Another day, another pristine Impala SS with lower miles than the one before it. I’ll admit: I didn’t think many collectors held onto this bruiser of a sedan from Chevrolet, but I’ve been proven wrong a few times lately as there’s been a rash of collector-grade SSs coming up for grabs. This SS is one of the lowest mileage ones we’ve seen, as it has just over 2,000 original miles. Of course, it presents as such, so if you’ve ever wanted to own a brand new SS, now’s your chance. Find it here on eBay with an opening bid of $25,000 with no action yet.
The big opening bid strategy is one I’ve always wondered about: does it ever work? Or is it just a way to generate a conversation with a potential buyer? I’m not sure, but I also won’t deny the fact that this SS is likely worth every dime of the $25K ask. The market has been waking up to these cars, as they were great drivers with enhancements in all the right places. GM didn’t just stuff the venerable LT1 under the hood and call it a day; the chassis was also similarly upgraded to make it into a straight-line performance car with excellent road manners that let it dance more than expected on the backroads.
The earlier SSs were all column shift automatics; later cars got the preferred floor-mounted shifter. I’m always on the fence on the “preferred” aspect of the shifter location. To me, there’s nothing better than slamming a V8 muscle car into drive using a column-mounted shifter. The whole exercise seems to lose some of its magic when working with a shifter handle jutting out of the center console. Regardless, the pictures likely don’t do this interior justice as I’m sure it’s in absolutely pristine condition. The blurry photos don’t show this, but I’m also surprised not to see the dealer-installed plastic still coating the carpets with mileage this low.
Fortunately, the engine bay appears to present as-new with shiny black hoses and plastic surfaces. The seller claims to have bought the SS new, and that it has never seen rain or snow. The interior blurriness notwithstanding, this looks every part of the low-mileage time capsule he claims it to be, and I can’t see it ever losing any value as these oversized performance sedans become even more sought after. Still, the smart money in my book is to buy one you’re not afraid to add miles to every year, as these are wonderful cars for taking to cruise nights, the drag strip, and your local cars and coffee – and doing all three means adding more than a few miles to the odometer every year. What would you pay for a specimen like this?
I love these but I can’t understand the locking it away for 20 plus years. Never seems to be enough return on investment to make up for denying myself the fun of driving it. It’s was a cool car new and it’s still cool. Shame it spent decades as a paperweight. Just saying.
And KC, that return on investment has to factor in the decades of insurance premiums.
Nice write up, Jeff.
These are fantastic automobiles. In 96 GM announced that they would convert the Arlington assembly plant to increase production of the full size SUVs that were already showing large demand.
This decision regretfully spelled doom for GMs long serving full body on frame automobiles in 1996. The Impala SS was the best of the bunch, with arguably the best combination of attributes ever assembled on a single model of the decades old platform. The LT1/4L60E and 3.08 Posi work seamlessly together. To top it off, fuel economy of 26 to 28 mpg at high speed cruise with the air on is the rule rather than the exception. Hell, even the brakes were phenomenal for the time – belying the cars heft with 60 to zero figures on par with the Porsche 911.
Hardly outdated, this basic platform is still in use today in pick-ups and large SUVs – for good reason.
I was fortunate enough to purchase one of the last 1996s brand new. I proceeded to drive her 368,000 miles over the next 13 years.
When properly cared for, these cars have anvil like reliability. Routine maintenance is as inexpensive as it gets, with my only mechanical failure of any kind being the one time replacement of the Optispark which is prone to moisture damage. Cheap fix.
I could go on but am already dangerously close to TLTR. In closing, this appears to be an exceptionally nice example. Work out a deal with the seller.
Great fun to drive and to own, whoever winds up scoring this example is bound to be very pleased, whether it’s used as a daily or simply for the local show and shines.
Jcs:
“I could go on but am already
dangerously close to TLTR. ”
In English this time, please?
(Acronyms make me break out in rashes)
YourSoundMan
I understand. TLTR = too long to read.
Thanks Jcs!
That didn’t hurt, did it?
Eight pics. Less than twenty words in the description.
Excellent effort by the seller!
