The Chevrolet Impala appeared in 1958 as part of the Bel Air line-up, but for 1959 it was redesigned and introduced as its own series. The dramatic redesign included the distinctive grille shown above as well as a bat-wing trunk lid and cat’s eye tail lights:
Standard under the hood was a 235 inline-six, but a V8 was an option in either 283 or 348-cubic inches.
It was great timing, too. The country was coming out of recession and consumers were ready to buy. One newspaper story from November, 1958, was titled, “New Cars: They’re Selling,” and it featured many of the new cars for 1959:
It was a good year for automakers, but clearly a good year for consumers, too. My goodness, buyers must have loved their choices!
