The muscle car era may not have “officially” begun until the release of the 1964 Pontiac GTO, but this 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS would be a worthy candidate to wear that label. Why? Because its first owner equipped it with the range-topping 409ci V8. It doesn’t end there, because the car presents superbly, and has a documented 11,265 miles showing on its odometer. It needs nothing and would be equally at home on the road, traveling the show circuit, or safely tucked away in your garage. I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder Curvette for spotting the Impala listed here on eBay in Loveland, Colorado. The seller set their price at $84,900, and it appears they aren’t willing to negotiate.
When Chevrolet released its Third Generation Impala for the 1961 model year, it announced that a Super Sport variant would join the range. This Impala SS left the line in 1963, and I suspect that it made a huge impact when the first owner parked it in their driveway. They ordered the car in dazzling Azure Aqua, one of the classiest shades on that year’s color palette. The seller confirms that this classic has undergone a single high-end repaint in its original color. Otherwise, it can be considered a genuine survivor with no prior accident damage or rust repairs. Faulting its appearance is seemingly impossible. The paint holds an astounding depth of color and shine, while the panels are as straight as the day the Impala rolled off the showroom floor. The trim is in as-new condition, while the wheel covers add a sense of purpose. Add the crystal-clear glass to the equation, and the Impala looks like a total package. However, this SS is far more than a pretty face.
Wow! Just…wow. The first owner was certainly “playing for keeps” when they ordered this Impala. They ticked the box beside the 409ci V8, choosing the 425hp version that inhales through a Dual-Quad setup. The power feeds to a 3.55 Posi rear end via a four-speed Muncie manual transmission, with power steering lightening the driver’s load. It may not have emerged during the muscle car era, but this SS would have given the ’64 Pontiac GTO a run for its money. That is quite impressive when you consider the GTO’s engine was powering a car that was over 400 lbs lighter than this Impala. The seller states that this SS has a genuine 11,265 miles on the clock, a figure that is apparently documented as correct. They don’t mention how this car runs and drives, but if the sweet note of the 409 in this YouTube video is an accurate guide, this numbers-matching gem is a turnkey proposition.
I have scoured the seller’s images, searching for a genuine weakness with this Impala. So far, I’ve drawn a blank, because its interior is as spotless as the rest of the vehicle. Trimmed in Turquoise vinyl, complementing the exterior paint shade, it features a console, a Deluxe wheel, a factory tachometer, an AM/FM radio with the optional rear speaker, and a clock. The seller confirms that the clock is inoperative, but the remaining features work perfectly. Finding cosmetic shortcomings is virtually impossible, with the carpet particularly noteworthy for its lack of wear and stains. The vinyl trim is excellent, the dash and bright trim are spotless, and there are no aftermarket additions.
In the time that I have been writing for Barn Finds, I have often wondered whether there is such a thing as automotive perfection. I then realized that it is a relative term, meaning different things to every enthusiast. If you have a passion for 1960s Bow-Tie muscle, this 1963 Impala SS must go awfully close to ticking every box. Its presentation is stunning, the odometer reading is extraordinary, and the mechanical specifications are about as good as it got in 1963. The seller’s price looks very realistic, and I suspect that its next journey could be to a new home.
What a beautiful car,,my grandfathers ’61 Impala was this color. While the 409 was already showing some gray hair, this car was still riding high on the song, and no doubt why the original owner wanted it this way. While I still am Rambler proud, I simply can’t understand why GM didn’t get CotY with their ’63 lineup. Riv, Starfire, GP, this, I guess ol’ Roy had a favor coming, huh.
In my usual demeanor, it breaks my heart to see this. Someone will get a fabulous car, there’s no denying that, but I wonder if they will have the passion this person had for the car? They probably never even heard the song,,,and there is no official tally on how many cars that song helped sell, but GM knew it had a profound effect on sales.
Anyone well-heeled enough to buy this would definitely treat it with the respect it so deserves.