I graduated from college in ’95, and I really wanted one of these, but couldn’t swing the cost. But I found out the LT1 was available in a regular Caprice as the “towing package”. So as my first brand new car I bought a dark cherry metallic 95 LT1 Caprice with 11 miles on it for only $19,700. It came with an engine oil cooler & trans fluid cooler, a separate mechanical metal blade fan (with it’s own belt) & a electric fan, heavy duty frame, springs & shocks, tighter 12.7:1 steering ratio, large front & rear sway bars, 2.93 posi rear, plus 12″ front rotors & 11″ rear drums. With it’s 15″ Goodyear Eagle GA whitewall tires & deluxe (plastic) wheel covers, it looked like the typical old man’s caprice, except that it would light up the rear tires easily & run low 15’s in the quarter. It was like buying a Firebird Formula instead of a Trans Am. And my insurance wasn’t that bad having that car. But buying that car at 24 probably skewed the buying age of Caprice’s just a bit. And driving that car everybody thought I was a cop, including other cops.
I loved the days when GM let you order things like that. I suppose you still can somewhat, but it’s all trucks now.
I lusted after these cars in high school when they first came out. This is a beauty but I’d rather have a ‘96 if I’m going to shell out 25 large. Not only does it have the floor console shifter, but more importantly, 1996 models had the analog gauge package. I just really dislike that digital speedo!
Still gorgeous cars tho 😎
agreed the 96 is the one to have. I can live with the column shifter but not having at least a tachometer in a sports car makes zero sense to me.
Well, I’m sure I’m in left field on this one, someone might agree with me, and apparently, there is interest, so I’ll be kind, but I fail to see the attraction in a “modern” 4 door Chevy, that was inherited to grandma Jane after Pa passed on, and made a trip a week to Walmart. By 1994, we should have moved on from big cars like this, but GM milked it to the end. There were still a lot of “grandpas” that wanted a full size Chevy then. Today, I suppose with the few choices in passenger cars, a car like this could be useful for a big family, but it’s outrageous price tag excludes them from that. Good luck getting a loan on a 30 year old car( the bank doesn’t care it has 2K miles) and most families don’t have $25g’s laying around. They line cars like this up at monster jams, sorry, $5g’s tops.
Howard, you need to drive one of these. Very impressive cruisers with plenty of power and with the F41 suspension will handle the corners nicely. I bought this one about 15 years ago for a family car, recently retired it for a 2012 Caprice PPV as the family cruiser. Daily drivers should be fun, still get a good grin whenever you go somewhere!
Hi 427Tj, I figured I’ d ruffle a few feathers, they are great cars. I’m the last man standing on the front engine, rear drive cars. I agree, these were the product of almost 100 years of car making. They didn’t get any better,last of the true “rear drive” cars. My major beef, naturally, is the price. I don’t mean to rip on your ride, but generally, someone would buy this as just a clean used car for their family, and not it’s cornering abilities or straight line performance, it’s just a car to them. I was very upset when rear drive went away, and won’t own a FWD car ever. I’m glad you see more to these than I do.
I had mine for several years. I put Belltech suspension to lower it. Sat too high. I added better looking wheels. I hated the dated 5 stars that went out of style at the start of 1998. It was an OK car. Typical slab sided GM with plastic everywhere. I was part of the Chevy club until I found a better use for it. These really make great doner cars. I’ll explain.
I used mine as a basis of a custom 56 Cadillac. We pulled the body off of the SS along with the whole harness and lengthened the frame. Junked the rest. Did the same with the 56. Made frame mount locations to match the 56 and set it on the Impala frame. Ran the harness through the firewall. Used the Impala steering wheel and column. The gauges fit right in the dash like they were made for it.
Can be done on any 50’s GM. Not hard and with two of us working took about five weeks to be driving a custom slammed 56 ‘Llac. Looking at a clean 9C1 to possibly build another.
A more useful ride with all the GM bells and balls is a 94-96 Buick Estate. I have had several through the years and were class with full power that was handy when needing to haul plywood and building materials. Go to shows and when not can still look good and haul groceries and mulch.
I couldn’t agree with you more Howard. 5000 tops with a full complete inspection.
Howard for your state , that’s probably right, but where I am, and I am not one of them, an average home is 1.6 million. You do not see any cars older on the streets,90 percent Nee , everyone’s car is way over 25k, plus they have 3-4-5 other cars, scrap yards and donation places make big money with very nice junk and donated cars here. I for one would pay this guys asking price . That’s a great car. Made better than new plastic cars now. But that’s just me. I look forward to your opinions.
OMMMMM – I would drive that all day long . Its sleek looking & just plain Cool . Tooooooooo each there own decison
Love these cars. Worth the money too. I’ve got the 1991 LTZ predecessor to the SS.
My bother had one of the burgundy 95s, and while it was an impressive performer and road car, I always cringed at the cheapness of its interior.
