There's nothing quite like driving a car that has a hood the size of a picnic table.

I had one once white with the red interior. Two barrel 350 but the old girl moved out just fine. I bought it from the original owner who bought it when she was 17 and never drove it and garged it but didn't take care of it. I bought it off of her and had to spend quite a bit of money getting her running right I spent a fortune having her repainted. I was single and had money back then and then I garageed her and took her out only on the weekends. Then I got married and quickly my family grew and then we needed a car to drive and so into service she went just like Chevy wanted. She became my wife's everyday car with car seats lol. My wife was driven to our wedding at the church in her The two prettiest ladies in my life. I still have the pictures. Ahhh the memories. Thank you for this video. It was a wonderful walk down memory lane.

Drove a '76 four door Impala all though college in the 1980's. Dad bought it from his company's fleet program in '79 for $1,700. Reliable as dirt and solid. Wish I'd kept it.

I had a '72. Good memories there. Easy to drive, almost easier to work on and good looking to boot!

Big Impalas are what I remember seeing as a young kid back in the early to mid 70s. They were everywhere.

Way before I was alive, it must have been great to be in America during its peak. Good people, lots good paying jobs, no debt.

I've always found the 1974 Chevy Impala (and the Bel Air and Caprice) to be a very attractive automobile. I was nine years old back then, and I remember hearing about the Spirit of America editions at the time, although I never knew you could get them in blue as well as white. I also very well remember the "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" tagline, and back then the Chevy Impala was arguably the definitive American car!

That was back when GM actually served the American people, who built their cars. 100% made in America!

My first car was a '75 Impala coupe. Loved the bench seat with the girlfriend! Miss that old car! Wouldn't mind having it today!

I bought a Spirit of America Vega back then. White car with a white vinyl top, and the brightest red carpet you ever saw.

I used to see plenty of Chevy Impala's when I was young but I have never seen or heard of The Spirit Of America until I watched this video. Thank You.

What a nice car, wouldn't mind having one myself!

Nothing like a 70s car doesn't matter what car. The presence of the car itself on the road. Majestic.

Great looking car. Especially with the blue and white interior.

I was 11 that yr , remember seeing the ads in magazines. I remember a blue Impala and a handful of of the white Nova's on the streets of Peru In. back then . Thanks for the memories.....

Wow always loved the Spirit of America edition Impala. Never knew that they were offered in Blue. Learn something every time I watch this channel. Thanks for the post.

I remember that model! I know someone who owned one back in the 1970's. Thank you for sharing. This was quite informative.

You hit me in the feels, OCM! I sincerely miss my 1976 Caprice Classic, Marlene, that I purchased the day after my deployment home from Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Kept her for nearly 15-years before age and wear forced me to part with her. The 400ci engine and heavier trans both lived on in a local mechanic shops' tow truck for several years afterwards, however. Those were the days!

And now Chevrolet has the spirit of recalls and customer service . I had a 75 Impala and a Caprice . Both great cars . Ah the good ol' days .

A shame to see this model disappear after so many years

The blue ones are the rarest. I remember seeing a white one in the junkyard and it had everything on it yet. 71-76 Impala and Caprice's are the forgotten Chevy's.

Many fond memories of my godfathers similar 75’ caprice, riding in the back seat listening to ballgames on the am radio. Smooth and quiet cars of the time.

Those were the Days! Thanks for another fine video!!!

I love the mid-1970's full-sized Chevys. Learned to drive in a 1973 Impala. My uncle had a 1972 Impala 4-door hardtop with the 400 small block. Very quiet, with lots of power.

I once owned a '74 4-dr Impala. Nice family car. Rode like a dream.

You did a great job here as usual but the mere mention of 1974 American automobiles has me bawling my eyes out.

Now, GM ISN'T EVEN A SHADOW OF ITSELF, SAD

I had a '73 Impala. Bulletproof. Ran the guts out of it, and it wouldn't quit. One of the best cars of the many I've owned.

i had one of those. drove it for a summer. car sure had alot of room. many good trips north to the beech and cabin. only had a 350 but it moved for a large car. lol

I still have my 74 impala forever

my mom bought the white hardtop! loved that car. I was 12 when she got it and my mom still had it when I turned 16 and was old enough to drive!

