Every so often, manufacturers build a car with immense want-one appeal, machines with huge X-factor and personality greater than the sum of their parts. Sometimes they even come in unexpected packages, as back in the 1990s, one of the coolest cars on sale was an American full-size sedan. The 1994 to 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS is awesome, and while examples in showroom shape can fetch new car money, not everyone needs a concours example. If you’re just looking for one in decent shape to drive when the weather’s nice, you can buy one fitting that description for less than $10,000.
In the mid ’90s, the Impala name had been dead for years, but it had also been immortalized by everyone from The Beach Boys to Eazy-E. There was still a lot of love for it, so Chevrolet dusted off a classic recipe: start with a normal full-size sedan, then make it badass.
The full-size Chevrolet at the time was the B-Body Caprice, the bubbly one loved by cops and grandparents in equal measure. Not exactly the most menacing machine, but it was the right size and shape to turn into an Impala, and GM was busy preparing the platform for a 5.7-liter LT1 V8. While it’s not uncommon to hear people call this a Corvette engine, there are some notable alterations between the LT1 that went into America’s sports car and the LT1 that went into the Impala SS.
Major differences include two-bolt main bearing caps instead of four-bolt main bearing caps, iron heads instead of aluminum ones, and a camshaft more optimized for torque. No matter, because it still kicked out 260 horsepower and 330 lb.-ft. of torque. That falls in roughly the same ballpark as an E34 BMW 540i, enough kick to give this big sedan some grunt. In fact, this variant of the LT1 also came in the 1994-onward 9C1 Police Package Caprice, but the cops gained an oil cooler for severe duty use. However, the Impala SS did also carry over the 4L60-E transmission, a four-speed automatic with an infamous reputation. Of course, power is nothing without control, so the Impala SS got shorter springs, de Carbon monotube shocks, big anti-roll bars, and a standard limited-slip differential in a 3.08:1 rear axle. A solid package for serious go by ’90s standards.
In the pursuit of visual aggression, the Caprice’s chrome-rich hood ornament-equipped appearance surely wouldn’t do, so the door handles, trim, and grille were all matched to the color of the car, the hood ornament went in the dumpster, the new grille swapped out lattice for mesh and a single horizontal bar with a mounted Chevrolet emblem, a spoiler sharpened the silhouette of the trunk, the interior featured leather-clad buckets and a console instead of a front bench, and we can’t forget about the classic five-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels. The result was the ’90s automotive equivalent of a leather jacket, two tons of full-sized American pool hall menace. While Chevrolet only planned on selling 12,000 a year, the ’90s Impala SS got the people going so much that 69,678 were sold between model years 1994 and 1996. As a result, while pristine examples are now serious collector items, you can still get into a decent one of these sedans for sensible coin.
This Dark Cherry Metallic 1995 Impala SS recent sold for a reasonable $8,755 on Cars & Bids, and it looks the absolute business. It’s a Southern car, so the underbody looks tidy, and the whole thing’s worn incredibly well for something with 123,100 miles on the clock. This one does need new tires and a radio antenna cable, but it seems to be in fine driver condition.
Likewise, this Dark Green-Grey 1995 Impala SS recently sold on Bring A Trailer for $9,952 after being in the same family for 25 years. Sure, it has an aftermarket tachometer and a dash mat, but that mat seems to have protected the dashboard well, the underbody’s in really good shape, the factory center caps are in the trunk, and 90,000 miles certainly isn’t a crazy number to have on the clock.
Looking for an Impala SS in Darth Vader’s own shade? Those are harder to find in decent shape for five figures, but take your time and you might be able to land something like this 1994 model, which sold on Hemmings last year for $9,500 with a totally reasonable 85,705 miles on the clock. Sure, there’s some light underbody surface corrosion here, but this example’s been gone through, with an air-conditioning overhaul and a refurbished fuel system listed among recent maintenance items.
Given that these are all basically 30-year-old cars, there are a few common trouble spots worth noting. Obviously, the 4L60-E automatic transmission doesn’t take kindly to abuse, but there’s another big maintenance thing to watch out for. If the water pump fails, it can take out the no-longer-available OEM OptiSpark distributor, and good used distributors can fetch serious coin. In addition, rough running is usually attributed to a failed EGR valve, but that’s a cheap fix with a sub-$100 part. Really, so long as you’re kind to the transmission and either replace the water pump proactively or run a hose from the weep hole past the distributor so any weeping coolant can be seen on the ground without ruining expensive components on the way down, the 1994-1996 Impala SS is a remarkably reliable car.
