1971 Chevrolet Impala Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The 1971 Chevrolet Impala was the first of the second generation of Impalas, a generation which would be best known for...being known for...

The 1971 Chevrolet Impala was the first of the second generation of Impalas, a generation which would be best known for...being known for little. What had started out as a powerful car soon became best known as being a fleet car. The 1971 Impala grew its wheelbase to 121.5 inches after being at 119 for over a decade. The standard engine, however, shrunk a bit; it was still a 250-cid inline 6, but had been reduced to 145 horsepower. The standard V8 continued to be a 350 cid small-block with horsepower down 5 to 245. All engines across-the-board had lower compression ratios per GM corporate mandate to enable the use of lower-octane unleaded gasoline with horsepower dropping accordingly. Optional engines included a 255-horsepower 400, 300-horsepower 402 and 365-horsepower 454. The 400 was basically a stroked 350 small-block while the 402 and 454 were big-block engines. Impalas today are a whole new story: these cars are easily tuned and rebuilt, so have become popular restoration cars. The best part is that they can be restored to better than original.