All I can say is…. Wow!!! Before his ’66 396 Impala SS, my grandpa had a white ’64 with a 327 and Powerglide. ( he traded it in in the ’66) It was Very sedate compared to this. This had to have been the original owners pride and joy. Can you imagine them ordering this? Like Howard said, how many of these were sold after people heard the Beach Boys song? That kind of publicity doesn’t hurt. This is a terrific Impala, and a terrific write up too Adam, I’m glad you did this one. Its simply stunning in these photos. And Curvette, terrific find too!!!
Seems a shame to own such a car and only drive it so few miles. It is a beautiful example of a fine ride.
Yep…..but they didn’t come this nice from the factory…..
I’m surprised that you haven’t started your own website yet Curvette. Seems like 75% of the tips are submitted by you!
I’ve said it before……….
And I’ll say it again………
If EVER I am in the market for a classic car……
I want Curvette to help me find it!!!
I’ll second that. I have been thinking the same thing!
I would go broke trying to buy one of Curvettes showroom finds. I think I would call on Tony Primo for one of his project finds.
It will be a miracle if this `63 isn’t sold & gone by Monday afternoon! A buyer simply won’t be able to top the condition of this without getting one that’s been fully restored without the pedigree. The downside to this car is, you can’t drive it due to it’s incredibly low mileage. This car redefines ‘trailer queen’! And rightly so!
This is a Jay Leno car. It was meant to run and play, but instead it is imprisoned into the “museum” category. The UPside to that, however, is, for that very reason, one in this condition is preserved for countless tomorrows. But why do people lump the 1961-1964 Chevys into a single series? They are not. 1958 was series 1 on the Impala. 1959-1960 was series 2. 1961-1962 was series 3, and 1963-1964 was series 4.
Seeing this car brings back sad memories from 1966. My mother had made a deal with both my sister and I that when we each turned 16 she would co-sign and help with the down payment on the car of our choice. Of course there was a strict limit on purchase price.
My sister, who was 4 years older than me chose an Ermine white ’58 Impala 348 tri-power with a Turbo Glide.
When my turn came around, I had set my sites on a black on black ’63 Super Sport 409/425 4 speed on the used car lot at the local Chevrolet dealership. When my mother and I went to look at it she thought that it was a nice car. Then the unthinkable happened. The salesman pulled my mother aside and explained to her in no uncertain terms that if she allowed a 16 year old boy to purchase that car, I would be lucky to live 30 days. Needless to say, I did not go home with that Impala (although I did end up with a pretty cool ’64 283 4 speed Nova)
In retrospect, the salesman was probably right, but man was I heartbroken.
Coolest mom ever!
You should have run the salesman over with the Nova
Pretty nice mom. My first car was bought with the pennies I saved from my part time dishwashing job lol.
I have fond memories of my dad bringing home a red/ red 63 Impala SS with a 327/ Powerglide around 1976. I recall he paid $300 for it due to a slipping transmission. I was just starting kindergarten if I remember correctly. He and my older brother dropped the trans in the way and took it to a trans shop for repair. I recall dad saying the shop wanted twice the cost of repair if they removed and replaced it. It’s one of my first memories of “wrenching”, even though I was probably more in the way than anything. Hopefully I I at least handed them the right tools when requested! Somewhere along the way it turned into being my brother’s first car, even though he was only 14 at the time. Ironically my brother traded it for a 52 Chevy five window pickup that had a 327 and powerglide from a wrecked Impala SS swapped into it. Unfortunately it also still the stock straight axle and drum brakes, so it stopped and handled horribly with the new found power. He didn’t ask dad for permission and I recall dad being quite upset. I’m not sure why the deal went undone, as it was when the same brother swapped the same truck for a legit real 68 Z28 (white with orange stripes) with a bad transmission. The story with it was the owner broke the ears off the original four speed trans trying to reinstall it after replacing the clutch, so he installed a junkyard trans which turned out to have bad synchronizers. There was a Mobil station adjacent to our house and the owner had a son the same age as my brother. He let him use the lift one weekend and my brother took the trans out and took both transmissions apart and put all of the good parts from the trans with broken ears into the case of the trans with bad synchros(!) quite a feat for a kid that didn’t even have his drivers license yet! (he ended up being an airframe and powerplant (AP) mechanic for American Airlines for 35 years). I recall him letting me ride in it after the fix. It ran like a 68 Z/28 should run. FAST! Dad came home from work and the slot mags with 50 series tires out back didn’t do it any favors in his eyes. When my brother fired the solid lifter 302 with side pipes up and it rattled the window, it was a hard “NO!” I don’t recall offhand what happened to the 52 pickup but I recall him having a 68 el Camino with flames shortly after. Also slot mags al around with 50’s out back and loud side pipes!