So, if you’ve always wanted the bad boy B-body of the ’90s, now’s a pretty good time to pick up an Impala SS. They aren’t getting any younger, and there’s no good reason for them to get significantly cheaper, but the fact that you can still pick one up for less than $10,000 is still pretty awesome.
Top graphic credit: Cars & Bids
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Sorta shocked nice ones are that low, I had just assumed they had gotten into the 30-40k range by now.
I’m sorry but there are far more cooler cars available for under $10k than this. I guess if you are a generic muscle car fan this is something special but I bet a poll would should many people prefer something better. I myself would prefer a Jensen Healy, many would prefer MGBs, some might desire a CV2, maybe a Monte Carlo, a VW Thing or GTI, I bet there are 100scof cars some people might prefer over this not that it isn’t perfectly fine.
I agree, but are most of those under $10k that aren’t beat? I was looking for an ’80s Cutlass and those damn things were well over $10k for good ones. OK, Monte Carlo SSs went up, I can see that as they were more “’80s cool” and probably had a very high attrition rate, but a simple Cutlass they made far more of? WTF, I obviously wouldn’t expect them to be $750 anymore, but come on! I’m not looking for a restoration project, but I don’t want to pay for perfect . . . oh, the ad shows that it’s not even perfect for that price! Are people actually paying these prices or is it just guys with their HS ride they don’t want to sell at their wife’s demand, so they put an absurd price on it? I was also looking for Delta 88 and Caprice Classic coupes because nobody but me and old men who still wear smoking jackets and didn’t die from cancer yet would possibly want them, but those were also well over that for a good one. I even found some sedans for over $20k. Like, did I select pricing in Egyptian pounds?! Oof, sorry, kind of went off the rails a bit, there.
Yup, there are plenty of cars I’d rather have but the sale price to condition of these is surprisingly reasonable to me.
These looked like great cruisers, but it always seemed disappointing knowing how they used a hobbled version of the engine and had transmission issues, plus the interiors were ’90s GM, which was GM interiors at their most wretched. People talk about the malaise era, but I think the blobby, plasticky ’90s GM interiors were worse for being less pleasant to look at, lacking the earlier colors, and missing the ridiculousness that could be perceived as charm. And while this isn’t GM-only, I don’t think I hate any interiors more than one with ’90s beige plastic. My 1st gen Legacy had a blue interior, but my sister had one in beige and mine seemed like it was 2 classes of car better just due to the difference in color and it’s not like that thing was a RR Phantom. I didn’t know these got that cheap, which changes the math a little, but I’d still prefer an early 6th gen coupe.
The distributor/ water pump design is dumb. For $10-12k, I can buy a Lexus SC400! With 70k miles. Retractable hardtop! Great quality control and dependable. 2nd design with the better wheels. The army ones had wheels that looked like wheels covers! Ugly wheel covers at that! Just saying. IMHO
These whales are the reason I’ll never own another domestic brand (ESPECIALLY GM!) car in this lifetime. I bought the black ’96 Impala that was glued to a dealers showroom floor near me at the time. Got a 5k discount on it. Car was a gigantic POS from day one. During my 3 years of ownership none of the problems could be resolved. Electrical gremlins galore. It burnt up a set of expensive sparkplug wires every 5-6 thousand miles. Had an overheating issue. Paper thin leather interior started peeling after a year. Paint started failing at 2 years and car had to be repainted. Tires were expensive and hard to find. If you didn’t bump your head on the door getting in, you smacked your knee on the sharp hard plastic dash corner. Interior materials were cheap. The panel gaps inside and outside were big enough to stick a pinky in. The only positive thing I can say about that gigantic steaming pile of shit is it got an honest 26-27 MPG on the highway and when I got broadsided by a tweaking crack head going about 50 MPH on the drivers side I was able to walk away with minor injuries after they extracted me from the Chevy. I was never excited to have a car totaled out before this one.
True-but-stupid story: I had a college buddy in the 90s who always loved these, his name was Carl. So after school, he got a real job and bought a lightly used one. And, as was the style at the time, got himself a Hotmail address that reflected his interest. Actually, two of them.
