Accessible Collectibles: 1994 To 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS

Thirty years later, it’s easy to forget how skeptical some media observers were of the 1994 Chevrolet Impala SS. At the time, Chevy hadn’t built a full-size SS in 23 years and the only similar sedans on the market were mega-money Bentley Turbo Rs and Mercedes-Benz 600SELs. The revived Impala was also directly based on the unloved, controversially-styled 1991 Chevrolet Caprice, a car associated with cabbies, cops and retirees. Though previewed by a popular concept car, it was unclear if consumers would actually pay $22,495 ($46,877 today) for this new SS.

Skepticism aside, Chevrolet’s product planners understood that the SS was a low-risk idea, intentionally making the most of what they had on hand to build it. Underneath the menacing monochrome black exterior lurked most of a Caprice police cruiser. Power came from a slightly de-tuned, Corvette-sourced 5.7-liter LT1 V8, added to the Caprice line that year for emissions reasons. It proved a popular recipe. Roomy, fun and fast for its time, dealers could hardly keep them in stock. Only 6,303 were made in 1994, but ten times that number followed in the next two years.

While the vibe was less Blues Brothers and more AC/DC, its huge size and heavy-duty hardware made the Impala SS a supremely comfy, durable car. That’s still true today, and the 1990s Impala offers a fairly contemporary driving experience with modern features like anti-lock brakes, plenty of speed and room for the family. Many 1990s cars have soared in value in the past decade, and so has the Impala, but it’s still a very usable (even family-friendly) classic that won’t break the bank.

All this makes the 1994 to 1996 Impala an ideal first entry for a new series called Accessible Collectibles, in which we take a closer look at the history, experience and value of up-and-coming classics that aren’t too hard to buy or enjoy.

Back In Black: Reviving The Impala SS

Understanding where this car came from means traveling back even further in time, to 1990.

That spring, a radically reinvented Caprice arrived. Underneath, the new Caprice used the same frame and platform as its boxy circa-1977 predecessor, but the visuals were wildly new. Designers Dick Ruzzin, Ben Salvador and their colleagues at Chevy reshaped the boxy, Carter-era Caprice into an aerodynamic, fender-skirted lozenge. Many Detroit designers struggled with similar briefs in the 1980s, as big cars like this played to the oldest, most traditional consumers but couldn’t remain rolling anachronisms forever.

The designers loved their result, but praise was not universal. Engineer Jim Perkins, Chevrolet's general manager in 1989, later recalled that one potential buyer in an early consumer clinic said the design “looked like a parade float.” Perkins knew early on that it would be controversial, and despite bowing to generally good reviews, buyer reaction was muted. Many potential consumers felt it as too big a change and that it looked heavy and bulbous. This led to buyer defections to the rival Ford Crown Victoria, redesigned to look like a giant Taurus in late 1991.

With the Caprice wanting for attention, Perkins turned to Chevrolet’s Specialty Vehicles Group (SVG), an in-house skunkworks, for help. SVG was then led by Jon Moss, an assembly-line worker turned engineer and lifelong car tinkerer. He joined the unit in the mid 1980s and had what was probably the best job in the division: building fun hot rods out of Chevy’s existing hardware. It was Moss who came up with the Impala SS idea, including the looks, as a build for the 1992 SEMA show.

The pieces were simple. 17-inch brushed aluminum wheels and a lowered suspension made the body look much meaner, as did a monochrome black color scheme and a simplified grille, and subtle front and rear spoilers. The Caprice’s gentle, chrome-accented C-pillar design morphed into a BMW-like “Hofmeister kink” with a plastic insert featuring an Impala logo. The unpopular fender skirts were cut away for round rear wheel arches and power came from an old 8.2-liter Cadillac V8. Showgoers were smitten, and seeing how easy it was to create, Chevy ordered a production version.

A Surprise, But Short-Lived Success

For factory production, Chevrolet ditched the 8.2 for the 260-horsepower LT1. It had been adapted from the Corvette as the same tech that made it powerful also made it clean, emissions-wise. The rest of the hardware came from the 9C1 Caprice police car. The most popular law enforcement vehicle of the time, the 9C1’s four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, limited-slip differential, heavy duty suspension, dual exhaust and other performance parts were ported over entirely, and the looks were hardly changed at all.

Impalas began rolling off the line at GM’s Arlington, Texas factory on Valentine’s Day, 1994. Since Chevrolet was unsure how much of a real audience there would be, supplies were relatively limited for the first few months, and constrained by a limited supply of the special 17-inch wheels. But with dealers able to sell as many as they could get, both production and the options list were soon expanded.

In addition to black, buyers could now order dark cherry or dark green-gray hues in 1995. Inside, the Impala had front bucket seats and a console in place of the Caprice’s standard bench from the start, and its own leather upholstery with special embroidered Impala logos. In 1996, a console-mounted shifter, a digital speedometer and onboard diagnostics systems were the only changes.

Sales soared to 21,434 cars in 1995 and 41,941 1996, but while the Impala was very popular, another new-for-1994 Chevrolet, the Tahoe, was even more so. At the time SUV sales were skyrocketing while interest in traditional sedans (apart from the Impala) had been waning for a decade. In May 1995, GM decided to use Arlington for Tahoe production, and the last Impala SS was built on December 13, 1996.

Impala SS Then And Now

Many auto journos scoffed at the car’s 4,200-pound heft (which feels ironic in these days of 5,500-pound EVs), but unlike the boaty-feeling standard Caprice, the Impala SS could accelerate, handle and brake like a performance car. It could sprint to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and turn in a 15-second quarter mile. Those numbers were only slightly off its wildest 1960s ancestors, but it easily outhandled any of them. And of course it looked and sounded cool.

These numbers aren’t necessarily “fast” in today’s world of Hellcat Challengers, but they’re still more than enough to have fun. Plus, since the Impala SS uses the same hardware as the 9C1 and is powered by an LT1, there’s a huge array of performance parts that can make it much faster for a relatively modest outlay, and many have been modified. The wildest version came from professional tuner-car builder Reeves Callaway, whose 1995 “SuperNatural SS” boasted 404 horsepower and massive Brembo brakes, among other upgrades.

Nor does this speed necessarily detract from reliability. Part of the whole “cop tires, cop motor, cop suspension” equation is that all of those components were purposefully designed for the abuse of police work. It’s low-tech, but it’s all hard-wearing and works very well. Most of the weak points are wear items like fuel pumps, busted power windows tracks and degrading plastic interior pieces. The 4L60E four-speed automatic transmission can wear out, but isn’t expensive to replace by the standards of such components.

How Much Should You Pay?

Like most cars, Impala SS values soared during the Covid-19 pandemic and they’ve cooled a little since, but the trend since 2016 has been steadily upward. Truly concours-quality, ultra-low mileage examples sell for more than $40,000 now, but they are rare. Good driver-quality examples, what might be defined as “Condition 3” cars, fetch roughly between $13,000 and $23,000, according to valuation tools from insurers like Hagerty and market trackers like Classic.com. Those values also jibe with discussions and sales on Impala forums and social media groups.

Scruffy ones can be had for less, though you might have to scour Facebook Marketplace or said forums for them, and it might be wise to avoid ones that have been too extensively altered. Chances are good that well-kept examples will continue to climb and certainly won’t lose any value over time, but the Impala’s appreciation potential does have limits. With almost 70,000 were made, you shouldn’t expect one of these to someday sell for millions at Pebble Beach.

Pamper it if you want, but like the best accessible collectibles, this is a ride meant for enjoying.