I believe there’s some truth to the adage that we often want what we don’t have, instead of appreciating what we currently possess. As an avid music collector across many different genres, I’m frequently on the lookout for the next great find, sound or artist, and I’ve become quite adept at researching the sounds I’m looking for or have read about. I’m not necessarily talking about “digging in the crates” for vintage LPs, as I have no turntable and a very limited selection of vinyl, but rather about the music itself.
I still collect compact discs, as I discovered some time after the advent of the availability of digital music files for purchase (and the subsequent crash of my home computer, even if it had been backed up) that I value liner notes and pictures. It’s also much easier to conceptualize what it is I’m in the mood to listen to if I can do a quick visual scan of my CD library and pick something out, rather than using “CTRL-F” or scrolling with my mouse for the perfect music for my specific mood.
I listen to my MP3 player on “shuffle” with my earbuds in when I’m in the office, but it has been a completely different ballgame since I’ve been working from home for the past four weeks. I will now put on an entire album and listen to it from start to finish as a cohesive collection of songs, whether a studio recording, hits collection, or multi-artist compilation. I keep the volume at a level that’s high enough that I can hear the music well, but low enough so as not to cause unwanted distraction as I tend to my vocation.
Since last month, instead my usual habit of buying many items on my “want list” on the various sites through which I purchase music, I’ve been listening to stuff I already own – and it has been glorious. I’m quite proud of the music library I’ve curated over the years, and I now feel as though I should relax for a while with my music-hunting. My bank account also thanks me. I haven’t given it up buying new-to-me music entirely, but those purchases have slowed to a trickle.
With that said, the discovery of this 1971 track featured on a compilation, “Chevrolet” by American blues musician Taj Mahal (née Henry Saint Clair Fredericks), reminded me of a ’67 Impala I had photographed in the western part of my hometown of Flint, Michigan, over nine years ago. Some sample lyrics:
“Gonna buy you a Chevrolet, gon’ buy you a Chevrolet. Gonna buy you a Chevrolet… Just to do som’thing for you, Babe. Just to do som’thing for you.
Gonna build you a house and home (with my bare hands), build you a house and home. Gonna build you a house and home… Baby, to do som’thing for you.”
Let’s be honest. Who isn’t singing the blues a little bit these days? I’m not taking anything for granted, and I have so much to be thankful for right now. When I imagine the future, though, I find it very hard to envision that many people will be pining for the “good, old year of 2020”. Who knows? Perhaps we will. Let’s just say, though, that in reviewing these pictures of this ’67 Impala (with “Chevrolet” playing in the background), it’s not that hard to feel a bit nostalgic for a time and place when this car was not a cool, weather-worn classic, but just another workaday appliance used to get groceries and shuttle the kiddies to Little League.
Photo as found on Pinterest, taken in Jackson, Michigan in the 1940s.
This car was parked outside a since-closed auto repair shop, Severance Service, which was formerly a Union 76 gas station and even before that, a “Hi-Speed” based on its architecture. The overall aesthetic of this garage harkened back to a time when even lowly commercial buildings like this had certain architectural elements that displayed true artistry. With its gleaming white and green tiles and tower on the corner closest to the intersection, this building could just as easily have been a hamburger restaurant or diner as it was a full-service gas station. If I squint while I look at these photos, it’s not all that hard to imagine this weather-worn Impala in much nicer, daily-driven condition, parked in front of a gas pump and getting its windows squeegee’d clean by an attendant in a crisp, white uniform.
The corner of Chevrolet Avenue and Flushing Road. Flint, Michigan. Thursday, August 19, 2010.
What makes the location of this sighting even better is that the former Severance Service is at the corner of Flushing Road and Chevrolet Avenue. This area in the west end of Flint is not far from a couple of the major GM factories that use to stand and operate here (“Chevy-In-The-Hole” and Buick City, both demolished years ago), and was once very upper-middle-class. In fact, this intersection used to also have a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, a pharmacy, the Ambassador Bar (which held Flint’s first liquor license after Prohibition was repealed), and a few other businesses. These are all gone now.
