Exported to Australia, this Impala carried a distinction no American import before it had: the first postwar US car sold there with a V8 as standard equipment.
Median 83 hp across 153 similar cars
Lead trim: 283 V8 (185 hp, 1959 base) · up to 350 hp
Chevrolet Impala second generation1959–1960
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Chevrolet Impala second generation yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactExported to Australia, this Impala carried a distinction no American import before it had: the first postwar US car sold there with a V8 as standard equipment.
Restyled by Bill Mitchell for 1959 with a shortened roofline and wrap-over back window on the Sport Coupe, offered as a four-door sedan, two-door hardtop (Sport Coupe), four-door hardtop (Sport Sedan), convertible and five-door wagon (490,000 built in 1960). The 1959 base V8 was the carry-over 283 at 185 hp with a 290 hp optional 283 and up to 335 hp from the 348; 1960 offered seven 283 and 348 versions, topped by the 350 hp Special Super Turbo-Thrust 348 with triple two-barrels, 11.25:1 compression and dual exhausts. Fuel injection was no longer offered, and cruise control appeared on the options list. Three round taillights per side returned for 1960.
Collectors Spotted in the Chevrolet Impala Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Chevrolet Impala yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 283 V8 (185 hp, 1959 base) | 1959–1959 | 4.6 L V8 | 185 hp | 275 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 283 V8 (290 hp, 1959 optional) | 1959–1959 | 4.6 L V8 | 290 hp | 290 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 348 Special Super Turbo-Thrust triple two-barrel (350 hp, 1960) | 1960–1960 | 5.7 L V8 | 350 hp | — | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The last Impala wasn't just an American icon — this 10th generation also found its way onto dealer lots in the Middle East and South Korea.
The SS version of this Impala packed a 5.3L V8, the first (and still only) V8 ever offered in a front-wheel-drive Chevrolet, and the first in any Chevy sedan since the 1996 Caprice.
After four decades as a rear-drive icon, the Impala came back in 2000 as a totally different animal — a mainstream front-wheel-drive sedan.
The Impala SS was essentially a cop car in plainclothes — built on the Caprice's 9C1 police package, with suspension and cooling gear once reserved for law enforcement.
The downsized '77 Impala wasn't a step down — Motor Trend named the redesigned Impala/Caprice its Car of the Year, and production jumped enough to reclaim the #1 sales spot in the US.
A thousand of these Impalas quietly shipped with an experimental airbag system in 1973, decades before airbags were mandated — one survivor even played Kramer's car on Seinfeld.
The redesigned 1965 Impala set an all-time industry sales record — over a million units in the US in a single year.
Hidden inside the 1963 lineup was the Z11: an all-aluminum 427 drag-racing special rated at 430 horsepower. Chevy built exactly fifty of them.
Exported to Australia, this Impala carried a distinction no American import before it had: the first postwar US car sold there with a V8 as standard equipment.
The brand-new 1958 Impala sold so well in its first year that it made up 15 percent of all Chevrolets built — and helped Chevrolet reclaim the number-one production spot in a recession year.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
It briefly served as senior sibling to Marquette, a GM companion brand cancelled after just one year.
Nissan hired former BMW engineers to help develop the 510's suspension, which is why period reviewers frequently compared its handling to the BMW 1600/2002.
A Trabant 601 won its class at the 1970 Monte Carlo Rally, with a second 601 right behind it in second.
The 600 was a stopgap: the P50's body over the 601's mechanicals, and for a while its estate was built alongside the new 601 saloon.
The G80 Sport brought a 370 PS twin-turbo 3.3 V6, a mesh grille and copper-tinted chrome with copper stitching to match.
The Vigor was sold only with a five-cylinder engine, an unusual configuration Honda used to fit a longer engine transversely under a short hood.
The GS/E coupe earned the nickname "German Charger" for its long hood, short deck stance borrowed from Detroit muscle cars.
This DeVille/Fleetwood was the first production car anywhere to mount its V8 sideways, Cadillac's front-drive gamble on the new C-body.