1961 Chevrolet Impala: Dan Gurney’s American Export

Major Kudos to the present owner. He gets it. Thanks for your efforts. Love the car.

Great film and story. Oh to have roads and scenery like that to unleash this beast. I’ll take the Impala and the farm!

The video is great, but the audio is greater!

That V8 sound. Music to my ears.

I was previously unaware of this car and this story. Fantastic.

Man, it does sound incredible. Come on, don’t ever silence that!

I’d say Ed is employing opposite lock at 1:22, but the road is pretty straight and the car really doesn’t flinch. Perfect for a brodie knob!

Pretty amusing story about taking a police specification Impala, and leading the pack with a group of Jaguars. A 3.8L engine is only 232 cubic inches. So with almost 2X the displacement, of course Gurney was out in front. The Impala had a wider wheel base than the Jags, and that would have helped keep the car flat in the turns. The picture of the Impala leading a whole group of 3.8 Jags is at 4:27. The width of the Impala compared to the Jaguars shows clearly in this photograph. The Jags didn’t have a chance.

Wow wow wow
My tears welled up too. Delightful story. Stunning film. Fun to see an American car be special.
Petrolicious you’re the best!!

Fabulous! Love seeing a US car out of context … and this ‘two laps to go’ story!

Great story about a truly wonderful and wild time of racing. thank you P!

An achingly great story and visual! Dan the Man and back in the day when men were men and racers were… just something else! OMG, the sound! Wonderful custodian. Thanks Petrolicious, one of the best!

“When you start it, people either jump, or laugh.” I love that sort of reaction, and it’s certainly worth keeping the silencers in their boxes.

Tears welled up listening to that engine. What a wonderful story.

What a great story. The more I hear about Dan Gurney, the more I appreciate his impact on motorsports. Smoking a bunch of blokes in cop car certainly adds to the mystique (even if it was only for a few laps). And don’t ever put mufflers on it; that would be very un-American.

Interesting that Dan Gurney would choose the 348-409 engine family to power the Impala, given its rev limitations and that its main attribute was of course torque. As a racing application, the 409 maintains a more romantic and iconic perception, than its actual performance , or often lack of in history. A very fun car none the less, driven by a racing legend.

Great story. NO Comments. No offence meant but this gallery doesn’t really appreciate when an old American machine beats ups on their ideas of what once was. If ya can’t beat em BAN em I guess.
A great car, driven by a monumental driver in Gurney and proper restoration. Good on the owner for the way he has presented the car.
I guess an Impala can outrun a Jaguar.