| WHAT WAS A $150 option package
to dress up the Chevrolet Impala last year has been transformed for 1964 into an added top-of-the-line series. As such, there is more visual difference between the brace of Impala Super Sport models, as they are called, and the Impala series with its six body styles.
The Super Sports, either convertible or 2-door hardtop, will be the bucket seat versions among Chevrolet's 15 large size models. Individually adjustable front seats are upholstered in soft expanded vinyl, with bright metal moldings carried around the backrests. Door panel interiors are trisected horizontally, trimmed from top to bottom with pleated vinyl, smooth vinyl and carpeting, and decorated with the SS medalion and new red safety reflectors. The bright metal console has a light at its rear end for back seat passengers, a stowage compartment between the seats and a sturdy Hurst shifting shaft for the new Chevrolet-built 4-speed manual transmission up front. |
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| SUPER SPORT hardtops and convertibles have special single trim strip at body side peak. | NEW FRONT end sheet metal contours, grille show Chevrolet's evolutionary styling change. |
| The restyled body has new front end, rear quarter and deck lid sheet metal and bumpers. A bright metal windsplit is centered on the hood and rear deck-and a full-length side molding, dividing at mid-door for a patterned metal insert, is carried above the body side peak. The rear "cove" area is outlined with a metal strip surrounding the anodized aluminum trim plate (with engine-turned pattern).
Engines are unchanged for this year, with the 409-cu. in. V-8 developing 425 bhp at 6000 rpm as the top option. This powerplant uses an 11:1 compression ratio, dual 4-barrel carburetors and mechanical valve lifters. With single 4-barrel carburetor, it is rated at 400 bhp at 5800 rpm. Torque peak, at 4200 rpm for the former and 3600 for the latter, is 425 lb./ft. With either, a special series of gears for the 4-speed is available with ratios of 2.20 first, 1.64 second, 1.28 third and 1.00: 1 high. Axle ratios of 3.08, 3.36, 4.11 and 4.56:1 are available. Fully transistorized ignition will be a factory option for these engines. |
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| IMPALA HARDTOP illustrates differences in outside trim from two Super Sport models. Rear cove area has different trim texture. |
| Other engines which may be ordered, and which may be accompanied by Powerglide transmission with console-mounted straight-line shift selector, are the 230-cu. in. 6-cyl. of 140 bhp, the 195-bhp 283-cu. in. V-8, 327-cu. in. V-8s developing 250 or 300 bhp and the 409 with 340 bhp-all using hydraulic valve lifters.
To go with the sporty nature of the SS, an optional steering wheel with steel spokes and a simulated walnut rim (of plastic) is available, as is the tilting wheel option (with power steering) and an AM-FM radio. |
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| DUAL STRIPS trim sides of lmpala models, with paint stripe along the center in contrasting color. Engines from 140 to 425 bhp can be ordered. |
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| Continued unchanged is Chevrolet's cruciform-type frame with full coil suspension. (Interestingly, Chevrolet has a thorough sampling of most types of frame and suspension in the books -- cruciform and coils for Impala, perimeter and coils for Chevelle, unitized body with coils and single-leaf springs for Chevy II, unitized body with fully independent coils on Corvair, and ladder frame with fiberglass body and independent front and rear with coils and semi-elliptic, respectively, on the Corvette.) |