1971 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan: ’70s Green!

It’s well known among the three people who read my columns, and folks who get cornered frequently by me at parties (woe to them if they don’t care for classic cars, ha!), that I love the big, “Nimitz class” B- and C-body GM coupes, sedans, wagons and convertibles. They came to us from 1971 to 1976.

Whether a taxi-spec, six-cylinder Biscayne, a mid-range Delta 88 or a top of the line, creme de la creme Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham, all biggie ’71 GM cars were all new, sleek, and sharp. And Chevrolet was still the six-hundred-pound gorilla of GM, with myriad models, options, and colors. The mid-level model (and belle of the ball popularity-wise in full-size General Motors rolling stock), the Impala saw 475,000 units built for the year. And that’s not even including the wagons.

No fewer than twenty varieties of big 1971 Chevrolet were available, from the cheapest $3096 Biscayne six-cylinder Biscayne pillared sedan, to the $4134 Caprice Sport Sedan (Sport Sedan being Chevy-speak for the four-door pillarless hardtop), to the $4498 three-seat Kingswood Estate wagon—that sign of success in suburbia in the Year of Our Lord, 1971.

I’ve already written up the Caprice of this year, but back in July 2020 I was passing the John Deere combine factory in East Moline (I highly recommend the factory tour if you ever find yourself nearby) and spotted this Cottonwood Green ’71 Sport Sedan a stone’s throw away. I immediately veered to the curb and ran over, because I love these cars so much. And let’s face it: You don’t often see a 1971 anything just nonchalantly parked at the curb these days.

It was in somewhat weathered, but still remarkably solid, shape. The 1971 Impala Sport Sedan had a base price of $3813 and weighed 3978 pounds (road-hugging weight was a feature, not a bug, in the early ’70s). This was the most popular 1971 Impala model, with 140,300 sold. The most popular ’71 Chevy of all? The V8 Bel Air pillared sedan, with 348,534 of the $3,585 models produced. Likely a large portion were sold to various and sundry constabularies throughout the U.S.

Cottonwood Green was a very popular color this year, and not just for Impalas and Chevrolets. Greens were eminently popular at the time, especially light hues like this. I’ve seen them on everything, from Coupe de Villes to C10 pickups to Cutlass Supremes four-door hardtops.

Much like silver, white, and black are the darlings of new cars today, greens and browns were favored choices in the 1970s. Who could forget Barnaby Jones’s tobacco brown LTD coupe, or all the various and sundry Custom 500s, Galaxie 500s, and Country Squires in green, brown, or gold on The Streets of San Francisco? No, dropping by your friendly local Chevy dealer and ordering a new Impala or Caprice in Cottonwood Green was as acceptable as watching Columbo or going down to the local Showcase Cinemas to see The French Connection.

So, getting back to a warm summer afternoon in July 2020. I got my pics, hopped back in the Lincoln, and went on my way. The next time I drove past, the Impala was gone. I have no idea what happened to it but hope she got saved and spruced up.

The ’71 Chevys were very Cadillac-like, and I finally remembered my encounter with the ’70s Green Sport Sedan the other day when some models I bought from my friend Tom Beauchamp arrived in the mail. One of the four was a blue ’71 Impala Sport Coupe (a rare kit in itself), and I realized those Cottonwood Green Impala pics had been languishing on my computer for years. And here we are!

If you still harbor a hankering for more Nimitz Class ’70s Chevy Broughamage, have no fear! My buddy in Spokane, Jason Bagge, just acquired a maroon ’74 Caprice Classic coupe with the 454 V8, black vinyl roof and black interior. Once he gets it appropriately spruced up, I’ll be doing a column on it too.

So until next time folks, keep Broughaming on, always tip your bartender, and if you have a local supper club, please patronize it!

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