After a brief spell of unusual-for-the-Quad Cities warm weather, we are back to typical Midwestern autumn weather: 40s and 50s in the daytime, dipping to the 20s or 30s at night. I attended a car show last Sunday that will in all likelihood be the last one of the year. But there are still a few car guys taking their vintage iron out for a spin, including this ’67 Impala I saw in traffic on Wednesday afternoon.
I spotted it while merging onto John Deere Road, and I had to get closer for a better look. I have been to a lot of car shows this year, but I’d never seen this car before. It’s even an Impala SS model, one of 66,510 hardtops built that year. No way to tell from this distance whether it is the $2,898 six-cylinder or $3,003 V8, but I think it’s safe to say it’s the latter.
Just as I was about to get a great close-up shot, the driver slowed down to enter the left-turn lane, so this shaky parting shot is all you get. I briefly debated following him to see if he was going someplace nearby, but I had errands to run. The ’67s sure were lookers, weren’t they?
Very cool, that Impala might be more cool painted in “black Metallicar” like the “Metallicar” used in the tv series Supernatural. 😉
I had a 68 Pontiac Catalina 2 dr hardtop with almost the exact same profile. It was a really comfortable highway cruiser.
I love these. I think this is one of the most attractive two-door cars ever. Good lord, were they large.
Even the gas gauge was big, I miss ’em. Pops had a 67 Belair, 283, three on the tree and no power steering or brakes. Fun car to park.
I nominate this car for holder of the worlds largest gas gauge.
really love these !
I do like the looks of these, and this is a nice color on the car. However, my experience is colored by once driving a 67 SS with a small V8 and a Powerglide. I was spoiled by the smooth torque of my 67 Galaxie 500 ragtop with its 390 and 3 speed auto, and just did not subjectively like the feel of the Chevrolet as well. But back in 1967, I would have been in the minority. It was a sharp car in navy with an off-white bucket seat interior.
My first car was a ’66 with 283 and Powerglide, and I’ll second the motion that the small block was ruined by the two-speed transmission. It pulled okay off the line, but if you had to accelerate at highway speeds (say, while making a pass on a two-lane road) the transmission kicked down into low and the poor engine was screaming for mercy while not actually allowing the car to, you know, accelerate. Dad’s ’64 Mercury with 390 and three speed was much better, and Mom’s ’69 Dodge Monaco with 383 and Torqueflite was the class act of the family.
At least in ’67 you could get a Chevy with the 327 and THM. In ’66 THM was for the big block only.
Think the small block and the PG is bad, Dad’s ’65 Impala 2-dr had a 230 (not even the 250) and a PG! Now that was one slow old car, but it gave many years of reliable service, much more so than the 1960 Dodge it replaced (also a six, slant six). He also had a ’55 Bel Air 4-door with the 235 six, and a PG, but in the lighter car it wasn’t as bad as the later 60’s cars he owned.
The ’65-’68 fastback Impala, Delta/Delmont, Pontiac, & Buick cars are such beautiful machines, especially when not all modded-up.
It’s nice to see one as it really was…with wheelcovers instead of the cliche rally wheels. I’m probably one of the few who mainly prefers wheelcovers to rally/aluminum/magnum/etc wheels.
Thanks for sharing this!
I’m 100% with you on the wheel covers, at least on cars built before the 80s.
I just saw a 67 Caprice that was in for service last week. Had a 396 with a 4 speed stick! The garage guys said it was still original owner, ordered out that way. She’d been sitting in a garage for 20 years but still ran great. Same color as this pic except for the vinyl roof. Bench seat too. What an unusual machine. Not for sale however. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Over in my area there’s a ’68 two-door Biscayne for $1100. It’s rough, but complete and runs. Thinking abut snagging it once I unload some other things.
When my family started to need a second car in the mid-1970s, my father had a succession of older Chevys before switching to pickups. One of them was a ’67 Caprice two-door hardtop in this same color (Marina Blue, I believe) with a black vinyl top and blue interior. Nice car.
Love the ’67…one of the prettiest in a decade of great full-size Chevy designs.
These were in my opinion one of the nicest large car fastbacks on the market, (although the 67 Ford Galaxie 500 XL is a close second). I didn’t like the formal roof GM put on the Caprices. They needed at least a 427 and a TH400 to be decent performers though, and HD suspension to have decent handling. I have a 1967 magazine test of the Impala, Galaxie and Fury. The Impala has a 396 and the Galaxie has a 390, both still only run 17 second 1/4 miles though.
Marina Blue was my favorite color choice of the 1966-67 Chevys. We had a much plainer version of the featured car – a ’67 Bel Air 2-door sedan in turquoise with the 250 six, three-on-the-tree, and no power steering or brakes. It was the car I learned to drive in and yes, it was a handful to park!
The gas gauge, speedometer, and clock (if you had one — we didn’t, just the hash marks) were all circular and huge. It’s odd that the ’67 was the only year a circular speedometer was used since the 1959-60s, and the strip speedo came back in ’68. I liked the front end treatment, obviously derivative of the original 1963 Buick Riviera.
While I was in HS my friend’s older sister got one of these brand new! Blue with black vinyl roof, Small V8, PS PB auto, am radio, clock black interior bench seat. I remember she got such a deal on it and paid around $2900. It was quickly recalled by Chevy and a cable was added attaching the block to the left inner control bushing to prevent the engine from falling out.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these. Later in college I got a 67 Biscayne stripper. 6 cyl, 3 on the column 2 dr posted sedan. No options other than radio.heater. It even had rubber floors instead of a rug.