Welcome to March. Only a couple of weeks ago, I was back in Las Vegas for what had been something of a last-minute decision to spend time there both with friends and by myself with my camera. A couple of years ago, I had left some paid vacation days on the table that I couldn’t carry into the next year, so I’ve been more intentional about taking time for myself throughout the year. Presidents’ Day weekend was calling my name. I was torn between destinations, having considered going somewhere warm, like the Tampa Bay area where I had spent many happy years of my early adulthood, or southeast Florida where I could see more old friends and sites in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Also, Las Vegas had never disappointed me in over a decade of adventures.
Vegas won in part because I had already vacationed there with the friends I had joined on this trip, and thus my expectations were properly managed and it was all but guaranteed that it would be a great time. Still, I enjoy exploring unfamiliar places by myself and can still see a trip to southern Florida in my near future. We’ll see. Part of the fun of going on vacation is the feeling of being somewhere else and having a break from one’s familiar surroundings. Waiting for the trip can sometimes feel like Christmas, requiring willpower to temporarily put it out of mind and go about one’s day-to-day business without regularly obsessing about when that day will finally arrive.
Who can relate to having someone in your travel group giving you daily reminders of how many days it will be before you take that vacation together? This has happened to me before, and while I understand and appreciate the building excitement and shared enthusiasm for the trip, this approach can also be crazy-making. It’s great to make plans in advance in order to do and see things that might require reservations, but otherwise and by the time I get to my holiday destination, I never want to feel like I’ve already been there for weeks before my flight even touches down. Suddenly, I’m flashing back to childhood car trips and completely blanking on whether not I was that “Are we there yet?” kid, though I honestly don’t think I was. Dad would have quietly and calmly put a stop to that in a thick Liberian accent.
Besides, time is so precious. Like many of my grade school peers, I have since celebrated a significant birthday and my own odometer has rolled over. Statistically, my life could be said to be significantly more than half over, and so many peers I had gone to school with are no longer with us in numbers that slowly keep growing and shocking me with each notice. Making the choice to be more deliberate with how I spend my free time, see my city, show love to people, and basically live the life I’ve been blessed with has led to a much more fulfilling existence than I could have predicted at the beginning of this decade when I had chosen to live a life of more awareness. (I have also recently celebrated five years of sobriety.)
I’m no longer wishing the cold days away to get straight to summer. Okay… there were a few subzero days this winter when I found myself flipping back through my beach photos from 2024. Much like I’m okay with limiting my engagement in conversations about future travel plans, I’ve found joy in the shorter days and early-ish darkness outside that have given me permission to stay indoors and enjoy a range of activities at home. Like I said at the beginning of this essay, it’s already March. Spring is only weeks away (in the northern hemisphere), and summer will be here before anyone has time to think about it.
In a way, my experience of the warmer seasons here in Chicago is a lot like this ’66 Impala convertible I had spotted passing through my neighborhood a couple of summers ago. Just like I had seen the familiar shapes of a rectangular, chrome grille flanked by two sets of dual headlights playing peek-a-boo next to parked cars, buds should soon start to appear on trees and shrubs. The speed with which leaves, flowers, and green grass appear is a lot like how this Impala had both come and gone from this stretch of residential street within the span of a minute… and then all seem to be gone just as quickly.
I like the style of the ’66, with its slight revisions that included the elimination of the “eyelids” over the headlamps and more geometric, rectangular taillamp clusters that made the rear look like that of a super-sized HC-series Vauxhall Viva from the early ’70s, but not in a bad way. It’s actually the reverse that’s true, since this Impala came before that generation of Viva. The back of the 1970 Viva looks like a mini-Impala. Were both cars done by the same GM stylist?
With the annual changes which used to occur with each model year, I wonder how many consumers who seemed so ready for the new and the next regretted not buying the current car instead of waiting until its replacement hit the new-car showrooms. The ’66 seems to have been the last really conventionally-styled biggie that Chevrolet offered for years, with the much swoopier ’67 employing more than a few then-current trends in its look, like putting the taillamps in the bumper and possessing a much “faster” roofline that had been offered on the B-body, before or after. I could see how passing on what was right before them in the ’66 might have left some consumers with more traditional tastes disappointed in the curvy ’67 (which I also like).
