Motion Pictures The Dan Gurney 1961 Impala

Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

The Dan Gurney 1961 Impala

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

Another American Icon stolen and removed from our soil, well ok with a trip to Australia in-between. How long will this go on?? It is bad enough our 32 Fords are moving in a steady stream, 40 Fords are disappearing as I write this.
Once the Gurney Impala is restored I think we need Seal Team Six to retrieve it back to its proper home,, it should be easy as England is between Bonds right now.

 

Interesting side note that its parked in front of Frank Arcieros building. Italian in the concrete business. Owned a bunch of sports car racers and Indy teams, Sons raced off-road both desert and stadium. Felt like I had to kiss his ring every time I saw him

 

Really?
But you are fine with all the early Ford open cars that came from Australia in the 70,s to the 90,s,not to mention the utes?
And not to mention all the European cars that are in the US.

 

Cool car that I remember from seeing in Road and Track when I was 15 years old. The did a road test on one in England but I always thought it was red rather than blue. 61 Impala SS 409 that never were actually produced in any numbers for the US.
Have to question the whining Typo1 as that car never spent any real time in the US after it was built. No US racing history, not even a road test by a US magazine. It was shipped to the UK right after it left the assembly line or left the shop were it was prepped to be run in that racing class in UK. It was never run in the US to my knowledge.

 

Dude! It was all tongue and cheek,, to lighten up some people days,,, I have help send over 15 F-100's to Australia and have helped shipped four Utes to the US and I have two in my backyard.. all I really care about is saving and restoring vintage vehicles,,, US and Others, sorry if I missed the mark

 

Jeez Tony, apparently you found all the Karens today.

 

Jive, thanks for posting! I have soft spots for both 61 Sport Coupes and W engines. I haven't enjoyed such a story since Paul Goldsmith lapped the sporty car field twice in his 421 powered 63 Tempest at Daytona.

 

I love the 61 Impala. All of the 61 GM full size cars were good looking.

 

OK, back to the point.
More meat and potatoes, less politics.



https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a23007587/dan-gurney-chevy-impala/


http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/12/dan-gurney-proved-that-61-impala-ss-was.html



https://forums.aaca.org/topic/304018-1961-dan-gurney-409-impala/

 

Here's parts 2, 3, & 4 of the 4 part video:

​

... and Dario driving it around the Goodwood circuit:

​

 

That was a good watch?

 

My goodness that ol boy was leaning hard in those turns, Those vette bars were`nt quite up to snuff.
Like those cars though. Big$ now.

 

They should of used the tires that Dan used. Those gum bands were very slippery.. Kind of sounded like it was braking up..
Chevrolet was way ahead of the game with there new front steer linkage. Lookat the nice tall spindles. Why didn't they use them on the A body..

 

Looks like the center broke out of the wheel...

 

Years ago i had a project 61 BelAir bubble top with a 409 4spd and that is the color i had picked out for it. I wasn't aware of this car at the time, seeing this gives me some regrets about selling it.

 

And one more video from Petrolicious, some good straight pipe sound effects.

 

Great stuff!!!! I was unaware of thus car and its history. In the mid-60s I put very similar "police special" upgrades on mine (327/365 HP motor, rather than a 409)........terrific improvements........one of the best cars I ever had, including the high-end Mercedes SL roadster I currently have....

 

I think the point is that the car has been preserved by somebody that appreciates the history, and is happy to get the car out where it can be seen.

 

Hot rodder!

 

So..... Chevy conquered Europe before Ford did??

 

A friend of mine owned the car while it was here in Australia ...

 

It's great that Dan Gurney's car was restored to its original glory. If you like seeing big American cars on a road course, look on YouTube for videos from the races at Goodwood in the UK - there are several featuring 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 427's, it's impressive how well they do against the euro cars.

That would be a great car to find - it disappeared shortly after the race; there was a story that it was purchased by Mercedes-Benz, but I don't think that was ever substantiated.

 

They built about 700 of them and one of my friends in Indianapolis has one.

Roo


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

I was going to buy that

 

A special photo that just popped up in between frames.

Hello,

Nice story and background video. So, that is where all of the special 409 Impalas went in 1961-62. Our friend was told from three Chevrolet dealers in Long Beach that it was going to be several months or longer, in order to get an Impala hardtop 409 in the showroom or on order. They were one of the most popular models as shown by the Super Stock Classes at the local So Cal drag strips. But, one fixed up to race on a road circuit against the Jags and other sporty cars?

Ok, it was Dan Gurney, so kudos to his choice of cool cars to make into something fantastic. With his skills, it would have been a runaway… oops

Jnaki

 

In the Petrolicious video he mentions Dan Gurney racing the Impala without a seatbelt.
Even NASCAR required seatbelts from it's inception in 1947, so that seems strange even for that day and age.
Does anybody know?

 

Some of the drivers were running lap belts in the UK Championship at the time, but it wasn't in the regulations that you had to have them fitted, and wasn't until many years later. They weren't even being worn in the single seaters either, and there is a photo of Jackie Stewart in his Formula 2 car taken at Goodwood in 1966, in his last race there before the circuit closed, and he's not wearing any sort of harness or belt.

 

Thanks for the insight @GeeRam.

I knew Formula cars of the period did not, but assumed that the class this car was running in would've.

Learn something everyday