Tame Impala: 1974 Impala sport sedan
This cream coloured land yacht doesn't beg for your attention; it demands it
The Chevrolet Impala, despite the in-your-face styling of cars of its period, had an almost ironically humble beginning, sparked by a not so humble 50th-anniversary celebration by General Motors.
A pop culture icon was born in turn. Pixar's animated movie series 'Cars' had a number of Impala's. Ryan Gosling used (although a later, boring variant of the icon) one in a police chase scene in the movie 'Drive'. The crazy cousins from 'Breaking Bad' broke bad in one episode. Dean from 'Supernatural' drove a menacingly black '67 throughout the series.
West coast crip rappers loved their Impalas, which cemented the icon into the mould of lowrider culture. American Movies showed police departments use the Impala (as they did in real life) or a close variant of it, such as the B body Chevy Caprice.
The first-gen Impala was nothing more than a top of the line trim piece. The graceful antelope badge was plastered onto the outgoing top of the line Bel-Air in 1958, available only as a 2-door coupe and convertible.
The full sized sporty (and larger than any other foreign car) coupe borrowed styling cues from the outgoing flagship corvette, and brandished chrome for days. Offered with Chevy's first 348 cubic inches or 5.7-litre big block V8, working incredibly hard to churn out 280 American horses. The less remarkable 283cu inch V8s produced as little as 180hp. All show and some go.
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The second generation Impala stepped into the psychedelic sixties with its own model designation, now available with a 4 door living room configuration in addition to the 2 door coupe and convertible.
The redesigned second-generation was sleeker than ever, with its pointed rear end, touting fintails and teardrop-shaped pair of tail lights. This was the subconsciously-pop-up-in-your-head car when you imagine American cars of the past. Up until this point in time, the Impala was a trailblazer in terms of styling, defining a genre of American cars to come (and go).
Whereas the third generation defined and coined the term 'muscle car' and struck terror with the first ever SS badge. The Super Sport trim was offered with all body types, even with the station-wagon, which was in production for only a year. The SS package transformed the tame land yacht into a menacing stock car, with its mandatorily offered better tyres and stiffer suspension in addition to more and more power. A discreet Z11 package offered an aluminium bodied ready to race impala stock car with a 7.0L V8 from the factory. Production capped at 50-57 units, probably making this the very first limited factory production performance car.
The Impala remained big bodied (and boned) up until its fifth generation, when the gas crisis made sure such a car would never see the light of a production line ever again, which truly saddens me so we shall not talk about it.
We shall, however, talk about this cream (more akin to mishti doi from Bogra) 1974 Impala Sport Sedan. A relic of American history restored, preserved and maintained by Akbar A. Sattar, a classic car aficionado in his own right.
The Impala shares its stable with two other classics, one being a distant cousin of this land yacht: a red 1957 Chevrolet 150, formerly used by the government of East Pakistan, and a bright yellow Fiat X1/9 Restomod.
American cars are like Doi Bora. One either tends to love it and has to have lots of it, or loathe it before possibly setting it on fire. I had always belonged to the latter camp, although in secret, American cars are my guilty pleasure. This cream/doi coloured yacht on land convinced me to come out of the American car loathing closet and embrace them for what they are- genre defining cars of the "would be" future.
Cars, even being inanimate objects, possess an intangible and cosmic soul no other inanimate object can host. And this land barge has a surplus of it, which it exudes (mainly as a faint smell of petrol) in excess, felt by just standing near its vicinity. The small block 5.7L 350 V8 roared to life as we commenced our photoshoot on north gulshan avenue on a chilly and uneventful December morning.
The Impala doesn't beg for your attention, it demands it. Everyone just stood in awe as we passed by them. Road presence of the car is second to none, even beside SUVs. This luxo-barge catches attention left and right unlike any other, akin to a supercar.
The wire wheels wrapped around in period-correct white walls are mesmerising to look at while in motion, while the ride can be described as similar to a magic carpet. Allow me to rephrase- this is how I would imagine a magic carpet ride to be.
The Impala doesn't accelerate, instead it heels as its imaginary sails pick up the wind. The Impala also doesn't corner. The driver instead steers at the helm as the land yacht leans to the opposite of its starboard as it wafts over to the right. The front of the Impala is also dominated by a pointy chrome bumper, like the hull of a ship (which isn't chrome).
Passengers are cocooned with the velvety red plush interior. The dash is dominated with the horizontal speedometer and the column shifter. The front can seat three full sized adults while you can nap in the back like you would on a couch. A living room on wheels, where you can have a conversation while lounging and listening to music, thanks to an aftermarket sound system, so that you could listen to' Life could be a Dream' by the Sh-Booms and pretend you're in 70's America, clueless about the imminent oil crisis that would hit in about a few years, ruining the face of American cars for years to come.
People of the 70's genuinely thought the future would have bubble roofed flying cars, while the next decade gave them cars like the Chevrolet Citation and the AMC gremlin.