Steve, as a die hard bow tie guy I learned a lot of things about GM transmissions. Never could understand why they put a Powerglide transmission behind a motor with some horsepower. Those tranny’s were terrible! If you drove it like it was meant to be, you’d burn the bands up in it in no time. The Turbo 400 was GM’s first bullet proof three speed transmission and it would stand up to pretty much any Super Sport engine you put in front of it. The Power Glides just became boat anchors, especially if you had one in a cast iron case. You could put heavy duty bands in it and take out a few springs which would make it shift harder but that would prolong the life of the bands a bit. Those modifications would prolong the life of the Powerglide a little bit, but it was hard to beat the durability and performance of that three speed Turbo 400. It became my transmission of choice behind any GM performance engine.
Low rider!
Stock!
I wonder if Curvette is a she…
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the Hurst shifter. That did not come from the factory that way. The factory shifters were thin crappy linkage!
I noticed that too. Chevrolet could’ve done much better. That stock linkage was awful! I went to the Hurst shifter I’m my 69 Chevelle, and was much more impressed. I don’t know why Chevy could go with it from the factory. The Muncie was terrible.
I wasn’t sure I was seeing what I was seeing since everything else looks factory original. It would be easy to put the right shifter in it.
My 66 GTO had the factory muncie shifter in it. After a few weekends at the local drag strip, it gave up. I put a Hurst Ram Rod in it, which was a good track shifter, but not a good street shifter.
Back in the day, my 67 Camaro SS 350 had a Muncie shifter that I assumed was original. Every once in a while it would get hung up between gears. Changing it out to a Hurst was an upgrade and solved all problems, worked flawlessly.
With the Hurst shifter it had a BW trans. I assumed it was all original.
Matt that’s the issue I’d have with mine. A hard shift from first to second or second to third often ended that way. The Hurst linkage solved it.
I console and buckets stuck out to me.
Magnificent car!
Giddy Up!
To borrow from the write-up, “wow, just…wow!”. This would look good in my garage!!!
nice but it is a shame only having 11k original miles it’s had a repaint.
And carpeting, and detailing in the engine compartment…it’s a nice car, for sure, but it has been refreshed some.
I’ve never been much of a Chevy fan, but color me impressed. That is a beautiful car.
Amazing car. I own two muscle cars and would sell both to have something like this one.
Had a 64 SS in the same color, with white interior, white vinyl top and 340 single 4 Bbl. and powerglide trans, when graduated from HS in 66. Assuredly hastened my departure to tropical climes with my rich uncle!
340?? Maybe 327?
Maybe a 340 horse 409 with a power slide.
Maybe the little known Buick 340 cubic inch from the mid 60’s.
This was the car I took my driver’s test in. Same exterior color with the black interior. Ours was the SS with the 283 powerglide. This is a beauty!