The Ambassador Bar, across Chevrolet Avenue from Severance Service, was a Flint institution. It closed in 2014. Wednesday, August 13, 2014.
Flint built the ’67 Impala, along with numerous other cities in both the U.S. and Canada. Buick may have been headquartered in Flint for close to a century and may also be the brand most associated with this industrial city, but “Chevrolet” has much stronger associations, to me, with my hometown. The relatively prestigious Buick plant may have been where many factory workers aspired to work, but Chevrolet is what the average autoworker here actually drove. Chevy was the brand for the working man and woman, much like blues, rock and R&B music forms contained many of his or her anthems.
I wonder if this Impala had belonged to Mr. Severance, who had owned this shop and decided to hang up his dream of bringing it back to its (Flint-built?) glory one day – maybe also as a gift to Mrs. Severance, who perhaps had also loved this car. I did not know the Severance family, but my mind wanders. This Impala hardtop sedan was one example of Chevrolet’s full-size passenger car line, the entire range being the most popular in the country that year with about 1,047,000 sold. This included the Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala (including an SS variant) and Caprice model lines, variously available (depending on model line) as pillared and hardtop two- and four-doors, convertibles, and station wagons. Engines ranged from a 155-horsepower 250-cubic inch six cylinder all the way up to the Impala SS427’s 385-hp V8.
Much has changed at this intersection since I took these pictures in the early part of 2011. Severance Service has closed, that cool, vintage “Union 76” sign is no longer present, the tower is gone from this building, and production of the Chevrolet Impala is slated to end after this model year. The more I think about it, perhaps the inevitability of change in the world is part of what draws me to music so much (outside of its inherent enjoyability). This Taj Mahal tune, though far from current, continues to live on in a way that many other tangibles simply cannot. Whether or not the narrator of that song actually ended up building his lady that house and / or buying her that Chevrolet, I’m happier for having heard Mr. Frederickson sing about it.
Flint, Michigan.
Saturday, February 19, 2011.
That’s a fine old Impala, it may be down, but it’s hardly out, and I too appreciate the style in older commercial buildings like this one.
Like you I’m proud of my large CD collection, so much easier to figure out what I’m in the mood for by scanning the shelves rather than scrolling through some digital archive, never mind the tactility as well as being able to read/enjoy the liner notes etc. Last year when I was setting up my home office in the house we live in now I dusted off my old Yamaha CD changer and receiver that I purchased back in college around 1990 and had mostly stopped using a decade or so later, realized the belt was worn/dried out on the changer and ordered a new factory one from Japan for $6 or so – after replacing this glorified rubber band it all works as good as it ever did…scratch that, I think it sounds better than it ever did and is so enjoyable to use.
Jim, I love discovering relatively inexpensive fixes like the one you described… or when stuff starts working again. I’ve had my CD player for probably fifteen years and last spring, it just stopped working properly.
I started scouting both new and old units to replace it and settled on one. I tried one last time to simply unplug it… and let it sit. I re-plugged it in, and it works. I feel like I saved an “old friend” and also kept a perfectly fine-working CD player out of a landfill.
You need this in your collection….
My Itunes file is up to thirty five days and twenty two hours; nearly thirteen thousand songs. All digitalised from my vast collection of vinyl and about two hundred cds. The above song, on a 7″ single, was liberated from my even larger vinyl collection I flog internationally.
Taj Mahal’s version is better. But thanks to both you and Joseph for this little ditty. Quite the earworm.
I consider myself a fan of this band (at least at one time), yet I have never heard this song, until these past few moments ago. I do still have some of their music on my USB stick in the car. Thanks for sharing.
I still do think Slow Ride is their best song.
Sigh…someone has to do it.
All I could think is “Supernatural, the Beginning”. Aren’t prequels all the rage at the moment?
