As part of its ongoing series of Car Club Road
Tests back in 1967, Car Craft magazines' Dick Scritchfield met
with members of the Chancellors Car Club of Van Nuys, California, in February
1967, to give the brawny and legendary Chevy Impala SS a thorough test-drive.
They then had a quite legendary status as the oldest show and go club in the
San Fernando Valley, and had demonstrated extreme knowledge and prowess of all
things auto-related.
Up for testing was the Impala Sport Coupe,
equipped with a 325 hp/396 big block joined to a Turbo Hydramatic, equipped
with front disc brakes, full instrumentation, and a floor-mounted shifter with
center console. When it came down to it on paper, the combination of the
lower-power Turbo-jet, slushbox, and tall rear end could potentially morph the
big car such as the Impala into a model that would put some seasoned drivers to
sleep. However, club VP Jack Henderson claimed that “Performance wise, it's the
best new car I've driven”, and also said that there were definitely noticeable
benefits of the car being so large and heavy.
It handled for the bunch like a sports car, but
simultaneously a luxury car for cruising. The full instrumentation option then
only cost $79, which added a dash-mounted tachometer to replace the super large
fuel gauge in the left bezel. The trim rings came with 15-inch rally wheels,
and the team did have a bit of difficulty snapping them on. After beating on
them for half an hour, the dealer had to then beat hammer them in with a
mallet, a humorous shot that is one of the most memorable elements of this testing. They then took the Impala to
tuner John Geraghty to see just how much power the engine was truly sending to
the rear wheels.
This profound expert started by power timing and
analyzing the fuel-air mixture, which drastically increases power at the low
end with alterations to the Ignition system: the distributor was recurved, and
a Cadillac rotor with built-in resistor to prevent power surging and arcing to
the distributor cap, which is very common. They also upgraded the plug wires,
and changed the thermostat to bring down temps in the combustion chamber. When
this master tuner discovered that the Quadrajet's secondaries were running
rich, he replaced the metering rod, a hard find even in a metro the size of LA.
The results turned out to be worth it, and the group saw a 67 hp gain on the
dyno.
At the time, this was a car that took living large
to a whole new level. At just under 18 feet long, it barely fit in a regular
garage, and the sweeping fastback roof was amazingly long. As strange as the
concept of a full-size performance car seems, most major manufacturers offered
one during the mid 60's, and Pontiac's giant Bonneville rang in at about the
same in the size department. All of us here at Chuck Hutton
greatly enjoyed this memorable recap of a car that was never intended to be
eco-friendly when gas hovered around 27 cents a gallon, and offered up space
combined with performance, in a major and thoroughly menacing way!
