'LOW STANDARDS'. NOT ALWAYS A BAD THING TO HAVE!
When it comes to the best looking cars, the "lower" your standards the better and this lowrider '61 Chevrolet Impala, sitting on Ridetech air suspension , definitely has some of the "lowest" standards around!
Most modern cars are boring, bland, full of stupid plastic and just plain old cheap! Gone are the days of accentuated, bold lines, steel body panels and purely beautiful, timeless cars. Ones that speak to the heart and move the soul. Move a few decades back to the 60's though, where cars were designed to excite you and they could truly be called breathtaking, just like this amazing example of a 1961 Chevrolet Impala. You just have to look at it for a few minutes and I promise you'll fall in love with it.
That deep purple paintjob is something of splendour, called Blue Moon Fantasy Pearl. It changes colour if you look at it from different angles which is pure bliss. It goes from purple, to a deep blue, with gold flake and even an almost black colour in certain light settings. No boring white, factory paintjob here. The car's exterior was expertly stripped and sanded to bare metal, then primed and painted with the ultimate amount of expert skills and attention to detail, to achieve this concourse quality finish you see before you, all done in house at Auto Bonn Sandton. All the chrome trim on the car was also brought back to showroom quality, with many hours of labour put into it to get it back to looking as good as new.
Then we get to those proper old-school 17 inch American Racing Torque Trust wheels tucked under those perfectly shaped arches. Helping the wheels tuck so sexily and causing the body to lay its frame on the floor, bringing out this beauty's really, really "low" standards, is the Ridetech Level 3 air suspension. This system allows the car to be lowered or raised, with the simple touch of a button or two on the car's dashboard. Epic indeed! The brakes on this exquisite lady was also upgraded to Wilwood calipers and upgraded disc all around, for better braking and of course imrpoved looks.
No lowrider of this calibre would have any gangster appeal to it if it had a crammy old motor in the engine bay, so of course this 60's sex icon has a proper motor under the hood. The heart of this beauty is a Chevy 350 small block motor, with aluminium heads, as well as a whole bunch of other performance and cosmetic upgrades, including loads of chromed parts, so that your eyes get totally blinded as soon as you pop that long, swooping hood. Yes this baby has more than enough power to smoke those American Racing wheels with ease with it pushing out close to 400HP!
This car's epic sound doesn't just come from it's motor though, as it also has a full Rockford Fosgate sound system that was fabricated for it by Creative Rides and this includes a custom boot install with four RF P2D210 subwoofers pumping out the bass, while a RF T1500 and RF T400 amplifier keeps the subs company in the boot. In the cabin, the crystal clear vocals are provided by a set of RF T1675-S splits in the front with a set of RF T1675 co-axials in the rear of the car. The Alpine 530BT double din headunit that sends all the signal to the speakers was built into the custom centre console of the car, accompanied by a few Autometer gauges, including a speedo, rev and fuel gauge. The rest of the interior of this magfinicent Impala was also overhauled, with the seats covered in two tone plush leather, whike the steering wheel is a custom piece and the dash also has a few extra gauges built into it, to keep a close eye on all the vitals.
This car is truly a piece of motoring nostalgia, brought back to to life with with some class and a whole lot of pizazz, more than worthy of a true O.G!
Car Specs
Model: 1961 Chevrolet Impala
Power: +-400HP
Engine: Chevy 350 small block, Aluminium heads, Chromed parts
Exterior: Blue Moon Fantasy Pearl sprayjob, Restored Chrome parts
Interior: Two Tone Leather retrim, custom Autometer gauges, Custom built centre console
Sound: 4 x RF P2D210 subwoofers, RF T1500 amplifier, RF T400 amplifier, RF T1675-S splits, RF T1675 co-axials, Alpine 530BT double din
Wheels: 17 inch American Racing Torque Trust wheels
Suspension: Ridetech Level 3 air suspension
CHECK OUT THE PHOTO-SHOOT OF SHANNEN RAE WITH THE '61 IMPALA HERE:
SHANNEN RAE WENTWORTH - '61 CHEVROLET IMPALA - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW & PICTURES