My dad traded in his two door Pontiac for a used 61 Impala 4 door hardtop, which had the rare factory AC that was a large rectangle hung at the bottom center of the dash with 2 pull out knobs that controlled fan speed and temp. We took those driving vacations every year (none were to Wally World though), one was from Miami to Houston, another year Miami to NYC. She never let us down. My dad's Impala was white, with the side stripe an aqua blue color, along with a blue interior. When he finally decided to trade it in, he bought his first new car, a 1971 Impala sedan in that butter color with a gold interior...
The color of this car is Twilight Turquoise. Our family car from 1963 to 1972 was the same 1961 Impala Sport Sedan (flat top) but it was Tuxedo Black with the Red/Ivory interior with the 283 V-8 and front bumper guards. These full wheel covers are some of the best ever designed...but were optional equipment along with white wall tires, V-8, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and radio. Air Conditioning was an expensive option... and both a power bench seat and power windows were rarely ordered. The base price of the 1961 Impala Sport Sedan was only $2,769... but $3,000 to $3,300 was how most of them were probably optioned. A fully optioned Impala was close to $4,000... approximately $40,000 now with inflation.
15 colors! today you are lucky if a car is available in 5 colors. Today's colors for just about any vehicle, White, Black, A type of grey, A type of red, and maybe a type of blue. The grey could be light to silver or dark to almost black. The red could be a maroon/ dark red or a lighter red. And all with some sort of dark plastic interior.
Most people today want a silver (metallic grey) car anyway, because that is the lowest maintenance color. It looks pretty much the same dirty or clean.
True, and paint colors like Blue or Red are often extra cost options. Silver and Gray metallics are now so common that they are very drab on new cars. However, back in the late 1980s and 1990s both silver and gray metallics were considered more exotic as Cadillac was selling new cars that were yellow, dark blue, and red.
This was my first car. Back in '68 it was considered an "old" car.. suitable for a teenager. Mine was an Impala convertable .. I would describe the colors as white and tan. She had the 283 V-8 engine.. the best GM ever built until the 3.8 V-6.. in my estimation. Only it had a weak two speed automatic that I replaced a couple of times. Same as my Buick Ultra's V6 that didn't have a transmission that could outlast it's engine. How times have changed, yet how they stay the same!
The 1961 Chevrolet is still my favorite of all the Chevrolet's from the 60's until 1967; As far as the 4 door Impala hardtops, & the 2 door hard tops ( Bubble Top ) as well except the 2 door 67 Caprice are a favorite as well; Just saying.
All those suitcases piled in the trunk. Did they offer air shocks to level the load? A full passenger load would make those air shocks necessary. A beautiful car, I love the bubble tops and Sport Sedan models.
People started leasing new vehicles, and resale value became all-important. So colors other than white, silver, or black are the norm…can’t have anything painted in a color that’s difficult to resell!
It's fairly strange, they rarely talked about the performance cars in these films... sometimes they did but the late 50's they didn't really push the performance versions. I think those were "after the fact" builds and special editions and these films were put out early in the prior year.
All of the carmakers had that type of "Here is why our product is superior to the others in it's class." videos. This video was simply a first introduction for the dealership people to learn the new bodies and the changes.
![[Dealer Film] 1953 Plymouth versus Chevrolet film strip... Plymouth fights back](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_zyZ-XtCqUw/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Dealer Film] 1953 Plymouth versus Chevrolet film strip... Plymouth fights back](/img/tr.png)
![[Dealer Film] The 1961 Chevy is the LEADER? Vs Dodge/Plymouth/Ford...](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EKiDvUF_5cI/mqdefault.jpg)
We still had our 1956 Chevy in 1961. It was only 5 years old but looked dated by 61. Cars aged fast back then.
But, you had a car that would sell for far more today, than a 1961!
Could the lady spokesperson be Betty Furness?
My mom had one... would chug through frame deep snow! She was a great driver also! RIP mom!
My dad traded in his two door Pontiac for a used 61 Impala 4 door hardtop, which had the rare factory AC that was a large rectangle hung at the bottom center of the dash with 2 pull out knobs that controlled fan speed and temp. We took those driving vacations every year (none were to Wally World though), one was from Miami to Houston, another year Miami to NYC. She never let us down. My dad's Impala was white, with the side stripe an aqua blue color, along with a blue interior. When he finally decided to trade it in, he bought his first new car, a 1971 Impala sedan in that butter color with a gold interior...
Women of this era spoke with a lovely, mature diction. Feminine, and grown-up sounding - with warmth.
