Seen at the latest Holley LS Fest in Bowling Green, KY, this Impala has gone from forgotten project, to competition killer with the help of its owner. The car has been in the family for a long time as the current owner’s great uncle purchased the Impala new. Now, it’s a whole different kind of streetcar than his great uncle used to cruise around in back in the day.
This all-steel Chevy Impala is powered by a cammed 370 cubic inch LS engine with a Bullseye 83mm turbocharger. Behind the powertrain is a built 4L80E that feeds into a 12-bolt rearend with TrueTrac differential and 4.10:1 gears. With driver, this classic Chevy Impala weighs 4,100 pounds, and gets 93 octane when it’s street driven, and given a little 110 octane for the track.
The first time this Chevy Impala made its way down the 1/4 mile during a drag race, the owner wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it. On the dyno at LS Fest, he found out that his Impala was putting out 958 RWHP with 25-lbs of boost.
Prior to its revival, the car had been sitting in a field since the early 80s, after the owner’s grandfather had bought 
it and “drove the wheels off of it”, then parked it. About 3 or 4 years back, it was saved and turned into a mean street car with the help of the LS platform and beefy 4-speed automatic. This has been taken to its limits prior to visiting LS Fest, as it bent 4 rods and messed up the heads, as well as destroyed one torque converter already.
Once the car gets on the track is when it really starts to shine. It smokes the 4th-gen Camaro in the right-hand lane, and it was a 10-second car! When the Impala crossed the line, it did it in 9.93 seconds at 121 mph. On a separate solo pass, it gets even lower with a 9.28 at 148.28 mph. In the third pass, he goes against the same Camaro, who threw a 9.56 at 140 mph pass at him, plenty to have taken it the first showdown, but the Impala counters with an even better 9.26 @ 149 mph, and the car looked solid doing it.
Elizabeth is hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