As a little kid, I watched a guy demo a white 74 convertible Impala. The car was so pretty being white on white it caught my attention. The guy brought the car, drove off the lot to the light and stopped. The light changed and he started to move and got hit and totaled the car a block away from the dealership where I was standing.

There's a Nova Spirit of 76 that has been sitting at a repair shop near me in Ohio for about two years. Just sitting in the parking lot. Not a show car....but all there, solid, no rust through and appears to be all original including the stripes and decals. I'd never heard of these before, pretty neat history....

I have a 1974 impala spirit of America with the 400. I have had it for two years. I love this car.

Nice 👍🏡🧑 I remember being 16 during the Bicentennial Celebration... The Impala body style was so cool... Even Schwinn had their Bicentennial Varsity and Sting-Ray special edition models...now are very collectible...Great era to be a kid 🧑🚲🏡🚗🏡🚘🛴

My father bought a new 1974 Impala sport coupe in the Spring of 1974 at A.D. Anderson Chevrolet in Baltimore, MD. It replaced his 1968 LeMans coupe. My mother and I wanted a Spirit of America but dad said it was too expensive. He paid around $4200 for the Impala. I will never forget the salesman's name was Ed Sullivan. The Impala had power steering and brakes, A/C, auto trans and AM radio. It was dark green with a light green vinyl top and green cloth interior. Dad had fender skirts installed at the dealer. The skirts were a bargin at $75 painted and installed. It was a good looking car except for ugly wheel covers and the eggcrate grill was cheap plastic and very plain. The dashboard cover cracked and the rear body rusted almost immediately. Its 350 V8 burned a quart of oil every 750 miles. After 2 years of fouled plugs and oil use he removed the valve covers and discovered the right cylinder bank had no oil seals. It left the factory that way! He fixed it and the oil problem stopped. The rear window channel rusted out so bad the rear seat and the floor under the seat would flood during rain. He drilled 2 holes under the rear seat so the water could run out. We finally filled the window channel with silicon and stopped most of the leaks. The vinyl roof rusted underneath. He kept it 5 years and was really glad to get rid of it. It's sad the quality was so bad because the overall styling, especially the simi-fastback roofline which was the same one the Olds 98, Buick Electra and Cadillac Coupes used, was attractive. One styling feature of the Impala Spirit of America is very special. That is the halo vinyl roof. Only Cadillacs and the Buick Park Avenue had this. It was very up market. My mother's 1973 Buick Regal was much better quality.

You videos are always so good. Thank you for another one.

I remember seeing one on display at the General Motors pavilion at the World's Fair in Spokane WA in 1974. It was & still is one of the most beautiful cars ever built! I remember they had an airbag display with videos(movies back then!) of crash testing and slow motion airbag deployments. I believe they were an option on all 74-76 GM large cars. The whole thing was an incredible sight to see!

Beautiful designed cars back in the 70's. I had a 76 Olds Delta 88 that I loved.

Another quality video. I never knew about these cars at all. I really hope someone at Netflix or Amazon picks you up and makes your videos into some kind of channel. This is amazing content

Best automotive history Channel on KZfaq! Keep up the good work! 👍

I love this car! The '71-'76 generation Chevrolet Caprice/Impala was the best looking GM fullsize car of the 70's!

LOVE IT!!! I had '72 Impala in High School inn '86. Tw door, big, beautiful and lots of fun!!! 0-60 in 9.5....FAST FOR THEN AND NOW FOR A HUGE CAR!!

Impalas were my dads fave everyday car, we had one growing up. It was such a smooth ride, very comfy too. I was just 5 years old, so my opinion was not mechanically informed.

Have to admit I do not remember this package, but that is one sharp Impala. Thanks for sharing!

I love the videos you put up I watch everyone twice over as soon as it goes up 🛠🇬🇧🛠

Nice ole’ cars, if only Chevrolet got their stuff together now. Make some exciting for us Americans again.

Beautiful cars. I had just started working at a Chevy dealer as a car porter at this time. The best part of the job was being able to drive all the different new and used cars. The Impala and Caprice were great riding cars. But of course driving the Corvette and Camaro was the most exciting. Thank you for the video. Really enjoyed it.

