Now that is one fine '61. My parents had a '61 Parkwood Station Wagon with a 283 and a power glide. They added an add on air conditioner. We made several 700 mile round trips to the beach. I do not remember my dad having any trouble out of that car. I was 12 and got the honors of helping to wash it. Thanks for the great videos.
My parents had a 61 when I was young too. I sure wish they would have held on to it. Glad this one brought back some memories for you too. Thanks for watching!
I"m finishing a frame off restoration of my 61 Impala, 4 door sedan ... "flat top" ... my first car from 1982. This is a beautiful car. 409 is rare in 61. Why did they put the reverse lights on the inboard. Factory/OEM is ... middle. I added blue dots to my tail light lenses. :) thanks for showing us this Impala.
The 61 Impala SS only came with the big block W engines, starting with the 348 with the 305 hp / 340 hp / 350 hp engines and the 409 - 360 hp engine. This 61 is not a SS car or a 409 engine but a 348 with 409 stick on engine decals. The oil dip stick tube on this engine is on drivers side (348), a 409 dip stick is on the passenger side. Both 348 and 409 had the front grill cross flag emblem, and SS over crossed flags quarter panel emblems. The trunk lid V has SS over crossed flags. This car has cross flags quarter emblems only and a cross flags 348 trunk emblem. This is a super nice 61 Impala with a powerful 348 but it is not a 409. Now we know why there was no info on the windshield. Love the W engine family 348 / 409 / 427.
Good going, you caught the same quirks I did. I can't really tell if it has the dash grab bar or not. I love the '61 seat design & steering wheel, sportier looking than the '62s.
You may be right but note the early 409s used a 348 block. If this is the original 409 engine it is a rare find indeed. Emblems don't mean much-could have been stolen or lost over the last sixty years. If it's a real 409 car with the original engine it is as rare as the SS cars in any case.
I love the design of the 1961 Bubbletop. Even if is has been designed more than 60 years ago, I don‘t think it is old at all. It has aged very well and the bodystyle isn‘t dated at all. The roofline is still breathtakingly elegant. Great car design.
Thanks for posting this. I have had 2, 63s and a 58 impala. Have always wanted a 61, i think by far they are the coolest looking impala. Esp like the 409, had HP tri-power 348 in my 58. Keep poeting, i watch all your videos, Tom in Portland OR.
Looking back through your videos and this one certainly caught my attention. What a sweet car, just perfect in every way. A friend used to have a Black one just like this, 409, 4 speed, only he was probably getting more than 360hp out of his. He told me they only made around 150 of the 360 hp 409 Impalas in 1961. It looked great and was the fastest thing around.
They don't have the pricing available on this one yet. I'll try to post it as soon as the info is available. The Spring Fling is at all three locations tomorrow. You definitely should go check it out.
As I've said before, the Chevrolet Impala is my all time favorite car! From 1958 to 1996. After that, PURE S**T!!!!! Thanks for this beautiful one Jeff!!!!
I'm a Mopar guy when it comes to high performance cars/muscle cars but the big body Chevy's of the 60's have always been among my favorites...especially the 1961-62 bubble tops and the 1965-66 models. Always wanted a 62 Bel Air 409/409 or a 66 Biscayne L72 427/425. Really I like the looks of the 65 slightly better than the 66 but the L72 wasnt available until 66. The top engine option in 65 was a 400 horsepower 409 but then the 409 was phased out and replaced mid year by the new L78 396/425 horse big block. The architecture of the 396/427/454 big blocks was actually based off of the 427 Mystery Engine which Junior Johnson ran in his Impala SS in the 1963 NASCAR season
What a nice '61 bubble top. Wow! Not a thing needs to be done to this one. I mistakenly thought that the 409 full bodied cars debuted in '62, but I was apparently wrong. No tell tale 409 "stickers" on the quarters. A real traffic light "sleeper". My good friend had a '61 bubble top in the fall of '69 that he did a lot of work on, putting a 327 in to replace the tired 283. It was the same color combination as this one.
WOW WOW WOW Jeff! OMG EVEN! LOL. I've never seen those wire wheels but the only gripe I have is where are the WIDE WHITE WALLS? '61 was the last year of the traditional wide whites. What a beauty. Power windows and all. I looked up the car not posted yet. WOW
Beautiful car with a lot of custom touches. Someone really took their time with it. Am I right in assuming if it had been stock there wouldn't have normally been a passenger rear view mirror back in that year. I have seen stock older cars where it only had a drivers side. Albeit that it's more safe and I prefer to see two rear views on any car it was just something I noticed.
