posted at the Cohort by Colin
The Chevrolet Impala sport coupe was America’s sweetheart for so many years, peaking in popularity in 1965. It and its Bel Air predecessors became icons of the big American coupe, with their flair and unique style to differentiate them from their prosaic sedan counterparts. The last year for the hardtop Sports Coupe was in 1975, and its sales had been dwindling for years. One could wonder if the all-new downsized 1977 B-Bodies were even going to have dedicated coupes, never mind hardtops.
But sure enough; GM couldn’t quite let go if its long-established tradition, having essentially created the concept with its pioneering 1949/1950 hardtops. The ’77 Pontiac-Olds-Buick coupes, especially the latter, were real lookers, with their Fiat 130 Coupe-inspired greenhouse. But the Chevy got its own unique roof. The bent rear glass is nice, but the C-pillar is a bit off. Some of those classic Impala Sport Coupes are hard acts to follow, and this just doesn’t quite live up the best of them.
I’m not going to do a complete retrospective here, but let’s just look at some of the finest of the long lineage it was trying to live up to. The 1950 Bel Air, despite (or because of) being a 7/8 scale 1949 Coupe DeVille, rocked the low priced market by being the first hardtop coupe. We can see the Sloan Ladder dissolving in front of our eyes.
What’s left to say about the ’55? Beauty isn’t just skin-deep?
The ’58 was the first Impala. And although it impressed me as a kid, even though being a few years old when we arrived in 1960, I’ve soured a bit about its wide and wallowing ways. Its beauty is just skin-deep.
It’s even easier to find fault with the ’59, but it’s way too much fun for that. It can’t be taken seriously.
The ’61 was a great improvement, even if it was evolutionary. Even CC’s Chevy-phobic JP Cavanaugh praised it here.
1962 (1963 shown) brought a totally new kind of roof.
1965 was the peak Impala coupe experience, in terms of sales as well as design daring. GM and Chevrolet pulled out all the stops, and so did I, in my write-up of it.
Although the fastback was still available in 1968, the Custom Coupe reverted to the 1963-1964 formula, and ushered in an era of more conservative coupe roofs.
The formal Custom Coupe was much more common after 1971, and good Sports Coupe pictures are not easy to find. This clean ’73 shows off its lines to best advantage, and may well be the most handsome big Chevy of this era.
The ’74-’75 Sports Coupe was the last hardtop, and not a brilliant one at that. But it’s a lot easier on the eye than the Custom Coupe (below), with its big B pillar and large fixed rear side window. CC’s Dave Skinner found this remarkably well preserved original on the streets in LA.
In 1976, there was only the Custom Coupe. The Colonnade of B-Bodies.
Which brings us back to our featured ’78 Impala Sports Coupe, standing in for the ’77-’79 generation. There was no Custom Coupe those years; the Caprice version was just called “Coupe”. It’s obviously not exactly the very finest example of its kind.
The character of this vintage Chevy changed quite considerably with the right two-tone paint job, as this ’77 Impala Sport Coupe shows. It makes them look longer and minimizes their boxiness. It’s really evoking that sleek silver ’73 a few images up. In fact, its C-Pillar has a strong similarity to that one; by far more than any other previous Impala coupe.
Obviously its bent glass rear window is a key feature, something GM was keen on in these days. A hot wire was used to create the crisp bends. The view from this angle is the best one for these cars.
The problem with the view from the front is that it’s become so generic, as millions of B and A Body GM cars of this vintage essentially shared the same basic lines. Just change the grilles and a few details, and this could be…way too many others. But there’s virtue in its trim and lean lines, and of course plenty more virtue under its skin, especially if it has the optional 350 V8 and the F-41 suspension. No need to wax eloquently again on the fact that these cars reset the dynamic standards for the big American car.
Meanwhile, north of the border Canadians still were ably to buy Bel Air Sport Coupes. That ended in 1981.
The B-Bodies got a refresh in 1981, and ditched the Sports Coupe for a Custom Coupe, which was really a two-door sedan. And it was also the last year for the Impala coupe; the Caprice now increasingly dominated the line, until the Impala (taxi and police) sedan was finally put to pasture in 1985.
A two door sedan by virtue of the fact that they both shared the same basic roof structure, although the two-door did have a wider C-Pillar. Sales of big cars plunged in 1980, so it was fortuitous that this rationalization was decided upon ahead of that recession.
