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Classic Cars Classic Cars - Archived Discussions '64 Chevrolet Impala 
58 messages, Last post on Jun 09, 2000 at 1:34 PM
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I once saw a 1962 Biscayne Station Wagon with a 409 engine from the factory. I don't know what horsepower version it was, but it had a three speed stick on the column. I seem to recall the guy telling me that he had ordered it that way because he planned to pull a trailer or something. The Roadrunners were a hell of a lot of bang for the buck! The 383 torqueflight was no slouch. But...you brought back a memory... Back in around 1970, I was a very young guy working for Sears. a co-worker sold me a VERY wierd Pontiac that had been special ordered from the factory by his best friend who sold it to him when he was sent on an all expense paid trip to Vietnam. It was a 1964 Catalina 2 door hardtop. It had the 421 engine, with (what a waste) a 3 speed on the column. It took forever to shift, but MAN, could that Pontiac haul!! And, it looked like such a sleeper! Only the "421" emblems gave it away. One night, on my way home from work, a cocky young guy from our sporting goods dept pulled up along side me in his 1969 Roadrunner and smirked at me. Well...Even with some 90,000 miles on it, that old Poncho SMOKED the Roadrunner! He never spoke to me again... |
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Served him right! He deserved every smoke he got being dusted. A tour company had some '64 Catalinas in service (non-stretchout versions), but with the normal V-8s and 3-speed automatic. They had nice lines for those days and were very roomy. By the way, was it the Malibu (Chevelle) that was like the Roadrunner (stripped muscle-car) when GM put out the "Heavy Chevy" back in the early '70s? |
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As I recall, the "Heavy Chevy" was a very basic Chevelle with the bigger engine. But, I think it came out around 1971 or 1972, after the smog regulations gelded all of the power away. Mr. S, do you remember? |
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| I think you're right Isell, I only recall them in 71 and 72, I seem to recall they had a minimum of trim and a plain bench seat. | |
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| Yes, the Heavy Chevy was produced in 1971-72, but I don't have specs on it right now...given its rather low value in the marketplace, I'd expect it was not a car with SS engine options. | |
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| I'm just going on memory, but I seem to remember that he offered the big engine, but none of the ornamentation (buckets, chrome trim) of the SS. It may have been a way around the insurance company since it would have registered as a Chevelle rather than a Malibu SS, but that's just a guess. | |
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| Okay, I did dig into the extensive Shiftright Memorial Library, and found out a little more...says you could order ANY engine with the Heavy Chevy except the 454, and that the car was built as a competitor to the Road Runner. So I'd guess that with the larger engines the car would be worth more than is showing in the current Price Guides. | |
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I think it was in 1971 when they really got into emissions. They dramatically lowered the compression ratios and went to net horsepower. At least in California. Then, a couple of years later, we got cataytic convertors and all of the other smog equipment that killed the muscle cars. The most pathetic sight of all was a 1974- 1974 smogged up Tempest with a tacky "GTO" decal stuck on it. As I recall, the "Heavy Chevys" weren't much of a performance car. How about a 375 HP 396 '68 Camaro? HANG ON !!! |
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| To say 1974 - 1976 phoney GTO's. Really, I would just as soon forget that some idiot at Pontiac would do such a discraceful thing! | |
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But now muscle cars are back...see? It wasn't that emission controls were a bad concept (it really improved the breed using Darwinian principles---adapt or DIE). What WAS bad was the application of early emission controls...god awful bolt on, make-do, jury-rigged engineering. To get somewhat back on topic...remember that embarassing incident when GM complained that they couldn't get their big V-8s to meet emission standards for the early 1980s and then Honda took a Chevy V-8 and made it conform to Federal standards, even without an air pump? Oohhh, that must have caused a stir in Detroit. Now, of course, Detroit does a pretty good job of it. |
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