This car lacked the “Super Sport” badges on the front fenders, so it’s just a regular, old Impala convertible with a V8. Like time is sometimes wont to do, this car sped by too quickly for me to be able to take note of and photograph what the V-shaped callout on the front fender would indicate is under the hood, with available displacements for ’66 including 283, 327, 396, and 427 cubic inches with horsepower outputs ranging from 195 all the way up to 425. The exhaust did make sweet music, though, which was my first clue before I saw it that some potentially hot car was coming up the street. A starting weight of about 3,600 pounds for a V8-powered ’66 Impala convertible is about the same as for a new, base-model, Ecoboost-equipped 2025 Ford Mustang fastback.
My most recent, quick trip to Las Vegas came and went seemingly as quickly as this Impala appeared and made its way up this neighborhood street. One philosophy I’ve increasingly adopted is the understanding that everything will happen with the timing in which it’s supposed to, and also that spending time, energy, and emotion on things outside my control is not only wasteful, but counterproductive to being most effective in my endeavors and also being present in right now. Are my life and all of its circumstances perfect? Not by a longshot. I do recognize, however, that there may be some part of me in the future that may wish for some aspects of my current life. Right now, I’m doing my best to keep my eyes wide open.
Edgewater Glen, Chicago, Illinois.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023.
Brochure pages were sourced from www.oldcarbrochures.org.
It’s amazing how fast time seems to speed by, once the personal odometer has rolled past the halfway mark! I can still recall the shock of seeing the first ’65 Impala, thinking “what have they done”! I, too, prefer the revised ’66 model, and this one looks good; although my preference would be a hardtop. I’m at the stage now where ANY well kept models from my youth will draw my appreciative attention!! Planning for a trip later this year, which will include a first visit to Las Vegas, and am starting to feel the first pangs of anticipation!! 🙂
Have fun in Las Vegas! Part of the fun of last month’s trip was being there with others in our party who had never been there before. As a city dweller, I think I’d also prefer a hardtop with fewer fears of having the top slashed (though I’m sure some of that fear is somewhat irrational). Plus, I also really like roofline of the hardtop coupe.
I’m not going to disagree with your concern about the top, but I will say that driving though Chicago with the top down is an unforgettable experience.
I will acknowledge that the ’66 Chevy is a cleaner design, but I definitely prefer the ’65.
Dan with the save, with the classic ’65 Chrysler 300 drop-top! Great pics.
I always liked the 66 best, with the Silver Shadow fenders, although the corner lights really make the 67 classy.
I had never made the Rolls Royce connection before, but I totally see it. Well spotted and observed!
March is definitely here, with spring (and summer) rapidly approaching. We hit 67 F here yesterday and, about an hour ago, we had a nice hail storm. Small stones, but lots of them. Plus, a chance for spitting snow tonight. Ah, the change of seasons…
Anticipation of a trip is always a wonderful distraction. We had not traveled in quite a few years, then we began making up for lost time in 2023. Trips are already in the planning stages for 2026 with 2025 already having motels booked. The anticipation is indeed like Christmas is for little kids.
The ’65s are nice, but the eyebrows and JC Whitney looking taillights really sour the overall package. The ’66 does look to be more of one piece with much better incorporation of the taillights and without the droopiness of the ’65s front.
That said, I did see (from a distance) a rather plain ’65 Impala sedan recently. It was a dark red with the base wheel covers. It was a looker; perhaps condition played into it (it was immaculate from what I could tell), although I would not have thrown it out of the garage.
Jason, your travels have inspired me as I’ve read about them here! A road trip was also something I had considered for this year, and that idea is not off the table.
Temperature swings like the one you described where you are make the homeowners insurance underwriter in me squint really hard. Oh, the hail.
I do agree that the pod-like taillamps on the ’65 look a *little* homemade, but I do also like their overall effect. I prefer those to the taillights in the bumper like in 2968 through ’70.
And yes – great condition can really change our impressions of certain years / makes / models we spot when they sparkle.
You’re right about the tail-lights, Joseph and there were sylists transferred from Detroit around that time. Clays dated Sept ’64 for the HB Viva show low, horizontal taillights quite like that, though they settled for the twin stacked corner lights (very like the Mk.2 Cortina, by co-incidence) which had been on the initial sketches.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-hb-93000—viva-part-1
It better suited the HC which had a slightly lower rear and more horizontal emphasis, i.e. more like this Impala, in miniature. See also the Torana LC.
