing my early attempts at bondo and paint while still being seen driving
in public.
Dad had a respectable position at the Rock Island Arsenal at the time and he drove that car to work everyday. Never said a word. He was gangsta before gangsta was a thang.
That Impala is identical to the 14 my older brother bought recently. No whitewalls and a black interior. Quiet, comfortable and good looking. Well made. What Chevrolet with Impala did best.
Anyone rem. Vogue tires ?
They had the raised letter name molded onto the side wall with a thin gold band around
the outside of the whitewall. Where very recognizable at a glance, mostly seen on more expensive model cars. Very cool looking an costly compared to most tires.
Have not seen any for quite awhile.
Cadillac in the second photo has vogue tires, with the thin golden rings.
Vogue tires used to be very popular in Philadelphia (where I lived) in the 1980s — mostly on Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc. Amazing, they ARE still made, and oddly not all of their tires have whitewalls (or goldwalls):
http://www.voguetyre.com/
I see about one or two examples of the classic white/gold Vogue tires per year.
Saw a car on Vogues just today–a mid 90’s Bonneville SSEi. White car with the wide whites and gold rings; it was definitely striking. Perhaps not the car you’d expect on Vogues, but there it was.
Furthermore this is not the first 90’s Bonneville I’ve seen with them. A poster on a message board I frequent had a black mid 90’s Bonneville, and he put Vogues on it. Oddly enough it didn’t look bad.
Those thin whitewalls worked quite well on certain 90’s and 00’s luxury cars. But this Impala? Nope.