Sales of the ’77-’79 Sports Coupe had been mediocre at best. Combined Impala and Caprice Coupes only captured 17.6% of all big Chevy sale in 1977, 19.5% in ’78, and 14.8% in ’79. And the change to the formal roof for ’81 didn’t help: it only managed 13.9%. The days of the big American coupes were soon coming to an end.
The end came in 1987, with the last Caprice Classic Coupe. Good luck finding one; all of 3,110 were sold, or just 1.3% of all Caprices. A bit boxy and generic, but handsome nonetheless. 38 years of big Chevy coupes, and it’s hard to find a real loser in the bunch. That’s how legends are made.
Lots of big Chevys in the GM Archives, but here’s my ’65 Impala SS CC
Beautiful lines on the silver ‘73 and two tone ‘77. Character and style you don’t see on the street anymore, unfortunately.
Dad was a huge believer in the Bel Air and Impala Sport Coupes. They were all he drove between the early 50’s and 1965 when he left the dealership – with two exceptions: 1956 was the new Bel Air four door hardtop, and 1960 was the Impala convertible (he let his son order the car that year).
The reason for such loyalty? They were a guaranteed easy sale as a one year old used car when the new one arrived. Every one was the two-barrel small block option with Powerglide, 62-65 got the SS option.
The photo background of the cream-over-maroon Canadian one sorta “disappears” the bent rear window. (Contrast to the black and silver example.) The illusion of no-bent-window shows how that element gives the car a much nicer line in profile.
I owned, around 1986, a 1978 Caprice Coupe with the bent rear glass. A real beauty in my eyes, and still one of the best looking cars from that era. Mine started out as a two tone bleu car with bleu velour interior and full options, but ended as a white car. Guess at that time, I liked the white better, there was no other raeson to repaint that car. Would never change it now, we need more two tone cars!
Oh, and tak note of tje steel Pontiac wheels, those were original on my Firebird, that got a set of snowflakes instead.
These are very handsome cars – 40+ years on.
The Hertz (where I worked) fleet in Denver had about five ’77 Impala coupes to go with many more Impala four door sedans. I don’t remember any ’78s. Coupes were, of course, not popular rental cars but there were also LTD coupes in the fleet.
In the early fall of 2009 there was a pretty ’77 Impala coupe for sale by the original owner in Torrington, Wyoming. I made a mistake in not making an offer on that car.
Our tenor in the church choir of Holy Cross Church of Armenia in Manhattan, “Uncle Marty” to all of us, had one of the lovely coupes, the 1950. My brother and I would sit in the back and admire the ribs on the interior lines and the nice upholstery. The idea of a convertible look was, of course, new to us. Great car.
A law school roommate bought a middle-aged used 77 Impala coupe, and I always thought it was an attractive car. The coupe is really the only one of this body style I really liked – I still consider the sedan sort of bland – certainly not something that Chevrolet was known for over the years. The 1980 refresh removed all of my enthusiasm for the line. Which is funny because I found the C body coupes improved over their 77-79 counterparts.
When my mother was young her first real car was a practical green 1953 Chevy sedan. She always remembered a friend who had a baby blue 53 or 54 Bel Air and always sounded just a touch wistful in a way that told me she would have rather had that one.
As to my Chevy-Phobia, I don’t think that label applies when it comes to the looks of the cars. I would argue that from the 30s through the 70s, nobody turned out more consistently attractive cars year in and year out than Chevrolet did.
The lead photo of the Impala coupe up top is on Lake Street, Minneapolis hardly 2 miles away from the epicenter of our currently ongoing riot. I am willing to venture that none of those buildings in those photos are unscathed, if not outright burnt out.
The featured car is actually a pretty great example to me, the keystones really set it off from the typical lot with cheesy factory wire wheel covers, and at some stage had(has) an owner who cared enough to get the inset portions painted to match the cars body color! This is far closer to the spirit of sporty Bel airs of the 50s and Impalas of the 60s
That’s the awkward part about about these downsized B body coupes really, Collonade intermediate coupes were still hot sellers and stylish in 77, as were the crisp new Tbird’s and Cougars the same year, but B bodies carried with them the demographic buyers of the previous generation who were gradually shunning coupes for 4 door sedans and despite the aesthetic merits over the Collonades that were basically the same size for 1977, the design just couldn’t break out from the conservative full size box the Impala/Caprice, and the full size segment at large morphed to.