The thing I like about this channel is that it talks about the cars that tended to inhabit my mid 80s high school parking lot. Myself I had a 73 Caprice Classic for a while, and a 74 Cope De Ville while in HS.🙂

Although I grew up in the 80’s I never heard of a SOA edition until now.

I remember that time well, I went to check out the chevy's with a friend in '74 during the "hot dogs, baseball & apple pie" promo, and ate a few FREE hotdogs they were giving away to customers.

When i bought my 79 impala the dealership still had his soa impala convertible fully loaded. It was sweet. Still got my 79 best reliable car i ever had.

OCM Thanks for these clips. I always note the low HP outputs of the cars you review from the 70's that were strangled with catalytic converters and other performance sapping additions. The base 350 V8 had 145HP. My last bike (Kawasaki ZX-10R) was rated at around 200HP and dyno tests showed it actually put out 186. Amazing to think that the 350 V8 was rated at up to 370HP in 1969, but of course, they were gross SAE HP which tend to be over-stated.

Great info as usual. I guess you could also say that the 1976 Olds Cutlass was America's bicentennial car. It was the best selling car in the official bicentennial year.

Thanks fo keeping the videos flowing through tough times..

Enjoyed the video. Glad to see that you used the original add with one "America" mispelled. There was a little press about that oversight.

74 Impala SS 454 was a really nice ride. I saw one on the Johnny Londoff Chevrolet showroom floor. Brand new and would love to own it. Uncle Sam got in the way and the car was history.

The "Spirit of America" Chevrolet Impala for the 1974 model year is one very attractive car from that model year; I enjoy seeing this edition from that model year. I now wish I had one of these rare cars - and I mean this sincerely. I thank you for this video, my friend.

Ahhh my dad had a 1975 model red with black Vinyl top drove it from ny to north carolina where we moved to.

74' Impala...brings back such fond memories. My grandmother had a white one when I was 6. Man I loved that big ol car ❤

Got a convertible one in 1979.. white on white on white. Impala.1974 impala .

I had a black 74, 2 door with the concave back window I loved that car.

Them 2 door Impala bodies were Gorgeous 😎👍

We had one 1974 model 350 cu..i went with my dad to pick it up..brand new..white red dash board..he pd cash i recalled..as i recall that model yr..74 models had a big rust problem..it started to rust in the wheel wells rear ..in 1975..we lived in the chicago area..dad fixed it..we had that car till 1989..ran like a champ..

This was my first car! In 1997 i turned 16 and my dad bought me this car from an old man who bought it in 1974. Miss that car.

I currently have a 1974 Chevy Caprice Classic which We call a Glass-House.....1974-1976 Impala/Caprice are referr to as Glass-Houses.I have a 350 Motor with the 4 Barrel....400 Turbo Tranny.I recently sold my 86 Cadillac Fleetwood and The very next Saturday...I had My 1974 Caprice Classic delivered to me in California from Nevada....had to get everything transferred to California from the state of Nevada....so had to go to the CHP(California Highway Patrol)and have numbers on the car matched,to have the transfer complete.....it's a 74 Model vehicle so no smog was needed which made it alot easier to have the transfer complete...in a smoother fashion💯💪

Great channel. Love those old vehicles you feature.

Thanks great job

A friend of mine had one. A beast of a machine.

Gorgeous car. Thank you.

Gorgeous car I wouldn't mind having that either

I had the 2-door 73’ impala in red with a black vinyl top and houndstooth cloth interior and every 6 months it needed a turn-up to include new plugs . I tried in 75’ for 2 door chevelle .

71-76 Impalas where some tough cars back then. I used to live in Minnesota and I used a lot of them for my winter cars. They would be rusted out and nothing to look at but they where always dependable. And being a big heavy tank like they where, plowing through snow and drifts was not a problem!! Wish I had one now!!

I was only 9 when those were introduced... But Dad was a Line Mechanic at the local Chevy dealer, and EVERYONE thought that those were a really 'big deal'... Fun times that we'll unfortunately never see again.😣

I remember a local collector had one of these before his passing..

