General Motors cars of 1959 are noted for their dramatic and extreme styling. Chevrolet was, of course, not immune to the virtually “anything goes” styling phenomenon of that model year. The big Chevys of 1959 marked the end of a decade of major advancement at GM’s “bow tie” division. The decade of the 1950s brought forth Chevy’s first hardtop, the Bel Air, in 1950; its first modern overhead-valve V-8 in 1955; fuel-injection for 1957; and the upscale Impala for 1958. The 1958 Chevys had changed about as much from the 1955-’57 models as the “Tri Fives” had been changed from their predecessors. Then Chevrolet changed its line-up for 1959 in about as drastic a manner, and the fact was boldly noted in Chevy’s ads with the statement “all new all over again!”
Beginning with the 1959 models, GM management decided that in order to save on costs, all GM cars would share common body shells. Therefore, all new bodies had to be designed to accommodate the mandate. The first-year Impala had been available only as a two-door hardtop or convertible, but two more body types were added for 1959: a four-door hardtop and four-door sedan. Four-door hardtops received a low, flat roof with straight, angled C-pillars and wrap-around rear windshields while the sedans were capped by a bubble-like top similar to but taller than that of the two-door hardtop. Other sedans in the GM divisions used this arrangement, while Cadillac and Buick offered a four-door hardtop based on the bubble roof shape of the sedan.
Read more.