Markets.,markets. In Europe the question would be why such a big car with only two doors?. Impractical as the passenger has to get out to let passengers in the back. Four doors better. Gas Monkeys Richard Rowlings always saying “that ain’t no good it’s a four door”., hence 2 door Volvo 240s. Two door sedans more sporty. OK Rich…
Anyone remember that Aerocoupe? Short trunk lid, very long curved back glass? My brother in law had one. It was a 77 or 78. Gold with white top.
You mean 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe? That model is only Chevrolet matching your description. They were available in white paint only with some of them repainted in different colors.
Have to agree, these were the ugly ducklings of the downsized B-Body coupes. I particularly loved the Buicks. Didn’t the Olds version use a vertical front edge to the C-pillar though, as a resurrected “Holiday Coupe” in 88 trim, versus the Fiat-inspired roof?
The Chevys and the Buicks, in particular, had such sharp edges that I was surprised that GM’s “Excitement Division” wound up with such doughy-looking sedans and coupes.
The last image of the black Impala is mesmerizing. The background reflection perfectly accents the side line chrome strip from bumper to bumper. Looks almost lunar.
At one point in the early mid 90s, I had 6 1968 Impala coupes, including two Sport Coupes, one an original 385 hp 427 automatic – all there, and a built 396 hot rodded but beautiful. All due respect to others, but in my view, no other design came close. Here’s my 396. My 327 auto convertible may show up too.
My dream CC, Steve… a 1968 Impala Convertible.
Make mine light blue with a white top and white interior and the 327 (my Dad’s 307 was just too slow).
But I like the standard wheel covers on these, like the ones on the Impala Custom in the picture Paul provided. My Dad had those on his Grecian Green example.
“…Chevy ’69…How Bizarre!”
Except it’s a ’68. I’ll forgive that, given “How Bizarre” was a tasty nugget of ’90s Top 40 Pop.
My gold 396 4 speed –
I just got one! 1977. 82,000 original miles. Sat out for s few years. But it will be reborn with a musi 555ci – T56 – 6 speed manual. And a complete show car rebuilding. 900hp of what the original designers never could of imagined. Stay tuned because this will be on YouTube
Lose the vinyl top, and that ‘68 Impala Custom is a dead ringer for the car my Dad bought when I was 8 years old.
I have to agree with Steve Douglas above regarding the ‘68. Best of that generation, IMHO.
That black over silver ‘77 was my favorite color (or lack thereof, to be pedantic) combination of that generation. Replace the wire wheel covers with some Corvette Rally Wheels, and make that interior red with matching pin striping, and it would be perfect.
Nice write-up Paul, as always.
I’m happy to say I had a silver coupe impala 1977 red interior. DIDNT have the since 2 keep it.Got a couple of pics,Loved it.classic.
I always really liked the bent glass 1977-79 Chevrolet coupes. However, as time has gone on, I can see that design wise, the 1977-79 Pontiac and Buick roof-line is a better/cleaner design overall. It works especially well on the Buick LeSabre IMO.
The one thing about the 1977 Chevrolet restyle look like the plain variants have huge slab sides and very box. This is quite notable with the Impala posted above and even more so the Bel Air, Although I generally prefer plainer cars, Chevrolet did a few tricks on the Caprice to make it more attractive during these years. The lower body chrome trim on the Caprice runs higher on the lower body and the rockers are blacked out. This in effect makes the car look longer and lower. In addition, the wrap around lights at the front help eliminate the very boxy look of the Impala/Bel Air. While I generally prefer 2-door cars, with the 1977 restyle, I would gladly take a 4-door as it is stylistically equal to the 2-door cars.
While I know the 1980 restyle is not popular here, I do think that it made the car look much more lighter overall. This is also when I think the 4-door became better styled than the 2-door. Unfortunately, the Caprices from 1980-85 had too much gingerbread, but the Impalas were great looking cars from this time period. The plain 1986-90 models were also very clean good looking cars in my eyes.
Note the blacked out rockers and trim location makes the Caprice look longer and lower:
Got to be that ’73.
And the front clip of the 78 could be off an SUV or pickup.
I think the 77-79 Chevy coupes had more character than the the BOP variants.
BUT, the BOP probably had better visibility.
I never liked the 1980 restyle. As such, I think it was an accurate habinger of where GM was heading during that decade….
The two-door Sport Coupe started out as a style leader, could’ve ended better but fortunately American tastes were changing and more accepting of more-doors and wagons as a style leader.
Where it counted, underneath, they either made it work or you can buy the components to make it work yourself.
Definitely a GM Greatest Hit, overall.