For decades the Chevrolet Impala was a fixture of American streets, a full-size car that sold in huge numbers and turned up in music, television and culture. Its run lasted 62 years before the last one was built in 2020. Here are twelve Impalas that show how the nameplate changed from 1958 to its final year.
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1. Chevrolet Impala (1958): Triple Taillights Debut
The all-new 1958 Impala arrived with its signature triple taillights and helped make Chevy the sales champ that year, according to Chevrolet’s legacy timeline.
The look set the visual pattern that Impala buyers would recognize for years to come. For anyone studying the car’s history, 1958 is where the name first appears on the sales charts as a winner. The first-year success explains why Chevrolet kept the model at the center of its lineup for so long.
2. Chevrolet Impala (1959): Economy Move, Big Engine
The 1959 redesign used bodyshells shared with lower-priced Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac models, a GM economy move. The 348 V-8 offered up to 335 hp, and options grew to cruise control and a six-way power seat.
Sharing parts across brands was a cost decision, yet the car still gained features that felt upscale for the period. Buyers could pair a powerful engine with comfort options in the same Impala. The 1959 car shows how GM balanced thrift behind the scenes with showroom appeal.
3. Chevrolet Impala SS 409 (1961): The 409 Arrives
The Super Sport was introduced on Dec. 17, 1960. The 1961 SS with the 409 V-8 was rated at 360 hp, and only 142 left the factory with that engine.
That scarcity makes a real 409 car a standout among the many Impalas built. Collectors verifying one should check the documentation, because the engine count is so small. The 1961 SS shows how the Impala pushed beyond family transportation into performance territory.
4. Chevrolet Impala (1963): Fifty Millionth Chevy
Chevrolet’s 50 millionth car was a 1963 Impala. More than 800,000 other 1963 Impalas sold that year, The Drive reported.
Hitting a production milestone with an Impala says a lot about where the model sat in the company’s output. The sales total on top of that landmark car shows how widespread the Impala was on American roads. Shoppers of classic cars will find 1963 examples plentiful, thanks to volumes like these.
5. Chevrolet Impala (1964): A Lowrider Legend
A Riverside Red 1964 Impala was bought by a Black businessman in South Los Angeles the day the Civil Rights Act was signed. The car later became a fixture of LA lowrider and hip-hop culture.
The story ties the Impala to a particular moment in American history and to the art form that grew around the car. The 1964 model remains a favorite canvas for lowrider builders. Its cultural reach extends well beyond what any sales chart could show.
6. Chevrolet Impala (1965): One Million and Counting
Over 1 million Impalas were sold in 1965, a sales record that Fox News reported the nameplate still held when production ended in 2020.
A mark that stood for fifty-five years is a rare achievement for any car. It means no later Impala, and no model year in the long run that followed, topped what 1965 delivered. For anyone asking when the Impala was at its peak, that year gives the answer in plain numbers.
7. Chevrolet Impala (1967): Fastback and 8-Track
Chevrolet’s 1967 restyle brought a fastback roofline, and an 8-track tape player became an option for the first time in the Impala, as the restyle details show.
The two changes captured the period well, pairing sleeker shape with in-car entertainment. Buyers could now take their music along on the road in an Impala. A 1967 car with that option is a small time capsule of late-1960s technology, and the fastback roofline makes the redesign easy to spot among other Impalas of the decade.
8. Chevrolet Impala (1973): Airbag Pioneer
An early airbag system was built into 1,000 test cars in 1973. Kramer’s Impala on Seinfeld is a rare example with that early airbag system, Chevrolet notes.
The test program shows that safety experiments reached the Impala well before airbags were common. A television appearance gave one of the cars a lasting link to pop culture. Anyone hunting for a 1973 model should remember how few were built with the technology.
9. Chevrolet Impala (1977): Smaller and Still on Top
The downsized Impala was the best-selling car in America in both 1977 and 1978, Fox News reported in its story on the last Impala built.
Shrinking a car and still leading the market is a difficult feat, and the Impala managed it twice running. The smaller body did not hurt its popularity with American buyers. A 1977 or 1978 car is therefore a good representative of the model at a high point of its commercial success.
10. Chevrolet Impala SS (1994): SS Returns
The Impala SS went into production Feb. 14, 1994, at Arlington Assembly with a 260-hp LT1 V-8 from the Caprice police package. Chevrolet built 69,768 before the last one on Dec. 13, 1996.
Using a police-package engine gave the revival car real muscle in a full-size sedan. The short production window of under three years defines the model, and the total is small by Impala standards. Buyers today treat the 1994 SS as a distinct chapter apart from the earlier cars.
11. Chevrolet Impala SS (2006): V-8 Up Front
The 2006 Impala SS carried a 5.3-liter V-8 making 303 hp, the first V-8 in a front-wheel-drive Chevrolet and the first in a Chevy sedan since the 1996 Caprice. It hit 60 mph in 5.6 seconds.
The engine stood out because it ended a long gap without a V-8 in a front-wheel-drive Chevrolet. A front-wheel-drive layout made it a different sort of SS than the rear-drive Impalas of the past. Used shoppers get a quick sedan with a V-8 that was unusual for its drivetrain.
12. Chevrolet Impala (2020): The Last One
The tenth-generation Impala was built at Oshawa, Ontario, and Detroit-Hamtramck. The final car rolled off the line on Feb. 27, 2020, ending a 62-year run.
That date closed a chapter that started with the 1958 triple taillights. The last Impala marks the end of one of the longest-running names in the Chevrolet lineup. Anyone buying a used example from the final generation is getting a piece of that history, from a car built in either of the two plants named in the record.
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