I hope this isn’t stepping on toes, but in a flashback or two on Supernatural it was shown that John Winchester bought the Impala in the condition it has appeared on the show. That is, nearly new condition.
Having watched most episodes of the show, I am surprised that producers were able to round up so many 67 Impala 4 door hardtops. In an episode where the brothers go to a Supernatural “convention” the see about a dozen black 67 Impalas parked outside.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Supernatural craze caused some people to strip nice, original 1967 Caprices of their unique trim, and turn them Into Impalas.
Wow, is that really a thing now? I’m trying to imagine some odd confluence of events that results in, sometime in the distant future, people stripping the unique trim and engines from their Chevelle SS396s to turn them into six-cylinder Custom 300s which by then have become extremely rare and valuable in unmodified form…
If some movie or series comes out and has a cult following, I could see it happening.
It surely stripped the ’67 Impala of the usual Four-Door Discount.
Nice article and well written. Congrats on an expansive music collection.
I spent a 1/4 of my adult life in the Detroit area and married into a GM family. My wife’s father was a Plant Manager for GM and ran the Janesville, Wisconsin plant for years. Her brothers were GM employees too.
Thank you, Anthony. Hopefully you got to use the GM Employee discount at some point from one of your family members. I always thought that was a very nice perk and incentive for GM workers to drive what they built.
So much here. I am also a member of your club and prefer CDs to digital downloads. The many online resources make music so convenient now, but lacks the tactile experience of handling the disc and operating the machine. An experience that is amplified with the soft vinyl disc and paper sleeve in the cardboard cover or the cold, hard, heavy 78 rpm record that lets me experience an era I never knew.
The 67 Impala 4 door hardtop was one at the top of the list of attractive Chevrolets in a decade that drips with attractive Chevrolets. The poor lacquer finish has been neglected, though, and makes me want to start polishing.
And yes, those old gas station buildings are (were?) great.
Another advantage is that I can often score a used CD for less than the cost of a download, and as long as I have a CD drive I have a physical backup that doesn’t take up a great deal of space.
Used CDs are totally the way to go. I realize that I forgot to reference that most of my purchases are secondhand. And for the same storage reason you mention, I don’t think I’ll ever buy another computer without a CD drive.
JP, the tactile experience that you speak of is big part of it. It’s so much easier to rationalize in my mind that I’ve bought an actual thing with my money if I can hold it in my hand.
Thank you Joseph, “Chevrolet” has now been added to my music library.
The ’67 is my favorite big Chevy, so thanks for that as well. Im tired of Corvettes, Chevelles, Shoeboxes and Camaros but I still enjoy a nice big Chevy, especially a 4 door hardtop.
As for music, I dont buy CDs anymore. Only one of my cars has a working CD player and if Im in the house, I would rather listen to vinyl. I still have my approximately 1000 CD collection from the 90s-00s, most of which have been loaded into my Apple music account, but I have reverted to buying vinyl and rebuilding the approximately 300 LP collection I had before my Mom threw them all out when I left home. Today, I’ll buy the LP and download it from my turntable to my computer and load it into my music account from there, just like back in the day when I would buy the LP and then tape it so I could have a copy for the car or Walkman.
@LT Dan: It never ceases to amaze me how much in common we have here on CC! I too still have ALL of my vinyl collection LP’s and 45’s as well (Along w/ GASP! cassettes!), and also the majority of them duplicated on CD. I’ve got to get a new belt for my turntable in order to transpose more vinyl to digital, but at present, I can still make my own CD’s. 🙂
Same here, but you can add 78s into the mix too!
Excellent, LT Dan. Reading through the comments here, I seem to get the impression that that full-size ’67 Chevrolet is somewhat polarizing. Some really like it, and some, not so much.
Man, that was harsh, reading about the end to your LP collection. I hope there was forgiveness involved. I would have been beside myself.
I will still sometimes purchase used CDs to replace favorite old cassettes that are still in my possession.
