By Jim Hagarty
I know I am biased because my family owned Chevys in the 1960s, a decade when my obsession with cars was only matched with my dreams about the girls I might be able to take on dates inside those cars. The one shown here is a 1958 Impala, and a beauty at that, on display at a car show in my town this week. My Dad, a farmer, believed in buying new cars only, and preferably a new one every two or three years. For some reason, having a nice ’55 Ford, he switched to Chevy in 1958 and one day drove in the lane with a new, grey ’58 Chevy Biscayne. Biscayne was the lowest model on the Chevy totem pole and the four-door sedan was the only logical choice as there were nine of us in the family. Also, though he spent his lifetime on the farm, Dad never owned a truck. So our cars were our trucks. After a few years in the ’58 Biscayne, he and my Mom brought home a new, red 1962 Biscayne, a nice car but one that had no radio. Yes, it was possible in those days to get a car without a radio. Three years later, they traded again, this time for a nice, big green 1965 Biscayne. That was the first car I was able to drive as I got my licence in 1967. And my dreams were realized. Girls actually agreed to ride places with me in it. Life was good. A car guy at the show this week explained to me that the ’58 Impala was a bit unique for Chevy and probably one of its most appealing designs. It was different from the ’57 and the ’59 was unlike this one as well.
