Impala SS Hall of Fame

The Chevrolet Impala SS - Automotive Excellence (Chevrolet, Impala and Impala SS are trademarks of GM, all rights are theirs, photographs are used without permission)

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Jon Moss - GM Specialty Vehicles Group:

The Father of the 1994-1996 Impala SS is a legend for good reason. Alongside GM’s VP of Design Wayne Cherry and Chevy Design Group head Don Runkle, and with valuable input from the Chevrolet Design Team members such as John Cafaro and Clay Dean who were aware of Caprices being customized by an employee of Purifoy Chevrolet in Colorado and by Jon Albert who saw Rob Powers’ hot rodded Caprice in West Bloomfield, MI, going the opposite direction from him as he commuted to work in the morning and a legend was reborn because as they say, team work makes the dream work. Chevy Studio Chief Jon Albert noticed on his way driving to work another commuter heading the opposite direction each morning that was lowered and customized Caprice wagon with big wheels and no brightwork. He finally met Rob Powers and he liked it so much that he showed it to Chevrolet General Manager Jim Perkins by bringing Rob in to give Jim a ride. Perkins asked Moss to see what he could do to come up with a high performance Caprice option concept that could actually be put into production easily unlike many of the dream world concept cars made just for show.

The creation of the Impala SS concept car made from a 1992 Caprice with the police package LT1 engine. Lowered, blacked out and with more suitable wheels and wider tires, the 14 day build (with Detroit area companies Vehma, a division of Magna International, Troy Design & Manufacturing  and MSX International helping with the engine, exhaust, suspension, Chevy's iconic "bow tie" logo on the grille, trunk spoiler and emblems) was a hit at the 1992 Detroit Auto Show and at the annual Specialty Equipment Marketing Association’s annual trade show in Las Vegas, NV and as they say, the rest is history. Moss lead the SVG and associated “Toy Box” activities many like to think of as an ersatz Skunk Works, mad scientist lab, Willy Wonka R&D garage and Santa’s workshop all rolled up into one. Much has been written about him and their efforts to go that one step beyond and we are all grateful and better off for the seemingly crazy dreams of car nuts and engineers. Jon's biography with Sean Reavie is available here.

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Jon Albert - The Other Jon:

It's been said that success has a hundred fathers and that failure is an orphan. For over 30 years Jon Albert of Danville, IL worked for General Motors, rising to become their Design Manager, Chief of Design and assistant design manager of the Advanced Concepts Center during a period of immense changes in automotive design philosophies and technologies. From pencil sketches and clay models to full-size bucks, then all the way to the sophisticated Computer Aided Design (CAD) era, he saw it all. He is also in the 1994-1996 Impala SS history story known as the "Other Jon" who was instrumental in helping get the ball rolling back in the early 1990s.

Legend had it that his next door neighbor had a hot rodded 1991 Caprice station wagon that was lowered, had blacked out bright work and some wider tires on fancy chrome wheels. Actually, Rob Powers of Bloomfield Hills, MI was often seen commuting in the other direction from Jon's own commute and they finally met. Powers' car was hard not to notice and after some spit balling and brain storming meetings at Chevrolet, Rob and his car were invited in for lunch and gave Jim Perkins the General Manager of Chevrolet at the time, a ride he would never forget. While the other Jon, Moss, would go on to be tasked with making sure the LT1 engine power being made was applied to the ground for that unmistakable seat of the pants performance, Jon Albert and his team made sure the interior was befitting of the SS badge. We are all very happy he was one of the fathers of a great success instead of being saddled with the blame for a sad orphan.

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1 of 1. The 1994 Impala SS T56 6-speed manual from the factory:

All car manufacturers build experimental "test mules" for research, development and testing. Some get exercised at press and marketing events, car and trade shows as well as advertising and occasional use in television and movies. Most of these never leave the clutches of the companies that built them and in the rare case they somehow get out into public hands, they have no title and can't be registered anyway. Some are held in museums and some in private collections. We common folks manage to hear about them second hand from some lucky employee of a billionaire who took a photo while washing the car to prove it exists to his friends at the local classic car cruise-in.