This reminded me of something about my first of quite a few ’67 Chevrolets that bugged me…
The poor-boy sloppy mask-sprayed stamped aluminum outer grille ends that seemed to say: “Hey, just to age your car quicker, guess where we’re going to move all the parking lights next year?” Or maybe: “You know, Skinflint, for a few bucks more you could’ve had parking lamps and a nice chrome bezel here.” LOL
Besides the many fine points JD’s submission has already touched on, notice how the shop’s overhead door has a walk-in service door integrated into it?
A bit of ’67 – ’68 standard Chevrolet trivia. The grill styled fender caps housed what amounted to decorative running / parking lights in the Caprice, and they were optional on the Impala SS. All cars had amber parking lights / turn signals below the leading portion of the bumper.
Caprice with light up fender end caps….
Jimdandy, because of your comment, I had to take a second look at the outer grille of this Impala – and you’re right. I’m glad that Dave B. posted that picture below of the ’67 Caprice that shows the lights flanking the grille (thanks, Dave!).
Also, that door on the garage is a curiosity to me, as well!
Great pictures and post.
I’ve been re-listening to Taj Mahal for the last few weeks as well. My favourite Taj ‘Chevrolet’ video…
Young audiophiles may enjoy pristine perfect electronic music, but miss out on the many tactile experiences us older generations of music lovers enjoyed. I can recall as a small kid In the ‘50’s my father taking me to the local record store to buy the latest Jerry Lee Lewis or Buddy Holly single. I think they cost a buck and the store had little booths where you could actually play the record before buying it. I couldn’t wait until I got home and play it on my little RCA 45-EY-2 record player.
Now on occasion I will go to my vinyl LP record collection and select an album to play. I’ll study the jacket that featured intricate artwork and all sorts of information about the artist, producer, writer, etc. Beatles alblums were particularly great. Many of these jackets will still bear the price sticker from EJ Korvette, a popular place to buy records back in the day. I’ll carefully remove the often 50 year old plus record from the paper sleeve and place it on the 1964 Thorens turntable that still works flawlessly. Although after hundreds of plays there are some hisses opened pops, but the music still sounds good coming out of Altec Lansing speakers that have no hi-tech, but 15 inch woofers that still deliver the bass. The whole thing is driven by the most modern component in my set, a Sansui amp/tuner that I bought in 1976. All part of the listening enjoyment.
As for the Impala, the ‘67 was the last great one. The more rounded ‘68 with the formal coupe roofline left me cold, then there were those bloated things starting in ‘71.
Thanks Joseph for one of the best CC posts I’ve seen a while … no offense to other contributors, but this was very evocative of another era. Although my personal automotive collection is currently quite modern, and has only rarely been American, my musical tastes are definitely stuck in the prime CC era of 1960’s to 1980’s. And when I do listen to newer music, it’s usually local, or locally popular “Americana”. In the case of Taj Mahal, as well as the late John Prine, their early recordings were played regularly on the FM stations we all listened to in high school. I still remember this song, and also “Fish’n Blues”, as well as John Prine’s “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” which were played daily alongside Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, and John Lee Hooker and BB King on KMPX and later KSAN. And I still mostly listen to the radio, as we’re lucky in our town to have an independent station KPIG that still plays a mix of Americana (new and old) and classic rock (I hate that term, but it is useful).
Thanks for giving me a great way to start my morning. It will make me look at ‘67 Chevies, probably my least favorite of that decade, in a new light.
EDIT: I’m also fine with the Foghat version. Though in their case the Chevy should be a six, to ensure that it’s a “Slow Ride”.
Dman, thank you so much, and I’m glad my post resonated with you. Thanks to you and some of the other readers, I may have to try out a new Spotify channel or two this week.
Here ya go. May be one of the greatest ever to come out of Campbell-Ewald.
Mary J. Blige kicks it off, singing Taj Mahal.
Chas108, this is fantastic. I’m trying to remember I was when this commercial aired during the 2007 Superbowl. Getting more nachos? And Mary J. Blige does her “Chevrolet” clip justice. She’s just great, anyway. Many of these artists in this spot.
