Yes, it has four doors but this is a classic beauty. We appreciate Ikey Heyman for sending us this listing of a 1965 Chevrolet Impala survivor. The current seller recently acquired this Impala from the second long term owner who had the car for 45 years of which it sat in a barn for 35 years. The 1965 Impala is listed here on Craigslist for $16,500. That may be a little steep but the condition of this car and the color combination is just stunning. The car is located in South Reno, Nevada.
The original, numbers matching 327 cubic inch V8 engine still resides under the hood. This car was grandma owned and driven and it appears that no young hot rodders have ever messed with it. While the car does have new bias ply tires (why not radials), the engine still sports its original paint from the factory. The seller states that the car has a new battery and the fuel system has been rebuilt including a new fuel tank, fuel lines, fuel pump and rebuilding of the carburetor. The seller has cleaned the car up and it is well presented.
Just look at the black interior! With the exception of a split on the driver’s side of the front bech seat, the interior looks untouched from the day it left the Chevrolet dealer’s lot. The 327 cubic inch V8 engine is mated to a 2 speed automatic transmission. The car is said to be quiet and cruise very nicely wherever you want to go. Total miles on the odometer are approximately 70,000 miles and the car is said to be free of any squeaks or rattles.
The original paint has been polished and the car has its original glass, wheel covers and sheet metal. There are a couple of dings, imperfections and chips on the exterior but that is what you get with a survivor. The front of the passenger fender does have a rust spot but the rest of the car is said to be in great condition.
“Yes it has four doors”
Me: And the problem is…?
I know right?
My favorite car ever has 4 doors, so no problem here. I love this thing, that interior is fantastic!
A sedan will stand out from the sea of coupes and convertibles at shows. I like being different, I guess.
At least being a ’65 should save it from the fate of being a Supernatural replica that’s happening to an increasing number of ’67 Impala 4-door hardtops (and even some Caprices which get downgraded).
I prefer a 4 door, or wagon. This is a BEAUTIFUL car; she wears that gold color quite nicely.
Why can’t sellers made their text more readable?! This guy’s never heard of paragraphs?!
Worse even, if it was in all caps!
My eyes were hurting by the time I make it to the end
Is the cable attached to the engine the repair from the faulty motor mounts? I’ve never seen a car that had that repair clean enough to notice it.
That’s a factory torque cable. Have one on my 69 impala with 26k original miles
In the late 60s, Chevy had to recall all the small block V8s from 65-up due to the problem of broken motor mounts causing the engine to lift up on hard acceleration, and perhaps binding the carb linkage (I had that happen to me on a 59 Pontiac). Rather than replacing them, GM developed this hold-down system to keep the engine from lifting. An original car should probably have them unless the motor had been out and the mounts replaced. Buicks had the same problem. My 65 Wildcats still have them.
That happened to my dad’s ‘65 Wildcat; under hard acceleration, the engine would raise up and the fan would hit the housing creating an awful racket! I don’t recall any issue with the carb linkage, but it could have been.
Those are hubcaps off a 1966 Impala. Hmmmm….
Was Grandma spinning the rear tires and lost all of the original hubcaps?
Correct and the fact that wheels are painted body color meant standard “hubcaps” were originally fitted. Cars with a factory wheel cover option had black wheels.
Very sharp car with great styling.
The majority of people interested in a 60’s full size Chevrolet will gravitate to the high-performance models. But I’m guessing the four-doors were the largest sellers. So a car like this is a great representation of the time. I have no problem with four door classic cars.
And yes, the seller needs to use some of what he learned back in Writing Class.
Love the ’65-’66 Impalas. Prefer the ’66 front end, but the ’65 rear end is perfect. Then again, in that mythical perfect world, it would an SS 454 4-speed too…
What is that under the dash with the 4 knobs? I’m sure someone here will know.
Good question. Thought at first it might be an 8-Track deck but looking closely there is no cartridge slot. Photos are not hi-res enough to zoom in and read labeling for the knobs.
Stero Multiplex.
