Vintage Chevrolet Impala Cars

The roots of the 1958 Impala extend to the mid-1950s, when Chevrolet's chief engineer, Ed Cole, developed the company's first modern V-8 engine, an impressive 265 small-block. Before 1955, Ford had dominated the market—the best Chevy could offer prospective customers was a low-powered six-cylinder engine. But in 1955, Chevrolet introduced its high-performance V-8, which it installed in completely restyled models, available in a wide array of colors, with beautiful lines and lots of attention to detail.

Quickly, Chevy became synonymous with quality, and the first model to get the V-8, the Bel Air, became a hot item. Taking cues from Cadillac, the exterior of the Bel Air, available in hard-top and convertible, was updated again in 1956 and '57, and this evolution led to the even more deluxe Chevrolet Impala, which was positioned as a prestige high-end full-size car when it was launched in 1958. The Impala represented Chevy’s effort to appeal to the luxury market with its bigger, heavier body, a 348-cid V-8 engine, and a new-fangled innovation called fuel injection...