Really like how you brought together the music with the car in this essay. Never a big fan of the 1967 full-size Chevy, amazingly, the shots of this decrepit Impala 4-door hardtop really show this car from its best angles (especially the rear three-quarter view) and it’s a beauty!
As for the music, I remember hearing the Taj Mahal version back in the day on FM radio, but could never remember the name of the song when trying to find it online. Thanks for the memory jog.
I’m with you, I much prefer leafing through my scattered CD collection to find what I’m looking for or what I’m in the mood to listen to, as visual cues can be powerful reminders, too. Listening to an album from start to finish often yields a greater appreciation for the music, as you can hear a whole suite as the artist intended it to be heard, rather than just a single song standing by itself without context. Of course, you then sometimes learn why only one song from the dozen or so on the album became hits, too!
Thank you, William. It’s an interesting thing when I can start out with an essay topic and as other elements enter into the premise, it can just sort of write itself. I think that’s what happened here in a moment of inspiration.
And I agree with you about listening to a studio record from start-to-finish as a cohesive set of songs. Sometimes, when I’ve done so, it’s the album tracks that have become my favorites on that album!
Some observations on the Impala. The crossed flags with no numerals above on the front fenders indicate a 283 V8. Hard to tell but it appears that this car was painted Royal Plum, not a common color but interestingly, the Sport Sedan was shown in Royal Plum in the sales brochure. The 65-70 full size Chevys have always been my favorite cars. I own a 67, 68 and two 69’s and have owned two 65’s and two other 69’s in the past. That said, the 67 has always been my least favorite mostly due to the trim. That lower chrome that doesn’t tie in with anything and lack of wheel opening moldings look cheap compared to the 65-66, and 68-70 models. I have skirts on my 67 which carries the trim through and to me looks much better.
I am betting on the much more common Madeira Maroon. I am not sure I have ever seen a Royal Plum Impala, but there were surely some out there.
I was searching 1967 color charts for Evening Orchid, which I had believed to be a 1965 only color. Jimmy momentarily had me sold on a terribly faded Royal Plum, which was indeed very rare.
It appears you have searched the color palate on the subject car and have used the evidence to come to the correct conclusion. The patch of paint on the rear quarter as well as most of the paint below the lower side moulding clinches the case.
But, it’s not hard to see where my mind may have wandered into the Evening….
Jimmy, I’m with you on the wheel lip mouldings. They were virtually standard on most higher trim cars in the late ’60s, and visually the Impala’s lower mouldings seem to be floating without them. I have a similar beef with the 1967 Thunderbird.
The Impala SS got lip mouldings, as well as the Caprice, which made them look more complete.
The Caprice, with or without the relatively rare skirts looked great, but I’d go for the skirts if I were ordering a ’67 Chevy today….
I agree the SS and Caprice models definitely benefitted from the wheel opening moldings. And the skirts really look great on Caprice models. Here’s my 67 with the skirts.
That is an awesome car! Liking both skirts and pale yellow, I’m sold!
On one of my old car buying adventures, I looked at a ‘67 Impala sedan with above average appearance options. Gold with a white painted top and skirts it was a bit of a unicorn from the top selling car line. At the time, I decided I really wanted a four door hardtop, and I moved along.
Joseph, another stellar CC. Been a big fan of Taj Mahal since 1968 or so. And that Chevy is just about perfect: it’s showing its age proudly.
Paul, thank you so much. I plan on researching Taj Mahal’s discography a bit more.
That Taj Mahal song sounds a lot like a Donovan song called “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5RwE7M9IrWg
I’m also a big fan of CDs. After enduring the cheap recycled vinyl of the 70s-80s, CDs are a godscend, I can listen to them either @ home or in the car & I’m satisfied w/that level of portability. I have plenty of them, including 50+ box sets & I’m listening to them during this time (I’m listening to the Ken Burns Jazz box set as I type this).
