The Super Sport was one of Chevrolet’s success stories of the 1960s. It began as a performance/ appearance option on the full-size Impala, then branched out to the compact Nova and mid-size Chevelle. While you see plenty of the latter as real deals or clones these days, Impala SS convertibles like this one from 1968 are getting harder to find. Located in Belmar, New Jersey, this example has new paint but minimal photos to help sell the car here on craigslist. However, thanks to Mitchell G., we get a few glimpses of the Chevy the seller hopes to net $28,000 for.
Though Chevy sold loads of Super Sport Impalas from 1961 forward, demand trickled off after 1965 thanks to buyers going for the nimbler Chevelle and the new luxury-focused Caprice. Production figures for the 1968 Impala SS are not published, but some 34,000 Impala convertibles were built in total, with the SS being a fraction of the demand. The seller’s Chevy looks to have left the factory finished in Grotto Blue with a matching interior.
We’re told the mechanical health of this car is solid with a 327 cubic inch V8 (4-barrel) and an automatic transmission, perhaps the 2-speed Powerglide. The odometer reads just 50,000 miles, so we’re guessing neither have been refreshed. As you might expect, this Chevy has power steering and brakes. So, we assume the car needs nothing to propel it to its first Cars & Coffee with you behind the wheel.
As mentioned, the photos provided offer little help. We see the Chevy in the paint booth getting a new finish, which we assume carries over to the other three pics. We’re also told the convertible top is new, but we don’t know if the SS bucket seat interior is anything other than original. If you’re somewhere in New Jersey, this ragtop may be worth checking out.
There’s something really decadent about a large, heavy convertible coupe. With the top down you can wave at all the commoners on the street as you ooze by with V8 power.
Here’s a real hunny. What could be better than a weekend drive on a sunny summer day? 327 and a glide will carry her just fine.
The floor shift indicates it is a turbo 350, first year for chevy.
boy what a cool ride. it is shame that whoever is doing the body work was too lazy or the seller is too cheap to take off the door handles, locks, side marker lights and the bumper. i thought earl schibe died? good luck
Before pictures would verify no rust bondo etc.
“I’ll paint any car for $99”
Good old Earl Sheib.
you know I was thinking exactly the same thing.it wouldn’t have taken much longer to do but I bet it would have looked a lot better without any trace of repaint.
On an almost 60 year old car near the Atlantic Ocean I’d rather see photos before the paint job. These cars, especially convertibles, rotted to the windows. Ask me how I know. Last year for 327.
I agree with Ken, if you’re going to go through the expense of having a car painted, it just makes sense to remove all of the trim. Paint jobs are only as good as the prep. When seeing pics with much of the trim left in place, I cannot help but wonder if any other corners were cut. I would be concerned with adhesion issues, especially around areas like the door handles / door locks, as even an absolutely perfect masking job can still cause the clearcoat to crack and lift eventually. I have never seen a paint job done this way last long term. Nice looking Impala, it’s just a shame that they did not take the time to remove all of the trim.
Who leaves plastic trim clips on a body while painting it?
Resale paint job. All of the paint comments about this are right on. I don’t care how good your masking tape skills are; close inspection will reveal a mistake guaranteed. Nitpicking aside; I must say that I have always liked full size drop tops. I like the color scheme of this one. GLWTS.
I painted cars full-time for 20 years at a pro shop that did heavy-to-light wrecks on high-end cars. These cars are so easy to disassemble to pull the chrome. I am ashamed of this painter bragging about the new paint job. In his Craigslist ad, he posted 10 pictures of his backyard paintwork and 3 pictures of the car. Really!!! I would rather have the car before the paintwork, and he did not post any pics of it as others stated. Another car was destroyed. Patina sells great. What a bad move… Wet sanding and buffing is 100% eaiser with the chrome off.