In GM's case more than a few were part of the The GM North American Heritage Collection that has had through the years between 300 and 500 vehicles of various marques, models and pedigree. Some are straight up concept cars while others were assembled from various parts like Frankenstein's Monster and abused as part of a research program but have some automotive historical significance. Instead of being crushed outright, they are put on display in Sterling Heights, MI at the Heritage Center. To make matters more confusing, they also have a Heritage Fleet and in 2009 about 200 of those close to 1,000 cars were taken to the Barrett-Jackson auction is Scottsdale, AZ as part of normal housekeeping and collection turn over. You can read Jalopnik's write up of the sale of the only factory 6-speed T56 1994 Impala SS (VIN = 1G1BN52P4RR100024) read the AutoWeek article on the auction or watch this video. A check of the VIN shows it is earlier in the known production run of 1994 Impala SS' that were between 101891 to 199759 (nonconsecutive).

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The Murder of Christopher Wallace aka “Biggie Smalls” aka the Notorious B.I.G.:

Some cars aren't just famous, they're infamous. Such is case with the Impala SS that was used in the drive by murder of the famous rapper the Notorious B.I.G. on March 9th 1997. After leaving the Vibe Awards held at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, 24 year old Christopher Wallace was in an SUV with Bad Boy Records chief Sean "Puffy-P Diddy" Combs stopped at a red light when a "dark" 1994-1996, pulled up and an occupant of that vehicle opened fire with four shots from a 9mm automatic hand gun, killing Wallace.

The ongoing East Coast vs. West Coast hip hop beef heated up with the shooting death of Tupac Shakur while he was riding in a BMW with Death Row chief Marion "Suge" Knight after leaving a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas on September 7th, 1996. One intriguing theory was that Biggie was killed by gang members in cahoots with "rogue members of the Los Angeles police department". Investigators point to corrupt LAPD officer David Mack who was among other things, a body guard for Suge Knight when he was off duty as a police officer at the Rampart Division's C.R.A.S.H. (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) unit. Later, police seized an Impala SS owned by Dwayne Keith “Keefee D” Davis after a drug raid. We may never know exactly which Impala SS was used in the hit on Biggie but it's an odd historic fact that it is either still out there being driven around or was junked as an incriminating piece of evidence.

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Jim Perkins, the “Godfather” of the 1994-1996 Impala SS:

While Jon Moss is credited as being the “father” of the reborn “Tri-9″ Impala SS, then Jim Perkins was the godfather. Perkins was born in Texas in 1935, a Navy veteran and collected cars. He got a job at Chevrolet in 1960, worked his way up through GM’s convoluted bureaucracy (including a stint at Buick as their Sales Manager) and after rotating out to work for Toyota in 1984 (to eventually help them launch their Lexus luxury brand) only to be brought back to Chevy to run the entire division as the General Manager. Seven years later he retired and then worked for the (Rick) Hendrick Automotive Group in Charlotte, North Carolina, the epicenter of NASCAR racing.

In his new role as head of Chevy, Perkins had a lot of history to look back on and pick through for ideas. The Impala SS badge had been put out to pasture in 1969 and nostalgia for a big, fast, four-door car was bubbling under the surface of the hot rod and classic car scene. Often the best ideas are not found while sitting in conference room at a corporate headquarters surrounded by accountants and lawyers. Those ideas, the exciting ones that truly resonate with the car buying public, are found cruisin’ Grand Avenue, on Woodward Avenue, in a thousand Main Street parking lots on weekend nights and in tinkerer’s garages.

Once such idea was freely out there to be seen and parlayed into an automotive industry news, critical and sales success as well. Take a barge of a Caprice, the kind your old dad got to put golf clubs in the trunk and go to the Chamber of Commerce meeting after a few rounds at the country club, soup up the engine, black out the bright work and change those tired, stodgy wheels to something more...modern and muscular. Once the idea of a new Impala SS concept was stove-piped up the corporate ladder, it was only a matter of time before minds and hands were at work making it happen.

“Prodded in part by Chevy General Manager Jim Perkins, a collector of vintage Chevy performance cars from the 1950s and '60s, the special products team decided two years ago to resurrect some of the SS magic for the Caprice Classic.“ - Chicago Tribune, 7-16-95

In addition to the annual North American International Auto Show held in Detroit, MI, one of the main arenas for unveiling concept cars was the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show held annually in Las Vegas, NV. When the new Impala SS concept was shown at the 1992 shows it was a big hit among enthusiasts and the press. Of note, the concept had a red bow tie emblem on the grill and a pair of crossed checkered racing flags on the front fenders above the wheels. These design cues are often transferred to the production cars as owners pay homage to the original vision.

