1958 Chevrolet Impala ‘Tri-Power’ Convertible

Hired by Harley Earl in 1951 to head up the Chevrolet's designs, gifted and talented Clare MacKichan's creative juices started flowing immediately. He had a hand in the styling and development of early Corvettes. By the time he came on board, the 1953-1954 full-size cars were pretty much completed so he added a few suggestions to give Chevy a modern and up-to-date look. Upon taking charge of his team in late 1951, his main goal was looking forward to 1955 and beyond. For over three years, MacKichan worked tirelessly with a group of equally talented stylists, model builders, and automotive artists and the end product of their work was the stunning 1955 Chevrolet. Evolutionary facelifts were provided for 1956 and 1957; all of these were iconic American cars from the 1950s. As soon as the 1955 models went into production, as well as wrapping up little details for the following two seasons, he took dead aim for the next totally new Chevrolet proposed for model year 1958. Rallying his team to looking to the future with what MacKichan declared a "Sculpturamic" school of thought, the stunning new 1958 Chevrolets delivered on all fronts. In addition to a redesigned, lighter weight frame, bigger, more powerful engines and numerous other innovations, the most important thing for many consumers was the sheet metal styling and here Chevrolet achieved its goals. Up front, under the new quad headlights' grouped pair at the top of the front of the fenders immediately captured one's attention. Below was the massive front bumper paired up with a totally new concept in Chevy styling for the chrome surround and grille. With the parking and turn lights paired up below the headlights, the 1958 Chevrolet was set apart from any previous model before or would be after. Flowing lines exuding speed, and a gullwing rear-end design completed the picture accented with bright trim wherever possible. To celebrate this new look, Chevy introduced a new luxuriously appointed top-line series, the stunning Impala. Offered exclusively as a two-door Sport Coupe and with their only full-size convertible this year, Impala would become legendary. But 1958 was a year of turmoil in the automotive world, Despite the rakish new designs and increased performance, a steep recession saw sales off by vast amounts seeing a drop of nearly 20-percent in sales, or just under 300,000 units.