1965 was a great year for Chevrolet. Their full-size cars had got bigger, sales were up and they were still the number one car manufacturer. They actually sold over 1 million Impalas that year – pretty impressive.
The new bodies were more rounded than the previous year and had less trim giving them a cleaner look. The SS or ‘Super Sport’ version was Chevrolet’s prestige Impala and offered some extra refinements. It was only available in two body styles: a 2-door hardtop and a convertible with the latter being the most expensive Impala available at the time.
The rather striking Evening Orchid paint on this frame-off restored Impala is very rare and a one year only color.
Outside, the SS had “Super Sport” and “SS” trim, special wheel covers and bright wheelhouse moldings but interestingly, no lower body molding as the standard Impala had.
Distinctive door panels with the SS emblem were a feature of SS cars. Bucket seats with a center console were standard too. The white interior compliments the exterior perfectly.
Under the hood a 140 horsepower six cylinder engine was standard even for a SS model. However, only 3,600 buyers opted for this. For just $108 extra you could get the base V8 – a 283 cubic inch engine that output 195 horsepower. However the original opted for the more powerful 325 horsepower 396 cubic inch Turbo-Jet paired with a 4-speed manual transmission.
Chevrolet produced 239,500 V8 Impala Super Sports for the 1965 model year. This figure includes both the Hardtop and Convertible models. If you wanted to order a convertible back then the base price was $3,212 for the (283 cubic inch) base V8.
This ’65 Impala SS Convertible is currently for sale on eBay. (follow the link for even more photos)
My Mom got a new ss 396 Impala convertible in Evening Orchid with the white vinyl bucket seats in the fall of 1964 when the new year model came out. Hers had A/C and automatic. She had the black top instead of white which does not look as good but won’t turn yellow with age as the white top does.
I thought 1965 was the prettiest year of the Impala SS !!! I wish I had a picture of it.
I thought that vacuum power gauge to the right of the radio was absolutely useless. Why didn’t GM put a tach there instead?