“The car caused a sensation, and Chevrolet was deluged with requests to build it. Chevy's general manager at the time, a wily Texan named Jim Perkins, gave the go-ahead and the Impala SS was born.“ - Orlando Sentinel, 3-13-97

'We respect SEMA members as solid opinion makers....They can drive the feasibility of a new vehicle concept from prototype to production simply by how they react,' Perkins said in a statement released at the Las Vegas show. - Automotive News, 11-14-94

For Perkins, being in the right place at the right time paid off in many ways, including him and a small, dedicated team to help the general public be able to enjoy one of the best cars of the 1990s. He passed away on December 28th, 2018, in Charlotte, NC at the age of 83.

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1995 Concept El Camino:

An experiment in “What if?” from GM. Since 1959, Chevrolet had a vehicle that was half car and half pick-up truck that made a new type, the coupe utility. The best of both worlds and a way to sell more cars with another option package. The top photo even includes a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror. First made in response to the Ford Ranchero, after the first two years the El Camino returned in 1964 based on the Chevelle model. This unique 1995 custom one-off concept built by Wheel to Wheel for GM was based on the LT1 powered full-size Caprice station wagon using the grille of a 1994–96 Impala SS. Once destined for production, it was canceled when GM decided to discontinue the B-body platform at the end of 1996.

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The First 1994 Impala SS

VIN # 1G1BN52P1RR101891 has survived all these years and is still out there somewhere. The relative and symbolic importance of the “first” or “last” of anything collectible is hard to gauge and quantify. Word on the street is that it is being well taken care of in a car museum and a Carfax report shows it has never been sold or registered.

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Enrique "Chino" Barreto and “Bricky”:

Hailing from the Indianapolis Indiana area, Chino was a fixture in the Impala SS scene and was instrumental in both the formation of the Impala SS Club of America as a founding Director from the Indipala SS Club. He also served as the ISSCA Treasurer and as photographer for the Impala SScene magazine. He was a professional photographer by trade and the car hobby provided a fertile hunting ground for his documenting of the people and cars in it. He passed away too soon at the age of 48 on July, 2, 2011. His memory lives on in The Spirit of ISSCA/Chino Barreto Award, the people's choice honor bestowed upon a lucky participant of the annual ISSCA Nationals car show and racing convention. Among his cars he was the proud owner of “Bricky”, a replica of one of the three 1995 Brickyard 400 “Pace Cars” (aka Special Track Vehicle) as the actual pace vehicles for that race that year were White Chevy C/K 1500 pick up trucks. There was also a DGGM “One of one Brickyard 400 Impala SS Pace Cars GM sanctioned certified replica” according to the Mecum car auction catalog for the 2009 Indianapolis sale (Lot F102). From Chino’s printed obituary, "In the future, let no tears come to your eyes, but yet a smile."

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Murl G. "Pinky" Randall's Last Impala SS Built:

Mr. Chevy earned the name by being such an enthusiast for the bow tie brand that began in 1911, from the early 1960s he amassed a collection of Chevrolet sales and service literature that was eventually purchased by GM in 2004 to supplement their own library. "Chevrolet has been my life. It really has since I was 5 years old, before I knew even what a Chevrolet was. I am as enthusiastic today as I was 80 years ago about Chevrolet." - He ended up buying that `32 coupe he saw as a kid when he married his wife in 1948. The 1996 model of the Impala SS is the most sought after as unlike the prior two years models, it had an analog gauge package with a tachometer and the shifter was moved from the steering column to the floor and put in a full-length console. However, the long hoped for manual transmission option failed to materialize.

Authority can spot authority so... Pinky made the trek to Arlington, TX from Houghton Lake, MI to get the last 1996 Impala SS off the line with the help of Chevy General Manager Jim Perkins to work out the details of the delivery. Seeing your car come of the line can be a ritual akin to the birth of a baby or the christening of a new ship. A civil ceremony was held December 13, 1996 where he drove the Dark Cherry Metallic four door hot rod out of the plant accompanied by County Judge Tom Vandergriff in the front passenger seat presiding to make it all nice and legal. “I now pronounce you, man and car. You may kiss the car.”  A reenactment of the kiss can be seen in the top photo above. ;)

Pinky passed away on January 9th, 2022.