Bernard, thank you so much for this. I knew I wasn’t crazy! 🙂
I read this too fast, and was thinking “where the heck did he find these trees in Vegas?” Never mind, I went back and figured it out. Nothing tastes worse than leaving vacation days on the table, I wound up having to take extra days in December last year and I will not repeat that mistake this year 🙁
Not my favorite Impala, but 66 was a handsome year. Nice car, rims and tires. Looks like the front bumper needs a tweak?
Doug, I like that you mentioned the trees. When I had relocated to Florida from the Midwest as a teenager, one of the first things I missed were the giant, leafy, deciduous trees like the ones in my old, Michigan neighborhood. Vegas seems to have some beautiful, big trees, but nothing of the types like here in Edgewater.
“Saturday”, 4 days, ago, here in “DC area” was a good convertible day! About “1-2pm time frame, was cruising about with top down.
Wind was starting to pick up. Was about “66-7” degrees.
Spotted a few others doing the same. One guy was driving his “mid 70’s, beetle, soft top!
When I left work @ “8:15pm”, thermometer had fallen to “34”.
Woke up “Sunday”, morn to “22 degrees”.
Thank goodness I could revel in our short lived “spring, sample”!
(the “VW” was same color combo as this spiffy, “Chevy”
Now, *that* is what’s called a temperature spread! This past weekend, hitting the mid-50s felt glorious. I was walking around in my fall jacket with no hat, and it was wonderful.
A lovely picture, brings back memories .
Congratulations on the five years, this is no small thing .
TAKE THE ROAD TRIP ! . in the late 1990’s I’d get a note from payroll telling me if I didn’t use some off time I’d lose it .
-Nate
Thanks, Nate. This year is turning out to be a banner year for me in a few respects, so the planning for the road trip will likely commence / resume sooner than later.
I will join the group that prefers the 66 Chevrolet to the 65. I like the revised car’s cleaner details. They are not on this car, but the 66 non-SS wheel covers were a big improvement over the way-too-busy 65 design.
We took a short vacation last October to an inn in one of our state parks. The weather was lovely and yes, there was a great feeling of anticipation beforehand.
A state park trip and staying in a vintage inn sounds like something I’d also enjoy very much. I hadn’t paid much attention to the wheel covers in the brochures I had looked at, but that’s another reason I always appreciate reading through the comments with others’ thoughts. I’ll probably be looking at the wheel covers of the next ’65 I see.
One of the cars of my youth was a 1965 SS Convertible that belonged to one of my 2 uncles on my mom’s side. I can’t recall which uncle, given that my personal odometer has long since rolled past the half-way point. But it was dark blue. I knew it was a 65, and I adored SS script, those 2 crossed flags on the front fender, the tail lights, and that speaker mounted in the center of the rear seat. I don’t know why those particular features struck me so much, but they were very impressive to 5 or 6 year old me (he’d had the car since it was new, but it took me a couple of years to start to pay attention to it).
So, I’m going to have to say that I prefer the 65 for no other reason than sentimental ones. It was more “interesting” (particularly the tail lights).
As someone who goes on an annual trip with a group of friends, I have to say that the whole spending endless hours prepping for activities and sites to come is just something that I’d love to avoid. I travel with several folks who are likely to want to do that. And inevitably once we all gather we do none of those things. Over the years I’ve learned that the prep is a total waste of time, so I tend to just shine it on and say “Yeah, that’d be great!” and leave it at that.
Joe, thanks for the summer-time Chicago neighborhood pictures. I love those tree-lined streets and 3-story brick apartment buildings. One reason why Chicago is one of my favorite places, and somewhere I go to nearly every year…with nothing in particular planned to do! 🙂
Lots of great stuff here, Jeff. I’ll lead with I really like your approach of just nodding along with whatever the group decides. It’s so true that a group can make all sorts of specific plans that don’t get realized. Last month’s Vegas trip was one like that, except for that after everyone else has flown home, I had an extra day to check some items off my own list. It worked out.
I also like that you noticed those specific details on your uncle’s ’65. When we’re kids, it’s the little details that seem that much larger than they are in real life where we can get close to and examine them. I still remember what it get like to be examining the Super Stock wheels in my first barber’s blue Olds Cutlass.