I would MUCH PREFER the 283 with Powerglide!!! I do not like over-powered cars! And if I were to drive a Chevy Impals SS from this time-frame, I would rather have a 1962 or a 1964. All of that said, this is ONE BEAUTIFUL CAR!!! As for the repaint with only 11K: cars do fade a bit with the passage of time alone — even in the garage. And paint oxidises. I think this was an owner who craved “perfection” — and one tiny stone-ding would have been enough to have a top-of-the-line repaint done — especially when the repaint was custom and better in quality than that which came off the assembly-line. I wouldn’t have any concerns about it, if I were shopping for this grade of car.
Looks worth every penny. I’d leave the Hurst shifter in it but find an original to have.
If you have ever “no lift” power shifted a car with one off these, I can guarantee that you would definitely keep the Hurst. (Of course, a person would be ill advised to power shift this car on those tires)
How did Ford or Chrysler sell any cars at all in 63 with cars like this from GM! (and I was a 46 year Ford employee)!
Ahhh the beautiful 63 1/2 Ford Galaxie….. :-) Terry J
You’ve actually got a pretty good point. In ’63, there were two cars that stood head and shoulders above everything else. The Super Sport 409 Impala and the 63 1/2 427 side oiler Galaxie
Both beautiful designs with absolute monsters under the hood.
She’s real fine.
Wait- the clock doesn’t work? What a junker. No way I’d buy this….
….because I can’t afford it of course. What a time capsule!
I wonder what sort of gas mileage this 409 gets? 9 mpg perhaps? With current gas prices at $6.50 per gallon this will be a costly joy ride. But, who cares. If you can afford the asking price for a garage queen, you can afford to fill the tank.
With those low miles, I presume all the rubber seals might be a bit porous.
When I was 12 years old my parents had the 6 cylinder automatic version of this Chevy. It was the first car I ever drove, with Dad’s instruction in a local parking lot on a Sunday.
$6.50 per gal.???? Where the heck do you live? We are in southern Arizona where we have a rely largely on fuel from California and premium here runs $5.09 to $5.39.
Since this engine would damn near need aviation fuel, I would run regular at $4.50 with an octane booster. My 2000 Vette runs just fine on mid tier fuel with no additives.
I’m in Oro Valley and regular is $4.65. CA is always high because so many refineries have shut down due to high taxes and regulations. The Strait is being reopened so fuel will be flowing again soon and the futures market on oil will probably fall back to previous levels of around $72 a barrel or less, so I think we’re headed back to sub $3 gas here in AZ again within the next month or less.
Here in north Florida, I just paid 5.63 for 93 octane gas for my Vette. It gets five mpg when you don’t drop the loud pedal. But oh so much fun to drive. It will run fine on 93 octane here, but my budget says no way. Stunning car!
Here in SE Michigan near the Capitol we pay between $3.99 and $4.29 for regular. It graduates up around 50-cents for each grade higher. You can save a nickel or two on E15. We pay a lot of tax to drive on our poor roads.
Beautiful car. But I’m wondering what kind of shape all the rubber bushings ECT are in? Time takes it’s toll on them regardless of how it’s stored. Glwts peace!
Wasn’t every GM car turquoise for a while? Beautiful Impala in every way. GM had the audacity to build that roofline in anticipation of vinyl roof becoming a popular option. The Hurst shift puts control of gear changes within reach. Maybe the rarest feature of all is the first year Saginaw tilt column.
Every now and then an example of a car comes along that typically isn’t a model year or style I care about (am a ‘69-‘70 Impala fan with ‘65 a close second), but just blows me away anyway. This car would be such an example…Just wow!
Absolutely impressive. This is a gorgeous car and the asking price is spot on, for the car it is. If I had the cheddar, I’d be all over this car. I wish I was born rich instead of good looking.
