Station Wagon of the Day - 1959 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door Station Wagon

Very cool!

 

One of my favorite body styles !

 

Love that fanny...finnies.

 

I knew there had to be something special about the procurement of this car when it was new, as the regular Impala wagon was 4 door only. Great piece of history!

 

One of the best examples of unreal sheet metal forming.

 

I've read an article or two about the build on that wagon. I just don't understand the Navy's desire to order 2-door wagons (and special-order, top-of-the-line wagons at that) for the Admirals, when 4-door wagons would have been much more practical in this case.

Here's another pic of it

 

Because they can.

 

Spending our dollars wisely, even back then!
Maybe this was the beginning.

 

Got to love those lines!

 

My bet is that because it was a bulk order the Navy received a discount, not paid a premium, for the 2 door versus 4 door wagons. Getting the premium Impala trim would make sense as they were bought for the Brass. After all, the 2 door body was in production, and the side trim from the door Impala would fit, so it was a matter of mixing and matching standard parts in a non-standard way. To do that 55 times in a row, one right after the other, wouldn't even be a particularly challenging thing for the assembly line. I wonder how many of the others still exist!