As for the car, my brother had a ’64 4-door hardtop, which I remember fondly. The Impala were definitely the Accord of its time.
My Dad bought a used ’67 Bel Air station wagon in the 1970s, It was about ten years old. It always reminded me of something you bought at the local White Front store ( a late ’60’s discount store in Oakland ). The large “econo sized” package, big and cheap! Small V8 with Powerglide, Light yellow paint, little chrome trim. Very plain black vinyl interior, the dash had no dials, just a few lights. Interestingly enough it had a/c. I guess the original buyer saved money by choosing the low line car and put the saving towards the air conditioning. Overall the car seemed so cheap compared to our earlier Tempest wagon.
Still it was a solid, spacious, comfortable machine. Perfectly useful, and when new, nothing to be ashamed of. I also come from a General Motors family, but on the production side. My family and I worked on the line screwing these things together.
That ’67 Impala reminds me of a time when blue collar people knew their place. I don’t mean that in a negative way of staying in their “position.” I mean a time when working people like my family, felt secure in their identity and achievements. Working at the plant was a good job that provided a good living. It bought a nice little house, let the Wife stay home and raise the kids, let you put a little money away for the future, maybe even allowed you to send the smartest kid in the family out to college to get a little of that “book learning”. And you could to spend a little extra to get the fancier Impala! And you were proud. Proud that you worked hard and bought what you could afford. The things that were right for people like us. We didn’t to put on airs or lease that cheapest Mercedes that you see now in commercials.
Jose, thank you for this. There is a certain satisfaction in feeling like we’ve earned our pay, are living within our means, and like what we have. Your last paragraph encapsulates these ideas perfectly.
Nice Chevy, I’d drive it just like it is, its survived this long and will likely out live me with occasional maintenance. My CD collection is decidedly 70s 80s dont know what went wrong there I just keep replacing them as they die.
This piece resonates with me in so many ways, Joseph…
First of all, I’m an avid music collector/listener as well. I still have my turntable and vinyl, as well as a bunch of FLAC files on a hard drive.
And I go back and forth. I love the music library I’ve built, but I also love to learn about artists new to me (I’m listening to the previously unknown-to-me Nacho Valenciaga via Spotify on my iPhone while at work from home). In off hours, I dive into the record albums or CDs, or stream new stuff.
Second, I have a thing for the ’67 Chevy. Particularly the Impala! And in my opinion, the entire GM line in 1967 was damned near flawless, design-wise.
Back to the Impala. My (sadly late) best friend Weldon found a ’67 2-door hardtop for sale in the local paper (this must have been about 1977-’78 or so). The original owner had it for sale for $800. Red, red interior, and even though it wasn’t a Super Sport, the owner had opted for the 4-speed manual transmission.
Everything about that car was ‘right’. The color. The styling. The ride. Even the exhaust sounded sweet (just the right amount of engine ‘rasp’ when shifting gears).
Somehow, my friend got the money together to buy it. He loved it.
About a month after he bought it, he totaled it. With 20/20 hindsight, he might very well have been able to have the frame straightened. I don’t know.
The 327 and 4-speed would go in and out of several other Chevrolets after that. I don’t know what happened to it in the end.
But to this day, if I found another one equipped like that, in that color combination, I’d buy it.
Dan, your late friend’s car sounds like it was a beauty. I had to see a quick calculation for what that $800 purchase price would translate to in today’s money, and it sounds like his car was a really nice one. Could be a great tribute to Weldon’s memory if you could ever find another one like it.
Agreed. It’s hard for me to believe now that they’re 52 years old….
The other car that would be a tribute to his memory would be a ’65 El Camino. Also red. Also with four-speed transmission…
Man, talk about the CC effect. I was listening to Deep Tracks on Sirius yesterday and heard Jim Ladd play Donovan’s “Hey Gyp”.
In the theme of LPs and Chevys, here is one (Jackson Browne’s Late For The Sky).
I have the vinyl, but it was not in its assigned location.
I miss the better designs on the 12 inch album covers.