1968 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe - The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Some say our dreams are rehearsals for what we face in our waking hours or help to consolidate and analyze memories. Another study found that our dreams come more from our imagination than perception. With regards to nightmares, experts say people who have suffered post-traumatic-stress-disorder are more prone to them.  In any event, the other night I had a dream that I was driving a red, 1967 or 1968 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe similar to this '68 I found online for a dream-world vs. real-world comparison. 

I've read that the color red in dreams indicates that the dreamer may have angst and is experiencing stress in their life. Ok. Whatever. I've long given up attempting to analyze my dreams that do tend to be violent and\or sad. Not always, like the other night, for instance but it happens enough that my wife thinks there's something seriously wrong with me. Well, she's right about that but my strange dreams have nothing to do with that. What got me enough to blog about it was the randomness of that dream. As an automobile enthusiast, of all cars for my inner psyche to unconsciously hallucinate about, it picked one of General Motors few less than graceful styling exposes from the 1960's? And, one that was red and all that supposedly implies?  

Again, I have no idea why I dreamed about that car. The only semi-connection I've ever had to one was a family on the block I grew up on back on Long Island had a gold-on-black, '67 Impala Sport Coupe. That bruiser was without question the most "out there" car in the neighborhood. Eight or nine-year-old me gawked at it in the same way I flipped through a porno magazine for the first time; it was equally intriguing, mysterious and off-putting. I wanted to like the car as there was much I appreciated about the design but I could do without the flying buttress, fastback rear end that looks even larger in red. Full disclosure, red is my favorite color. 

My "dream car" had a red interior so it was fairly airy and bright inside and not this black vinyl tar-pit. Red vinyl was available on these cars; a cloth interior that looked "richer" but held up poorly was available but it not in red. Wow, look at the size of that shelf behind the top of the rear seat and, no, that seat won't fold down (like it should). The fastback roof line no doubt meant things heated up in here as fast as a greenhouse. I'm getting car sick just thinking about it. 

I distinctly recall the neighbors Impala had "327" badges on the front fender although I don't remember if it was an SS or not. My dream car had a 327 (cubic inch V-8 engine) along with a rumbling exhaust note; my dreams tend to be quite nuanced in the details. Alas, our subject here is saddled with Chevrolet's new-for-1968, 307-cubic inch V-8. Fun fact, the Chevrolet 307 has the dubious distinction of being, cubic-inch for cubic-inch, the least powerful V-8 engine General Motors ever manufactured. Its gross horsepower rating was 200, figure net between 115 and 130 depending on what day the engine was assembled. I've noted before that most cars with V-8's from the halcyonic "muscle car" era were hardly powerhouses. Case in point, this big old sled. 

As a styling exercise or experiment, these big fastbacks made between 1966-1968 are worthy of some praise since GM's stylists, under Bill Mitchell, ran hard for fences pushing the boundaries of tasteful design as far as it could go. In retrospect, I'm surprised these designs got approved in an era when GM styling was, arguably, at it's all time best.  Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buiick (B-bodies) offered similar roof lines that GM discontinued after 1968. I find the "Custom Coupe" and convertibles of this vintage a far more handsome design. 

If dreams are a rehearsal for real world circumstance, as some suggest, why couldn't my dream have been of me in a '61 Impala "bubble-top" or off-roading in a new Ford Bronco two-door?