Item Info

Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Automobile Reference Collection
Notes:

General Motors Motorama

1956 Chevrolet Impala

Chevrolet’s 1956 experimental car, the Impala, a two-door, five-passenger sport sedan, is powered by a 225-horsepower Super Turbo-Fire V8 engine. Its blue fiber glass body is trimmed with stainless steel and the interior upholstery is of blue leather and fabric with bright metallic surfaces of sliver blue.

The Impala is 74.4 inches wide, 53.7 inches high, 202 inches long and has a wheelbase of 116.5 inches. The tread is 58 inches front and 58.8 inches rear and the car has a road clearance of 6 inches. It is equipped with a Power-Glide transmission.

The top of the car is brushed stainless steel shaded a pale blue. The Panoramic windshield sweeps back into the top over the driver’s head, the upper portion being tinted to prevent sun glare.

Safety engineered and styled, the Impala interior features a padded cornering bar of air foil shape which emanates from the steering column and angles upward to flatten into a horizontal plane the entire width of the car. Still another safety feature is the Impala’s speed warning system of ten circular windows which span the instrument panel and light up progressively in more intense shades of red as higher road speeds are attained. The car’s front seats slide forward as they tilted to allow easy access to the rear seat.