The female narrator sounds a lot like Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White).😂
@@SpockvsMcCoy Sounds like Dinah Shore and probably is seeing that she was a spokes person for Chevrolet at the time.
The color of this car is Twilight Turquoise. Our family car from 1963 to 1972 was the same 1961 Impala Sport Sedan (flat top) but it was Tuxedo Black with the Red/Ivory interior with the 283 V-8 and front bumper guards. These full wheel covers are some of the best ever designed...but were optional equipment along with white wall tires, V-8, automatic transmission, power steering, power brakes, and radio. Air Conditioning was an expensive option... and both a power bench seat and power windows were rarely ordered. The base price of the 1961 Impala Sport Sedan was only $2,769... but $3,000 to $3,300 was how most of them were probably optioned. A fully optioned Impala was close to $4,000... approximately $40,000 now with inflation.
My dad had a new '61 Biscayne with straight six and three on the tree. Thanks for the memories!
Cool! I never realized the engine size/style was spelled out in the chevy crest up front...
My oldest brother drove a white 4 door hardtop 61 Impala with a red stripe in the chrome down the side in the 60's
I've never been a big Chevy fan but the 61 Impala Bubble top is one beautiful automobile.
15 colors! today you are lucky if a car is available in 5 colors. Today's colors for just about any vehicle, White, Black, A type of grey, A type of red, and maybe a type of blue. The grey could be light to silver or dark to almost black. The red could be a maroon/ dark red or a lighter red. And all with some sort of dark plastic interior.
Most people today want a silver (metallic grey) car anyway, because that is the lowest maintenance color. It looks pretty much the same dirty or clean.
It is not necessarily what most people want, it is just what is available. @@onemoremisfit
and often it's an option that costs hundreds of dollars more if you want anything other than black or gray, which means we're back to the Ford T era.
True, and paint colors like Blue or Red are often extra cost options. Silver and Gray metallics are now so common that they are very drab on new cars. However, back in the late 1980s and 1990s both silver and gray metallics were considered more exotic as Cadillac was selling new cars that were yellow, dark blue, and red.
Even in1961 they went from stainless steel trim to anodized aluminum.
they were starting to, the big pieces were anodized aluminum to save cost...
Our family car was a 1956 Chevrolet and my 1st was the 1961 Sport Coupe
This was my first car. Back in '68 it was considered an "old" car.. suitable for a teenager. Mine was an Impala convertable .. I would describe the colors as white and tan. She had the 283 V-8 engine.. the best GM ever built until the 3.8 V-6.. in my estimation. Only it had a weak two speed automatic that I replaced a couple of times. Same as my Buick Ultra's V6 that didn't have a transmission that could outlast it's engine. How times have changed, yet how they stay the same!
yeah those transmission... :)
The 1961 Chevrolet is still my favorite of all the Chevrolet's from the 60's until 1967; As far as the 4 door Impala hardtops, & the 2 door hard tops ( Bubble Top ) as well except the 2 door 67 Caprice are a favorite as well; Just saying.
61 and 62 SS were sweet cars. Dark blue 61 and maroon 62
Enjoyed!!!! 🤜🤛
I'd love to drive a modern car that offers the outward visibility of the bubble-top coupe briefly shown @1:16.
All those suitcases piled in the trunk. Did they offer air shocks to level the load? A full passenger load would make those air shocks necessary. A beautiful car, I love the bubble tops and Sport Sedan models.
Colour inside and out, multiple choices - whatever happened to that?
The car companies got cheap!
pearl paint is only an extra 1200$!
People started leasing new vehicles, and resale value became all-important. So colors other than white, silver, or black are the norm…can’t have anything painted in a color that’s difficult to resell!
Just 9 minutes of gush, except for the wider doors. But why bother? The salesmen, and customers, could see all this stuff for themselves, in person.
They bothered so we could nostalgically look back on it 60 years later.
i though they would talk about the beast,,409
I think about a year later, that they hired the "Beach Boys" to handle the marketing/advertising for the 409 engine!
It's fairly strange, they rarely talked about the performance cars in these films... sometimes they did but the late 50's they didn't really push the performance versions. I think those were "after the fact" builds and special editions and these films were put out early in the prior year.
💋
Just don't make a donk out of it!
Were the Ford’s of the same year actually better built? There’s a Ford made video showing different point of why they are better than Chevy for 61’.
All of the carmakers had that type of "Here is why our product is superior to the others in it's class." videos. This video was simply a first introduction for the dealership people to learn the new bodies and the changes.