Small Eastern Oregon farming town. Gary had a 60 something ‘Vette, then I think for H.S. graduation, dad bought him a new red 1963 Impala SS,409 4 speed, posi. Near the edge of town Main St. became the 2 lane out of town which by chance went right past the High School. I was often a witness (and later a participant) to the practice of showing off going past the High School. One memorable day it was Gary in the SS putting the pedal down, screeching rubber, barking gears and gone. He had it for a couple years and then traded it for a black on black fuel injected Sting Ray roadster (yes, that Gary). We sure enjoyed that time. :-) Terry J
Gary had some wheels Terry 🏁
She’s so fine.
She’s so fine.
When I was a kid a neighbor came home with one of these is the same color. Hers was a convertible with a gated automatic in the console. It was a 283 with powerglide. Man, I wanted that car so bad. When I finally got enough money to buy it, She gave it to her brother that proceeded to wreck it. I almost cried when I found out. Her brother was useless until the day he died. He ruined the one thing I just loved. I would have cared for it the way she did. That car never saw a Chicago winter, it stayed in the garage from late fall until the roads were dry in Spring. This car is perfect in every sense of the word. This is the way i remember her baby.
I was just chuckling to myself. Even if I did have $85K to purchase this beauty, I’d never be able to drive it anywhere because I’d wrap it in bubble wrap! 63 years later, this one caught my eye and I’m sure it would catch others too.
Brother had a few of these cars!! His were nice , but not that nice…
For me it’s a toss up between the ’62 Impala and the ’63 Impala for the best looking full size two door hardtop Chevy of all time. This is a really great example.
Agree! While I did own a gorgeous ’63 SS, my favorite Impala body was the ’62. I just never found the right one. But I also owned a ’61 and ’64 Biscayne coupes, and a nice ’64 Imapala wagon. Along with 7 different Olds Cutlass models, including a ’69 442, and 4 different Chevelles, including a ’69 SS396 I sold my ’63 Impala SS to buy.
I almost had a heart attack when I saw the opening picture! I thought it was the first car I ever bought for myself. On January 31, 1970, I was wandering through the back lot of a well known Olds dealer near my home in Milwaukee. I was 17, out of high school already working at a small factory part time and going to college during the day. My dad’s rule was “you can buy a car when you turn 18.” His house – his rules. But I was a few days from turning 18 and stumbled on this beautiful ’63 Impala SS – turquoise, black buckets, 327, 4 speed. I went inside the dealership and asked about it. It had just come in on trade for a new Delta 88. I told the Sales Manager I was 17, but I’d come back with my dad tonight when he got home from work. I asked if there was a way I could hold the car and pulled a couple $20s out of my pocket… He looked surprised that a skinny kid would be carrying cash like that around (remember, it’s 1970…) and they put a hold on it for $20 till 6:00pm. Long story short, I bought the car that night for $550 cash. My dad drove a regular ’63 Impala and was a car guy too, so it was an easy sell to get him to sign for me – I turned 18 5 days later. On a side note, 11 years later I went to work for that Olds dealer selling new and used cars and the guy who was the sales manager that sold me my 1st car was still there just selling cars rather than managing for the new dealership owner. I became sales manager in 1988 and also became his boss.
Interesting, and fun, how details like this stick with us “car guys.” FYI, $40 in 1970 is about $340 today, and $550 is about $4700.
I worked for a farmer my last year of highschool I plowed, ran the swather and combine for him and he had an Impala SS convertible with a 409 and a 4 speed and that was his field car. Trunk full of tools, grease and oil, through ditches across plowed fields it made no difference to him.
If that mileage is accurate, the seller should detail the reason the car was never used.
I imagine that, with each example of a car having exceptionally low mileage, there is some sort of “back-story”: perhaps the original owner sensed the reality that this would remain a special car, but only if he almost never drove it anywhere. And he had some other car (or, series of cars) for “everyday” usage whilst keeping this one essentially “new”, taking it out only on special occasions during “perfect” weather. Cars do not get preserved like this inadvertently. And if the car has some sort of pervading mechanical/reliability problem, then you trade it in: you don’t make a pampered garage-queen out of it!
Has the car sold yet
The eBay ad is still active.