You are correct MJ, and they are hard to find these days. I/’ve been looking for one for awhile now. If anyone knows of one please contact me………..I believe they will plug into the correct AM/FM radio………I had one years ago out of a 1966 Caprice. Awesome original sounds.
Maybe a CB radio?
not sure what it is, but it appears to some sort of factory option. you can see it on some other 65 impalas, but not all. https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/chevrolet/impala/2230649.html look at photo #16 on this. again not close enough to read what the knobs are for..
here’s a picture from the hemmings ad (another car)
https://assets.hemmings.com/uimage/65788710-770-0@2X.jpg?rev=1
well look at this:
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/cmc/1/407/27698/x/1965-chevrolet-impala
i don’t understand it, because the car already has a radio. would this be separate controls for the radio?
here is a close-up of the radio
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/cmc/1/407/27699/x/1965-chevrolet-impala
It is the multiplex unit for the AM/FM radio, that converts it to stereo. Volume, tone, balance and fader are the functions of the knobs. Oddly enough, when Chevrolet offered the Z-16 option on the Chevelle (396/375 HP L37)) it included the AM/FM multiplex radio as a standard feature, along with a dash-mounted clock and a few other features.
If I had to choose, I’d rather have the 4spd 4 door Nova featured yesterday on this site if they were close in price. This wouldn’t be nearly as fun to drive, since I don’t go to car shows that’s all that would matter.
Steve R
the only thing negative for me would be the 2-speed Powerglide transmission. had them on our ’51 business coupe and ’62 Corvair. I would have much preferred a 3-on-the-tree.
Very nice for what you’ll get–but not 18K
worth. I can, however, appreciate the
condition this car is in and I’m surprised
to see that it isn’t baked by the Nevada
sun. That Spanish Gold paint really knocks me out and that Black interior
looks absolutely super. And sadly, you
won’t see too many of these today in any condition as many were sent to the
crusher after giving up their drivelines
for someone’s Model A project in the
60s and 70s.
Just like my Grandpa Sam’s car, only his was blue.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many comments on a car.
I had one just like it, same color. Mine had a 283 cu.in. engine and manual transmission. It. 160,000 miles on it when I sold it.
The engine still has the motor mount protector cables . It probably still has the defective motor mounts from the factory
Great looking four door hardtop!
I thought those were hubcaps from a 66. My Dad bought a new 66 Impala 2 door hardtop when I was a kid. I currently have a 65 Caprice in Evening Orchid with a 283 and 3 on the tree. It’s an odd duck, but gets a lot of looks every time I take it out.
Lovely looking car. I’ve never seen a 65 Impala 4 door. I’ve always seen Impala SS 2 door and convertible. My favourite cars have always been 4 door sedans and station wagons. Still, this is nice. Assuming everything is working like they should, I would imagine this would be worth the asking price of $16k. If I were to buy the car, I’d be willing to pay at least $10k.
If your only the only thing wrong with this car is the powerglide transmission, then you are missing the whole beauty of the car. If you are mourning over it not being tricked out, then you are missing the simple beauty of a beautiful car. Personally, I like the ’66 Caprice or Impala better, but this one is just plain beautiful! If I had the $$$$$ and a safe place to park it, I would snap it up in a skinny second!
