NewsThe 1959 Chevrolet Impala, following the styling excess of the late Fifties, was radically reworked and veered away from the GM pack by shooting its tailfins outward rather than upward. Admakers always were fond of naming nearly every part, but this year’s “bat wing” fins above “cat’s eye” taillights earned no such designations in the sales catalog. Those nicknames came later, though brochures did brand the deck “saucy.”
Sharing bodyshells with lower-end Buicks and Oldsmobiles as well as with Pontiac — part of a GM economy move — Chevrolets rode a wheelbase 11/2 inches longer than before. Atop a new X-frame chassis, roofs sat three inches lower, and bodies measured more than two inches wider overall. Naturally, the growing size contributed to an abundance of poundage — one more trend of the times. Always-witty auto tester Tom McCahill, of Mechanix Illustrated, declared that a Chevy’s decklid had “enough room to land a Piper Cub.”
Loading ...