• Impala was the prestige model in the line
• Create something that would really stand out
• The rear showed the most radical styling

This new body styling project

June 21^st, 1955, was the start date of the design work for the 1958 Chevrolet that was to appear some two and a half years later. In the General Motors Research Building in Detroit, Michigan, a group was organized to discuss the basic size of this new “A-Body” shape, which would be shared by both Chevrolet and Pontiac. Others in this first meeting included the head stylists from Pontiac division and General Motors Advanced Body Design Studios. In the discussion, a decision was made to make the new machines longer, lower, wider and heavier than the current vehicles. 

Soon after, the stylists were submitting “blue sky” sketches and drawings, and it was said that nothing was too strange to be tried on this new body styling project. The goal was to create something that would really stand out from the competition—especially Ford—but not too way out or bizarre. A variety of clay models were built and styling ideas came from a number of influences,

The new A-Body had to appeal to the buying public and it was a gamble to grow the overall length of the new ’58 low to mid-priced cars to approach that of a Cadillac. After hundreds of ideas were tried, by May of 1956 the overall work on the styling phase was completed.

Wheelbase was set at 117.5 inches and the overall length was 209.1 inches. The front end had lavish use of chrome, quad 5.5-inch headlights (taken directly off the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham), a clean and conservative full-width grille, a pair of parking lights/ turn signals housed in bezels that had the flavor of a B-47 jet airplane and a graceful, blade-like bumper. The roof carried distinctive C-posts and the rear quarter panels featured a high-fender, sculptured flared effect, which extended to the rear-most edge, along with a sunken deck out back.

A wide variety of engine choices were available for the line, starting with a

• 235.5-cid,145-hp straight six
• a 283-cid, 185-hp V8 two-barrel carburetor, for the lower cost Del Ray and Biscayne models
• three different 283-cid V8 engines
• and three versions of a brand-new 348-cid V8, for the high-priced Bel Air and Impala models.

The end result of the completely restyled 1958 line of Chevrolets was that it greatly helped Chevrolet regain the #1 sales status for that model year with 1,217,047 units sold as compared to Ford sales of 987,945 units, as Ford had overtaken them in 1957. The 1959 model year saw the designers add 1.5 inches to the wheelbase, radical “batwing” fins and along with cat’s eye taillights, proving that nothing was too wild for the buying public during this era!

The featured Impala Sport Coupe

This 1958 Impala Sport Coupe belongs a long-time Chevrolet fanatic, who’s owned several bowties over the years but this was his first ’58. “I just love the lines of the car, and when I saw this for sale a few years back in such good condition, I had to have it!”

The car was repainted and some re-chroming work done, but in general, it’s an older restoration that has held up rather well. The Rio Red and India Ivory two-tone machine has a 9.5:1 c/r 283-cid V8 and three-speed manual transmission, and was originally a carbureted car. “I got sick of going to car shows with my hood open and nobody looking at the engine", recalls the owner, “ so I got a real 1958 Ramjet F.I. system".