I’ll be the contrarian here and note my preference for the ’65. The three round taillights may jut out, but they still look like a cohesive element of the overall design. To me, the rear of the ’66 all squared off and bland. It’s not ugly, but it lacks the boldness of the ’65.
What I do like about the round taillamps is that they seem to bridge the gap between the space fascination of the late ’50s and the more modern automotive shapes and forms that were emerging by the mid- ’60s.
My dad had an HC Viva – his penultimate and most unreliable car. I think Wayne Cherry was instrumental in the styling of this, and he would have been very aware of the ’66 Chebbie. I owe him a lot, as he hired me in at Opel. He would tell us of drag racing his ’55 Chevy – a great guy and a fantastic designer.
Thinking of that car reminds me that I am now beyond the age that my dad lived to – he sadly died when I was a kid. My wife and I were discussing life insurance today as well, so reading your article during lunchtime struck a chord.
I’m glad that the worst of the weather seems to be over here in Boston – my poor little Ghia has coped admirably in the snow and has earned some love and upgrades this year.
Lovely to see the guy enjoying his rather lovely Impala as it was meant to be used – not just at a car show. I prefer this body style to the ’67s, which look a bit overwrought to my eyes. The Corvette inspired sculpting on those rear fenders is gorgeous!
Thake the road trip and create some great memories for yourself and those who may accompany you!
My planned road trip this spring is to drive my old VeeDub to the Audrain Museum in Newport for their Air Cooled exhibition and gaze at some Corvairs,Tatras and Franklins.
Incidentally, have a look at Donald’s videos – very knowledgable and entertaining!
Huey, thank you for this and also for putting the Audrain Museum on my radar. I also want to read a little bit online about designer Wayne Cherry, now that you’ve made that (possible) connection between the Chevy and Vauxhall.
Anything I can help you with regarding Wayne – just ask, Rich has my email. . Mr Cherry later became VP of design for GM, the Cadillac 16 showcar created under his watch being one example of his impeccable taste. The stunning Vauxhall XVR and XRV1 showcars are examples of his work leading a team there including John Taylor and Chris Field, as was the Opel Calibra which held the record for lowest CD production car for a number of years. Wayne has a body of work second to nene and even created a Cadillac hot rod in his retirement.
I visited the Audrain Monaco exhibition early this year with a couple of other automotive design colleagues and we were all blown away. It’s a small museum, but the quality of presentation was stunning, as were the cars. Moss’s 250F and priceless Alfas, amongst others. Just wonderful!
They hold a concours during the summer and Newport and the costal area around it is beautiful – as a photographer you would love it.
What about getting a few of the participants of this site to meet over there for the concours or one of the exhibitions?
Take a look at this on the Audrain. It is well worth the trip and the surrounding area is lovely to cruise about in. Highly recommended.
Any CCers like to meet up there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGgIvVHgCA4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyjfRYQnGIg
Enjoy!!
I agree about the Audrain museum – I visited there several years ago and had a wonderful time (as did several family members who aren’t car enthusiasts).
Though I didn’t write up my visit there, I did write up this Cadillac that I spotted just outside the museum:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/in-motion-classic/in-motion-classic-1973-cadillac-eldorado-convertible-summer-fun/
It is wonderful, isn’t it! I was blown away by the choice and quality of exhibits – take a look at the pictures of their Monaco exhibit this year and you will see why.
Enjoy your vacation!
You hit the nail on the head with regards to time flying faster each year. My wife and I turn 62 this year and have been discussing things like where did Sears go, and do you realize that things like microwave ovens and cell phones have happened in our lifetime?!
Maybe that’s why I enjoy my 78 Cadillac so much. My dad bought a brand new 1978 Buick Electra and it seems like yesterday.
Chip, this may be a year of little vacations for me. And why shouldn’t it be, if I can do it all smartly and in a budget? Once my “odometer” rolled over, I realized that with respect to many things, why not right now? What am I waiting for?
My sister had a bone white ’66 Impala sedan in the late ’70s. What a beast!!
I’m more of a fan of the ’69 (wrap around grill, looking over much like a Chrysler fuselage) and the ’70 (very restrained front).
I like that you mention the Chrysler fuselage resemblance of the front of the ’69. I see this.