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Junior Johnson's “Mystery Motor” 1963 Impala SS race car:

Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. was a NASCAR driver of some skill, and allegedly a runner of moonshine that helped him hone his fast driving prowess. He was immortalized in the 1973 film, The Last American Hero, which based the character of “Junior Jackson” on him and was played by Jeff Bridges. The script was adapted from a short story by Tom Wolfe that appeared in Esquire magazine in 1965. The real life Junior piloted a very fast 1963 Impala SS equipped with a rare 427 ci Mk II engine of which it is said only 50 were built and some account have that as low as 18 units. Chevrolet stopped their factory race support and owners of the rare engines were left to fend for themselves. The elusive “Mystery Motor” name came about as its performance eclipsed many that year since it recorded seven wins, nine pole positions, 13 top 5 finishes, and 14 top 10s all in the 33 races in the 1963 season. In 1964 Chevrolet got back into racing and with the new Mk IV 427, the 650 hp Mk II was ineligible in NASCAR which reduced Johnson’s wins to less than half. In 2012 the famous race car was up for sale by RK Motors based in Charlotte, NC as the original motor was found literally in a barn prior to its freshening up to “as raced” condition, dents, scuffs and period correct decals making this time capsule a unique rarity.

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John Madeley and the Giant SS Motorsports 1996 Impala SS Land Speed car:

Many of us might imagine what it would be like to be out on the Bonneville Utah salt flats running top speed both ways to set a record but John Madeley of St. Charles, IL actually did it, a few times. He campaigned the #864 in the AA/GALT and C/FALT classes going 189.11864 mph in 2004 and 203.255 mph in 2006. All with a naturally aspirated 572 ci fuel-injected Dart big block motor making 700 hp. As there's “no replacement for displacement” this monster breathes fire out on the salt. John was also an avid drag racer, participated in the 2000 and 2002 Michelin One Lap of America and the 2001 GoldRush Challenge road race. RIP John.

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The ex-Harry Stegner 1965 Impala SS 396 convertible:

I of 5. Low number cars reign in the car collector world, and the rarer the better. In 1965 you could go into a car dealership like Gray Chevrolet in Tannersville, PA near where Harry lived in Mount Pocono and custom order a car or just buy one off the lot as many did. Manufacturers had assisted dealers by offering up as many possible options as one could imagine and that led to some odd ducks rolling off the assembly lines. This restrained example features the 396 ci, 425 hp Turbo-Jet V8 with the close-ratio Muncie M21 4-speed transmission mated to a tall 4.11:1 Positraction rear end. This car also had a paint matching white top, red interior, tinted glass, padded dash, power brakes, power steering, “Comfort-Tilt” steering wheel and a push button AM radio. As noted in Russo & Steele's 17th Annual (2017) Scottsdale Arizona car auction catalog for lot #8289, “The second owner was Harry’s son John Stegner who owned the car until 2004 when he sold it to Impala collector Warren West of Olympia, WA... until 2016 when the current owner bought it. It has 84,000 original miles”, VIN# 166675Y201165 is a sweet ride any way you look at it.

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Bob Kessler's 1969 Chevy SS 427:

Ordered new in 1968 from Funston Chevrolet in Detroit, MI, the dealership was familiar with high-performance big-block cars and the Central Office Production Order (COPO) system GM ran at the time. This fleet ordering office was used as a “back door”  to make it possible for savvy dealerships to special order muscle cars with factory race engines ordered as service parts and allegedly installed at the dealerships (or at the factory depending on who you asked). The RPO Z24 option code included a blacked out front grill, front disc brakes, 15” wheels with Firestone Wide Oval G70 tires and the massive 427 ci engine. Turned out that conveniently across the street was a small company called "The Pit Stop" where Funston Chevy General Sales Manager Bob Hirsch and Performance Sales Manager Joe Clark had a special performance shop ready to help with any needed improvements. Bob's car was ordered with the L36 390 hp engine with an equal number of horse power and an amazing 470 ft. lbs. of metal flexing torque, a Turbo 400 3 speed automatic trans backed up with a 12 bolt 3.07:1 rear gear. Bob's order sheet also checked off the AM-FM radio, black vinyl roof and power steering option codes. As the story goes, Bob being under 21 years of age and needing to borrow much of the $3,700+ price tag, he had his dear mother sign the loan paperwork so, technically and legally for a few years the car was hers. Time flew by and the car was relegated to the back of the garage where it sat until Bob pulled out all the stops for a restoration in 2007 that included an upgrade to a 3.73:1 rear gear. This amazing survivor one-owner car appeared in the June, 2017 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine. 

