Meet the Fleet – Muscle Cars: ’59 Chevy Impala

• BODY: Auto World
• WHEELS & TIRES: Road Race Replicas

Ah, the ’59 GM line! You’ll never hear this gearhead badmouth a one of ‘em! Some people think they were too extreme, and many people even said so when they were new, but it is their very “over the top-ness” that makes them so appealing today, at least in my eyes. What could better illustrate this than the ’59 Chevy, the “basic” brand of which millions were sold? And here we have a superbly detailed version of the very top of the Chevy line, the Impala “sport coupe.”

This is one of 2 of this body I have in my fleet, and the little elements that went into this car really made it irresistible, from the realistic “Aspen Green” over “Classic Cream” color combo to the logos on the side spears to the vanity license plate. This was made in many colors but this one is particularly appealing to me, and fitted as it is which Road Race Replicas chrome reverse wheels and big silicone tires, you can probably see why. It’s a big body, too, just like the real car, but even so it performs better than you might think…again, just like the real car! They are rare, to be sure, but the ’59 Impala could-in theory-be outfitted like a NASCAR racer if a buyer checked enough boxes, all the way up to the 350HP solid-lifter 3×2 barrel 348 big block with the 4-speed on the floor-a first for ’59, and the Posi-traction rear axle (introduced the year before).

You can bet you are looking at just such a beast here, albeit not a numbers matching original but a meticulous restoration on what started life as a decent small-block equipped Impala. Sibling rivalry runs deep within the Rasner family: Roger “Blizzard” Rasner races in DC’s sports car class with one of the rarest Ford powered cars in the fleet, the Lola GR Mk VI he calls “Shotgun.” His brother Riley, the blacksheep of the family, went the opposite direction, building one of the finest full-sized Chevys ever to see action in the muscle car class. “Raider” Rasner, an ex-Navy fighter pilot, still felt the need for speed after leaving the service, and turned the ’59 Impala he bought for $1500 as his first car into a ground-pounding track star when he returned to civilian life with the money and time to pursue his passion. The California car was already in excellent, straight condition when he replaced its tepid 283/Powerglide combination with a race-hardened 348 with 11:1 compression heads, solid lifters, and a pair of dual Carter AFB’s on a Weiand manifold which improved on the available original’s triple-Rochester 2-jets. Running that horsepower through a competition clutch to a Muncie M20 to a hardened Richmond 3.73:1 posi rear may not be exactly like the original, but the spirit is there. Simply called “The Heavy Chevy,” a nickname which is accurate if not totally original, she isn’t the fastest off the line, but her top speed can be shocking to the uninitiated on the track! With a full stock interior with only a few extra gauges and the Hurst shifter giving away her capabilities, she can be a boulevard cruiser by night after racing by day, and look great doing both. Hard to ask for more than that from any car!