“Carl’s Imapala SS” (Carlsimpalass) and the portmanteau “PIMPalaSS” (Pimpalass)
So we always had to ask him whether to send stuff to Carl’s Simple Ass or Pimple Ass, or if they were both the same thing.
He was not very amused by any of this.
Carl did not have a sense of humor. That’s funny I don’t care who you are
I’ve always wanted one of these.
Give me a 1996 without the digital dash. Light mods to the engine, corvette servo/shift kit/large cooler for the transmission, minor suspension upgrades.
This is one of my “someday” cars. I remember being a senior in high school when they first came out with one color: black. The two page ad in the car magazines where a beautiful two page spread and above the car spanning both pages in bright white letters: Lord Vader, you car is ready.
I’d love to pick up one of these if my wife would allow me too. The iron head LT1 isn’t much of a gem, as it doesn’t much care for revving past 4500RPM, but it can be made to perform decently with some minor effort. I’ve owned several LT1s, and the EGR issue is a simple fix and there are workarounds for the LT1 if you want to ditch the Opti for a distributor-less ignition setup like the LS1 has. Even if you stick with the Opti, there are some decent aftermarket options like the billet one MSD makes and the more budget-friendly options from Summit and others (plus there are places that still rebuild them).
The biggest thing for these isn’t their performance but rather their presence – they simply look sinister. I have wanted one since I saw them new in the showroom, and maybe one day I’ll get the chance to pick one up.
“In 2025, an SS is more attainable than it’s been for decades” works on a couple levels.
Aaaawkward and true
Huh, I thought these were one of those cars that you can either find in modified/beat to shit or perfect but way too expensive for what it is conditions. Good to see there are still middle-of-the-road serviceable ones for a reasonable amount of coin!
When I used to work at a local speed shop, we generally avoided most American cars from 95 and back except for special circumstances(usually Foxbody Mustangs and Grand Nationals). Basically anything pre-OBD2 since the tuning options were much more limited and the owners balked at the idea of spending money. But the 94-96 Impalas were an exception. For some reason, a lot of those owners would drop big money on their cars without batting an eye. They are very unique.
I think this was just lack of knowledge of your shop. Flashing Chips for specific builds was not terribly difficult back in the day. The number of people trying to make a TPI Chevy work better using old go fast ideas was of course bothersome since the design itself was kind of bad in general.
But I do appreciate the stand alone systems these days quite a bit more for the simplicity of them.
We were aware of those options, but they pay very little and offer no support. A lot of the businesses aren’t even in existence anymore that were offering them. From a financial and liability standpoint it was not beneficial. Many of them require specific tools and a CD drive or similar. Also if there are any issues afterwards, which was common given the age and condition of a lot of those, the owners would oftentimes try to blame the shop. The knowledge is exactly what promoted NOT offering it.
Ahh, yeah I agree the after build liability whether truly liable legally vs name an recognition trashing liability was and to and extent still is a very real issue with anyone fixing or upgrading someone else’s ride.
I’ll take the Roadmaster wagon, in white with woodgrain please.
Same, but I would still want to drop that LT1 ish motor immediately. you can get nearly the same HP from a 5.3 LS and it likely weighs a lot less. Event he TBI 350 in the pre LT1 Roadmasters was arguably better and to this day is much more fun to live with. Pre-OBD2 or not.
The issue isn’t whether you are kind to the transmission, but rather whether every previous owner of a car built for burnouts decided not to do burnouts. It would be more prudent to budget for a replacement in many cases.
Ran when parked am I right?
You can fit a whole compact car within the length of that trunk.
To my eye: the bubble styling did not age well.
A friend’s parents drove one of these when I was in high school. The trunk swallowed our two teenage sized hockey bags no problem.
However, we also managed to find a way to make our equipment fit in the trunk of a Chrysler LeBaron convertible, so maybe that’s not much of a boast.
I always thought the styling really showed its family resemblance to the Geo Metro, especially the Caprice wagon since the sedans’ sedan bits were so different. I suspect GM Design only did the first gen hatchbacks while the pre ’95 sedan was an in-house Suzuki project if not something Maruti in India whipped up.
Nice guide, I am generally not a fan of 1970s to 2000 GM (especially the interiors), but I love the Impala SS.
I think the 1990s was a great time for cars, they had computers figured out and were getting a nice efficiency/performance mix out of them. But not as much complexity in the cabin as now.