Right on the verge of the gas crisis, the ’74 models were a mixed bag of old school horsepower and new school power choking fog reduction hardware. This Impala was in fact still a V8 with the power of the a 1960’s 6 cylinder.
Now I love the Impala models and if you’ve read a recent post I wrote I think 4 doors are under valued and with the right tweaks can achieve the power desired to make them a muscle car.
This Chevy was sitting outside a local CVS store with a for sale sign.
4 door with stamped steel wheels and poverty hub caps
Still sporting chrome bumpers
I like the plain jane hood and front end.
hey, my name is Nelson Harper i own a 74 chevy impala i was trying to locte front an rear bumpers. if you can help me out would great! i been having a hard time trying to hunt down the bumpers for this car.. if you know any one who mite have them for sale email me pls.. thanks in advance
Down the street from were I grew up was a 1974 Caprice Classic. It was that wild bright lime green metallic with a white vynil top and white bench setas that were cloth+vynil. The lady that owned it let me wash and wax the car several times a year for $50. (I was 15 years old in 1979 and was working my tail off to buy my first ride).
This Caprice had the 400, 4 barrel, and was probably a smog choked 250 HP. It still had enough low end torque that I could white smoke the rear F70-14 polyglass tires (which I did when she let me drive it home for wash and waxing-I took the long way home of course-instead of driving around the corner, I took the car a few miles away down a back alley for some full throttle runs-me at 15 years old-no license-no insurance).
Eventhough the ‘malaise era’ cars get no respect, I still look back at them and wonder what happened to GM. With all of the new regulations they had to deal with, their products of the late 1970s were still the best on the road. It seems that once GM went with FWD platforms, they could not build a decent, competitive car, ever again.
This example looks like a great all original survivor. Probably a smog choked 350 2 barrel with a whopping 165 HP, but still a wonderful ride. I hope someone gets it and appreciates it for the history it represents.