Ok the 60’s Impala/Caprice! We’re the most popular cars of their time and have stood the test of time with just the minimal of care, at least in drier climates. I’ve had a few an so has my family. Beginning with one of my aunts, she had married late in life, 66, plus was a very smart woman. She had a degree in French an History, from Brown University in Providence R.I. That I remember from the age of 10, she owned a beautiful 65 Caprice Sports Sedan, like the above that had no posts between the doors. Hers was a light yellow with the same black interior as the car in this post, with a silk like material and vinyl, with tasteful wood trim. But hers was fully loaded, with power everything including seat, A/C, she had a great appreciation for music, so the factory radio was swapped out for an AM/FM, that had 4 speakers installed in the doors, with an 8 track tape player installed later on. But the best part was under the hood, yes Aunt Doris had a 396/4 brl, dual exhaust Chevy! With an automatic that I’m not sure if it was a PG or not? I’ve also owned a couple, a nice 62 Impala I bought in CO, while stationed at Ft Carson, it bought off a Chicano friend for $500! In 1974, with only 60,000 miles on it. He had inherited it from his Dad. It was a white with red interior hardtop convertible coupe, with bucket seats, 283/4 brl dual exhaust PG, with a 3:42 Posi! That his Dad had installed to help him tow a boat and get around in snow. I remember it had a chrome chain steering wheel that was only about 12”! , then I traded that for a 62 Sports Sedan, that was from the original owners family! That had only 42,000 miles! It was the Patriarch personal car, that was left to one of his grandsons, that wanted a coupe! But that sedan was special! It was an off white, like French Vanilla or something, with a three tone blue interior with beautiful cloth inserts in vinyl bench seats, with arm rest in the back. But the coolest thing about this car, that I’ve never seen before on a 62 Impala is power seat, power windows and door locks, A/C, rear window defroster, plus a push button AM radio with two speakers, one in the dashboard and the other under the rear window over on the passenger side. But my most favorite was a 65 Impala SS Convertible! That had a 327/4 brl dual exhaust, with a 4 speed! The car was white, with black top and interior with bucket seats. The roof was powered, that’s it besides the steering and brakes were also powered. My buddies an I installed a 3:73 Posi rear, that really livened it up! That car was so much fun, cruising around in The Rocky Mountains with the top down, going over an Intrastate Mountain Pass, in 4 th gear at 75 mph, at 2,300 rpm’s with the engine just pop purring away.
I liked the multiplex radio option – my 1965 Impala SS convertible had the same option (non-working). Had big plans for that car but it turned out to need entirely too much work for a kid just out of high school! My family also briefly owned a 1967 Impala SS coupe (bought new) with the am/fm/multiplex plus the factory 8 track player. The Ponderosa – Lorne Greene – Chevrolet demo tape is still memorable.
I had one of these. I bought a white one for $100 second hand when it was almost 20 years old and when I was 17 years old, right out of high school and living on my own.
It was rusted pretty badly. The previous owner painted over the rust with white latex house paint. You could see the brush strokes – he used one of those huge fat/wide brushes for exterior jobs. He drilled a roof rack right through the roof because it was his deer hunting car (strapped the deer up there), and despite some dabs of silicone, the roof leaked when it rained. You could see the nuts and bolts holding the rack from the inside.
There was no headliner. The interior was blue with a big ole bench seat, yellow exposed foam popping out through ripped seat covers that reeked of overheated old auto interior.
I have no clue about the engine specs, but she purred like a kitten and always turned over.
The exhaust system was completely shot; sadly I couldn’t afford to fix it. It couldn’t pass inspection and always sported a red failed sticker on the windshield. But it was cheaper to pay the occasional ticket than to fix that exhaust which was rusted the entire length.
I bought the car from a local cop, and as long as I didn’t wander too far, the police knew the car and pretty much left me alone – still thought it was owned by the cop and I was his daughter driving it. LoL.
I was making minimum wage at the time, and my Impala somehow always got me to work or to visit a friend. The exhaust was so bad, I can remember driving to work in winter, my teeth chattering, with all the windows rolled down so I wouldn’t get asphyxiated. Gray smoke sometimes filled the inside, and I even hung my head out the window in traffic jams just to be able to breathe. Heater on full blast but hardly did anything other than seemingly helping to fill the interior with hot toxic fumes.
I drove that ’65 Impala for 2 years.
Finally, I replaced my Chevy Impala with a ’73 Dodge Dart that cost me $400 and was in much better condition. Fast little car, and crazy fun to drive. The Impala really was a land yacht by comparison.
My Impala went where so many other 4 door Impalas went – to the crusher. They paid me $35 for it, and I wept like a baby as I signed the paperwork and watched her being towed down the street to her demise, rocking and swaying behind the wrecker as she faded from view. I never really wanted to sell her, but money for repairs was a serious hindrance to keeping her.
I truly loved that car, despite all. You never forget your first car. For some reason, I got to thinking about her tonight, some 40+ years later, and wound up here on Memory Lane.