RamblinAround Oh no kidding. I always wondered about it after doing a couple of models where it was missing from a couple of cars that were of earlier vintage. Thanks for clearing it up I never though about it maybe being an option.
In 1961 the only HP option for the 409 was the 360 HP, also you can visually check the difference between a 409 and 348 block by the dipstick location. The 348 dipstick was on the drivers side vs the 409 which was on the passengers side. That's a 348 block. Also the backup lights would be between the stop lights and actually less 348 SS were built than 409s, so they are more rare if documented.
The boss, or hole in the block, for the dipstick is molded into the block, making it impossible to switch sides. The dual quad intake wasn't available until Nov. 1961 for the 1962 model year. sure a dealer could install one on a 61 as well as anyone else, but were never available from the factory, as factory documentation shows.
@@samhunt9308 OMG, how did I miss the dip stick. You are right, it is a 348 block. Shame on them! So they bored it out. I have read that the original 409 block was a little weak, so they made some changes to it for 62. I wonder how this 348 block will hold up. Why couldn't they just make it the numbers matching 348 it probably was? Man. That would be just as fun. Huh, never heard of the dealer installed dual quad in a 61. Of course, I have never seen a 61 (real) 409. Saw a Super Sport 348 once. I had a 340 HP 409, 1963 that I, of course, wish I had back. That with 370 gears was quite enough for me.
In 1968 when I was 8 years old my dad had the same exact one the only difference is that it was a Bronze color and it had a 283 engine. I was Chevy would bring this style back but they would probably have to make some modifications on it nice Impala bubble top Thank You for posting.
All i Can Say is.... SHE'S REAL FINE MY 409... LOVE IT, MINE WAS A 62' WISH I STILL HAD HER ... IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW, I WOULD BE VERY RICH JUST FROM THE CARS I OWNED, I GUESS ANYONE WOULD BE THAT'S OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE OWN THEM BACK IN THE DAY GONE BY ....
Thanks.... will look for it. If interested and wanted to buy can you have it brought to your Chicago location? We are headed to see the Spring Fling tomorrow. Guss I will have to look at the 1960 Bel Air you have since the 61 bubble top you had was sold.
I thought these were so ugly when I was growing up. I absolutely hated the rear end design. Now it's ok and I can appreciate the car as a whole. This, of course is a beautiful example.
I had a 62 white Hardtop Impala trimmed in blue. It has AC by Chrysler Air Temp. One Saturday afternoon it backfired while driving by a hospital and seconds later it burst into flames. A general alarm went out and every fire company in the county showed up. The car was totaled and I still owed payments on it. Why me lord. I had just spent the day washing, waxing and detailing the car fir a hot date that night.
This car is really a clean and well presented example of a restored 1961 Impala. That being said it's not a SS 409 and never will be. There are so many things wrong with the car as it sits. I had one in 1961 right after High School. Do not list or sell this as a 1961 SS 409. The engine valve covers should be silver not Chevy orange. The oil dip stick is on the wrong side. The 409 dipstick was on the Passenger side. The reverse lights were in the CENTER group. The badging is a standard 348 series. The 409 had Checkered Flags with intergraded SS emblems on the rear fenders and center trunk lid unique to the 409 only. There never was an Edlebrock carb on the 360 HP version but a Carter AFB. Not sure what Trans is in this car but you do not push down on a Muncie to put the car into reverse. You pull to the left and push up. Once again this car is really well done but it's no 409. The up dating with Air , Hurst shifter, Disc brakes, is a nice touch.
The 4-speed trans should be a Borg-Warner unit, with Muncie transmissions coming online in 1964. I have no doubt you're correct, that this car is a clone - real SS409 cars from 1961 are incredibly rare, especially since so many of the original engines failed and GM didn't make these in earnest until 1962.
@@Texas_Cruiser I am not sure but your guess is probably correct. True spokes had heavy wire spokes and these are heavy gage wire. Also thanks for the comment.
Wish that was in Chicago to look at. I tried to find this car on your site but nothing is there. I might have missed it in the video but what is the price for this one? Do you have a link to it? Spring Fling is happening on Saturday in Chicago as well right?
