real61ss

Paul, Thanks for sharing the story of your father's '61 Impala. To answer your question; the '61 SS was available with 4 different motors; 348/305, 348/340, 348/350 and the 409/360. The 305 was available with either the 4 speed manual transmission or the HD Powerglide. The remaining motors were available only with the 4 speed. As for your question about who would have cloned an SS back then.....lots of people did and most of them were dealers. It wasn't called cloning back then it was called selling cars!!! There were only 453 Impala Super Sports built at the factory during the '61 model year, there were approx. 6000 Chevrolet dealers in 1961. Think what the odds were of a dealer getting one of these cars. However, if someone came in a dealership and wanted to order one of the cars the dealer surely wasn't going to let him get away, they would explain that they could convert an Impala that they had in stock simply by adding a grab bar on the dash, 1/4 panel and truck emblems and spinners on the hubcaps. The first SS's were built the third week of Feb. 1961, by the time they arrived at the dealers it was March. If you ordered one it would be months before you received the car but the dealer is saying he can "fix" you one now. It was pretty easy to convince a customer to take the car on the show room floor rather than order one. I speak from experence, today I own one of the original 453 but my first '61SS was converted by a dealer, it was the Spring of 1961, I was 18 at the time and wanted the car now. Somewhere out there today someone may have my old car swearing it's the real thing because it has 50 year emblems on it. I'm not downing your Dad's car, it's just how things worked then.

I have a copy of information provided to the Chevrolet dealers concerning the 1961 model cars. It is dated Oct. 1960, convertible tops were available in black or white on all exterior colors. Blue tops were available on both Jewel Blue and Midnight Blue cars. No red is listed.

Depends on what part of Virginia you are in, here in Richmond we got ours several days ago. Guess the mailman has to swim across the bay :cool:

Got mine today, damn West!!!....you out did yourself this time!!!! :D

A few years ago I saw a car at Carlisle, total rust bucket, it had a sign that said............."No rust in some spots"

You must be in Timbuktu also, mine came so long ago that I'm look'n for Jan/Feb issue

Bob, Thanks for the response. I like racing but I understand, I have been at shows at RIR when they were practicing and the noise got old in a hurry.

The winter Meet is scheduled for March 4 & 5th, 2011. What kind of racing is taking place at Homestead on that weekend? I don't see anything on the NASCAR or the IRL schedules.

The Eastern shore is Timbuktu:D

Guess I got lucky....... I have shown a car at Hershey since the early 90's and have never had a licence tag on the car. The car is registered, licenced and insured but I never show a car with the tags on it. I came under the bridge about 7:45 AM, the policeman stopped me just before the bridge, asked where the tags were, I told him that they were in the trunk, he asked why they were not on the car, I told him and he asked to see my registration and proof of insurance and these I had in the glove box so I showed them to him. I offered to put the tags on the car but he said "go ahead, just put the tags on before you leave the show field". He was very nice, even told me to have a nice day.......which I did

Beautiful!!!! I bet you experenced what I have when doing a complete restoration.... there are times when you think this thing is never going to be finished but when it's done it's worth every minute and every penny!!! Thanks for sharing....'61 is my favorite year

I purchased a set of DiamondBack redlines about 6 years ago for a '65 GTO that I owned back then. They are great looking tires, however I did experence a problem. In time a white streak appeared around the edge of the red lines. It apppears as if the red is over white. I finally took the tires off the GTO because they just did not look good and I got tired of people asking me what was wrong with the tires. I have had them on my Jeep now for several years. (It ain't everyday that you see a Wrangler Jeep with redlines!!!) I asked the guys at DiamondBack about this and they knew what I was talking about. Seems they put a black dye on the tires and it will wear off if you scrub the redlines with a strong cleaner. They offered to give me some of the dye to cover the white up but I never did it. Wasn't sure how I could apply it so it would look correct. You might ask them about this problem.

Shop Rat, I too read the forums on a regular basis and enjoy your posts. My wife and I will be arriving (we hope) on Wednesday afternoon. I will be bringing my '61 Impala SS for the Special Display area that was meantioned in an earlier post. The '61 will be trailered (White Ford Dually with a white Fifth wheel trailer and my wife Debbie plans to follow me driving our '62 Corvette. We will use the Corvette for the tours and have entered it in the driver class on Saturday. We are staying at the host hotel and she will be judging on Saturday. We are really looking forward to this meet. She's a brave soul to drive a straight axle Corvette from Richmond, Va to Louisville but it was her idea cause she doesn't want to drive the dually on the tours. Terry.....good to see you today, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend our show today.

I was told Lynchburg

Hey, I just went through this mess here in Va. In my case, there were 3 digits that were transposed incorrectly. I found a gentleman who is retired from the Va. DMV and he can get it straightened out for you. He now runs a title service for just this type of thing and he knows the right people to get in touch with. Give him a call, it'll cost you a few dollars but in the long run it will be worth it. I listed his info below L&L Title Service PO Box 655 Colonial Heights, Va 23834-0655 804 526-3338

Kiwi's Karriers has transport cars for me, I would recomend them. Call 360-301-4874. Tell Lyn that Tommy Nolen in Richmond, Va. gave you the number.

The Richmond Region bunch plans to leave Richmond sometime tomorrow morning. We had planned to leave early but now I guess we best hang around here until we get a road report. It would be very helpful if someone up there would post something tomorrow morning concerning the condition of I-95. Thanks and be safe.

Save your money Terry!!!! There is a company converting the new Camaro to a Firebird Trans Am See you in Philly

If you contact PHS (Pontiac Historical Services) they can provide you with the information as to how your car left the assembly line. There is reasonable fee.

I think I'll go out to the garage and hug my '61 Ventura

"that is interesting about the battery caps. Didn't know that. It was probably the same for Pontiacs" Actually Pontiac made the switch to the blackcaps a few months before Chevrolet. In a memo dated July 16, 1962 Chief Designer Bill Mitchell requested that the yellow caps be replaced with black caps. He stated that he felt the yellow caps were distracting from the beauty of the Pontiac motor.

Chevrolet switched from body color to low gloss black firewalls during the 1963 model run. The factories started switching to black in mid Janurary of '63 and most plants made the switch by early March. Prior to this the firewalls were body color... Same is true with the Delco batteries, the fill caps were yellow until mid Janurary '63, about this time the caps were changed to black.

Big thanks to the Topeka Region for a GREAT meet. I wasn't able to stay for Saturday's meet but the GN was great!!! Beautiful weather, nice host hotel and the tours on Thursday were tops. Thanks again

steve, Thanks for the response, I'm heading west tomorrow (Monday) for the GN show, can't stay for the Saturday show, got to be back at work next Monday.

Perhaps I missed them but I haven't seen any comments concerning the dual meet next weekend in Topeka. Anyone from here going? Anyone know how many cars are entered?