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The American Graffiti 1958 Chevy Bel-Air Impala:

While not a Super Sport (the option was first offered on the Impala in 1961) this car was featured in the George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola film American graffiti in 1973, the first Impala was a top of the line option on the Bel-Air. The white movie car was driven by actor Ron Howard in the film and is borrowed by his friend, stolen, recovered and has become a lasting part of American auto movie history alongside the yellow Deuce Coupe. After filming the car was sold by LucasFilms for $285 to a young man who would enlist in the Marine Corp and store it in his parent’s garage until 2004. In 2015 the car was to be auctioned off at the Profiles in History sale as lot# 1531 for an estimated $800,000 to $1,200,000. Fate would intervene when famed NASCAR team crew chief Ray Evernham negotiated a private sale. Motive power for the car had been contentious as in the film it is described as being a a 327 Chevy V8 with 6 Stromberg carbs. The car as bought from LucasFilms had a 348 which was replaced with a 283 ci sporting a standard four-barrel carb. Evernham restored the car in grand fashion and it was unveiled at the 2016 SEMA show much to the appreciation of car and movie fans around the world. When Jon Moss attended the inaugural GM Nationals at the Carlisle PA fairgrounds in 2001 and was asked to give an award in his name, he chose a `58 Impala as his favorite at the show.

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“Killer” Mike Render and his 1996 Impala SS:

In 2001 when Atlanta based hip-hop rapper Killer Mike sold his DCM 1995 Impala SS he was melancholy but the funds from the sale helped build his empire. Six years later he had the chance to dive back into the SS life and did so with mucho gusto when he found a black 1996 with only 1,083 miles on the odometer.  The mild and tasteful build was accomplished by his old pal Ron Baugh who ended up working for custom wheel manufacturer Forgiato. Flowmaster exhaust, Belltech suspension, C3 Fab Racing control arms, custom three-piece 21” Forgiato Tecnica wheels with Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires set it off. Music and cars go together like... well, use any metaphor you like. His car was featured in the June 2018 issue of AutoWeek Magazine.

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Robert O’Neill and his 1964 Impala SS:

“In the late ’90s the local Friday night spot was in Bellmore, Long Island…” his story begins when he saw the automotive equivalent of the Great White Whale, and in September of 2000 he bought the car and set about turning he stock street cruiser into something more, a lot more. An NHRA-certified chrome-moly 10 point roll cage was installed by T&W Welding & Fabrication in Deer Park, New York, a 9” rear with 4.88:1 gears from Montana Brothers Race Cars in Port Jefferson, American Racing Torq Thrust D aluminum wheels wrapped with Mickey Thompson DOT-approved tires over Wilwood disc brakes in front were just the beginning. Under the hood is 434 ci “small block” courtesy of B&B Machine Shop of Oceanside and JA Performance of Lynbrook. You can almost hear the car whisper, “We don’t care how they do it in California.” A dyno run showed “only” 600 hp and 526 ft. lbs. of torque so why not add on some nitrous to make 834 at 5,700 rpm and 777 ft. lbs. at 5,600! Good for 10.53 seconds at 129 mph all engine and 10.12 at 140+ mph on the bottle, all using DOT tires and pump gas. 

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The Hendrick Motorsports #48 2007 Impala SS driven by Jimmie Johnson:

Winning a NASCAR Championship is a big deal. Winning four in a row is pretty amazing. He won his first in 2006 and won Driver of the Year as well. Chevy set a record in 2007 (the first year of the new Impala SS race car) with 26 wins in a 36 race season which is a modern era record in NASCAR. The records James Keith “Jimmie” Johnson has set go on and on… “Johnson became the first rookie in the Cup series to sweep both races at a track when he won both races at the Dover International Speedway. He became the first rookie ever to lead in the point standings. In addition, Johnson is the only driver to finish in the top five in the standings in his first five full seasons.” Race fans will say “It’s the driver, not the car that wins races.” But, it sure helps to have a great car! Some will also say the race cars they drive in NASCAR aren’t really much like the production cars they are named for, in this case a four-door sedan with a 5.3 liter V8 making 303 hp. The “Car of Tomorrow” replaced the Monte Carlo SS on the track and ran an R07 358 ci small-block V8. Johnson had approximately 18 cars at his disposal when the 2007 season began, Chassis No. 48-520 would make a fine addition to the Impala SS Hall of Fame Museum.