The cheap plastic door panels would alway crackle and flex if you would try to move about in the seat, and the quality of the leather on the seats was subpar.
I also remember my brother and I running it down the 1/4 mile strip in Bradenton watching the cheap dash ashtray fly open each time.
Just not a good quality era in GM”s timeline.
I was always bothered by the rear wheels which never sat in the wheelwell opening accurately either. This was common and it seemed to me to be a design error in locating the rear axle properly.
I bet this would be a nice car to have if one had long freeway/interstate commute every day. I would have the sound deadening materials beefed up to make it really quiet and just do high speed cruises to the office and back. I guess you could also do something similar with a more modern Impala SS . The whole effect would be kind of like a poor mans S class Mercedes AMG on the autobahn!!
I personally wouldn’t consider a big 4dr beast an SS! GM messed up on naming this one!
JP, as I mentioned above to Howard, you need to drive one of these. You’d be surprised how nimble a big 4dr beast can be. I’ve had numerous old school Chevy SS cars and can attest these have every right to be called that. Chevy did cheapen the name with some of it’s later SS decal packages, but the ’94-’96 Impala can walk the talk.
My Caprice has the LT1, towing package, extra coolers, quicker steering, tighter suspension plus a mild tuning chip and a 3.70 posi. It surprised a lot of tuners and pony cars, maybe wouldn’t out run them but often beat them stoplight to stoplight.
I’ve driven them. They are not very nimble or beastly.
Max 5000 grand car IF it’s in excellent shape. Otherwise maybe 3000.?
Kman
You are way off on the market and desirability on these.
If you know a place where you could buy these for 5K, you could retire early on your profits.
This one will sell for over 20K, and the new owner will be thrilled with his purchase. I guarantee you.
BTW, I sold mine for 10K and that was with over 368K miles. They have only gone up since.
I think you are on point Jcs… in my area, our old police cars (sort of worn out) are purchased by folks as soon as they are offered… rebuilt, repainted new wheels put on and sold at a profit… there seems to be GREAT demand for them.
I’ve owned LT1 Caprices for 20 yrs. Bought my first ’96 9C1 back in 2001 and sold my Monte SS. Never looked back. Owned a slew of them and raced them too. Ran a best of 13.07@103 without opening up the engine. Building another one now for just cruising and hope to have it running by the fall.
I bought a pre-owned and like brand new Black 1996 SS with the floor shifter in 2008 from a 70 year old gentleman with 20,161 miles on it. I still have this car and it now has 103,000 miles on it and it still drives great and is in great condition. The LT1 engine can get up and go when you want it to and to my initial surprise was the fact that the vehicle gets excellent gas mileage. Whoever gets this charm will be greatly satisfied with this vehicle.
The “civilian version” of the police patrol car! I drove the police version for a few years… very nimble, handled like one of my sports cars, and absolutely the fastest police car I had ever driven… and I remember those old 440 Dodges well too… NO comparison!
When the the Chevys first came on line… GREAT caution was needed to operate them successfully, as most of the us were used to driving the old police package Fords, and those old Fords were like driving your grandfathers sedan.
I remember one young officer being assigned his new Chevy… the first night out he totaled it. He wasn’t injured, car protected him well, but he was sure shook up. He was driving it like the Ford he was trained in… it surprised him… he never though it would do what it did so fast.
Most of the young, new officers, were cocky, thinking they could handle anything… NOT!!! They were trained on Fords…and the Fords were very forgiving. But those new “rockets” were so responsive, you had ONE chance to do everything correctly… so practice was required before taking one on patrol.
Most of us were sad to see them phased out… they were slowly phasing in SUV’s so the “sports car handling” was over. The young cops today have no idea what they missed… tooling around in those 4×4 SUVs.
I wanted one of these since 94, when I drove a new one at the newspaper where I worked. Our auto editor, Charlie, RIP, threw me the keys to every car he tested. Other than the GNX I drove in 97, the Impala was my favorite. My daily driver was a 65 Impala. You never see these great cars now as every brain washed American wants a truck. They are totally useless and GM builds nothing but junk. I would sell my beloved Corvette for this car and right now I am in Massachusetts.
Meant to say 1987 for the GNX. And I have a ton of NOS parts for the 94 to 96 Impala in my garage. Bought them in the late 90s just in case.
Ended: Jun 29, 2021
Starting bid:US $25,000.00
[ 0 bids ]
Item location:Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
Seller relisted
https://www.ebay.com/itm/124792078940?ViewItem=&item=124792078940&vxp=mtr