Grew up with a family across the street. House was built in 1955. Lived there all their adult lives. He worked for GE for 40 yrs. Never went anywhere, never went outside. They owner 1 car. A Chevy Impala. they would trade it in every couple of years. For a Chevy impala. I remember the first was a '67. The last model was an "85. I moved away after that. wonder what they bought after '85 ?

They had a SoA el Camino as well. It's not widely known about, but there was a few that were made.

My Grandparents owned one and sold it to me a few years later. Sadly they lived in Ocean City NJ and the salt air near the ocean caused major rust problems..i eventually sold it to a guy who wanted the engine.

A guy I graduated with in 1979 drove a white, 350, Impala Spirt of America to school. It was his parents’ vehicle, but he nearly had exclusive use of it once he first got his farm license. They purchased it new at the local Chevrolet/Buick/Cadillac dealership. He drove it for quite some time. The last time I saw it, many years ago, the rust was starting to rear it’s ugly head. 🙁

My moms youngest uncle, which is old enough to be her cousin, bought one brand new and it still resides in their garage to this day in show room condition.

I'd see some of these sprit cars when I visited Detroit. Michigan also had special bicentennial license plates.

As a kid during these times all boys would flip the top of the air breather if 4 barrel equipped. When the passing gear was engaged it made a sweet sound.

My father bought a green four door 1974 Chevy Impala. First week we had it., I played with the new lighter, pushed it over and over again, until it became white hot and it melted through the green plastic dash and fell on the floor. Dad was livid.

The 70s road boat era was pretty much the final chapter of over the top design in American cars. It was sad to see it end.

I had a buddy got one with the 454. It made for a nice sleeper.

Learn to drive on the 1974 chev impala and took my drivers license on that car through drivers ed. When I look back that was a huge car to parallel park and drive.

My mom used to have one... i remember it was HUGE, i use to call it “the boat”. I can still hear the engine sound and the smell of gas in the interior

I've got a Spirit of America El Camino - we've found 6 survivors so far, no RPO code, lots of evidence they introduced at a dealer convention in April of 74. A southern edition of the truck.

Keep up the great work. long way greetings from Egypt❤️

I have a white one that my parents bought new when I was 5. I learned to drive in it and used it in my wedding in 2005. I took it from my dad in 2007 when he wanted to get rid of it. I still have it. I had to redo it due to a tire blow out on my way home from a car show. It was a daily driver for 15 years but then got put in garage in early 80's. It is still immaculate and looks brand new with nearly 120k miles.

When I got the notification I thought it's a Grandville, waiting for a video about it :)

I learned to drive in a 1972 version of this car. Huge by todays standards. The '72 still had modest power in the 350 V8 (5.7 liter) and good drivability. Also no massive and heavy bumpers. It was a nice car. The Vega was junk with no automotive redeeming values.

My first car in high school was 1974 Chevy Impala Custom Coupe. It had a different roof design from this one, which is the Sport Coupe. Mine had the wide b-pillar and the concave rear window. Great car that I drove for 5 years. Wouldn't mind having one for a second car for driving occasionally. The 8 miles per gallon would not make it a daily driver.

Back in Jersey, I knew of a fella who had the Nova version and it had an econo-camping Hatchback Hutch? That was such a cool car!

Beautiful car. No way I could have owned this car since I lived in Canada in 1974.

We had the blue with blue/white interior. In 76 my mom and I were hit by a drunk driver at 11 a.m. Sadly the car was destroyed. We walked away with minor injuries which is amazing because he was doing 50 in a 35 and we were on a bridge. Which we were hanging over the edge of at the end. Great car though!

My mother bought a white 74 spirit of America Impala and had it for several years!!! I remember when she came home with it.. brand new from Jack Mathews Chevy in St. Louis! Memor...

I had the 74 Biscayne. That was the "bottom of the line" version but it was a great car. 🇨🇦

Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids, MI had a white Vega, Nova and Impala Spirit of America on display at this time. It also seems like they had the same type of cars parked out front for the Olympics. They featured the Olympic rings and pin stripes.

Buick also had a patriotic themed Century around the same time, maybe 1975.