‘Old-School’ Chevy Love: Vintage Impala is the Toast of Toledo
Ohio Chevy enthusiast needs a car as big as his beloved 1969 Impala just to hold all of the awards that his classic ride has won.
For Eugene Byrd, the 1969 Chevrolet Impala represents a unique piece of automotive history that he’s come to appreciate more and more the longer he owns one.
It’s something the 49-year-old has been cultivating for more than three decades, growing up in Toledo, Ohio, where big-body Impalas have long been popular. And the second you hear Byrd fire up the 396ci Turbo Jet V8 motor that powers his pride and joy, it’s easy to understand the appeal.
After all, the ’69 Chevrolet Impala is a throwback to a bygone era when two-door coupes were bolder with big personality, which is something that strikes you even more today when you see Byrd’s beautiful automobile out on the road.
‘My father owned a ’69 Impala. After I saw pictures of it, I was hooked.’
The native Toledoan probably would have just been learning to walk when his Impala rolled off the assembly line, one of several different full-size cars built on GM’s B-Body platform. But little did he know, the seed that would inspire him to one day want to own a ’69 Impala was already being planted by his dad, who spent 30 years working at the General Motors Toledo Transmission plant.
“My father owned a ’69 Impala. After I saw pictures of it, I was hooked,” Byrd tells Chevrolet Forum. “I like it because it was the working man’s muscle car. It had the same engine as the Chevelle, but it was more affordable.”
Byrd wouldn’t actually buy his first ’69 Impala until some 25 years later, after he first started hearing his dad talk about his ’69 Chevy. But his passion for the car continued to grow after he graduated from DeVilbiss High School (pictured), which is where we meet up with Byrd to talk about what the classic Chevy has meant to him over the years.
His first Impala was a white coupe equipped with GM’s 350ci V8, along with rear wheel skirts and a red interior. Byrd bought the Forest Green model in 2011 after finding it on Craigslist.
‘It feels like I’m in a time machine. That’s what I really love about owning a car like this, how it takes you back to another period.’
“I wanted one with the bigger motor,” he says. “When I got the chance to find that particular year, I had to have it.”
Since buying the Impala, Byrd has installed a few necessary new parts, including gaskets, an alternator, starter, belts, water pump, hoses and a fresh fuel pump. He also had the car repainted in its original Frost Green color and the motor in GM Orange.
Except for 18-inch American Racing wheels and a Flowmaster exhaust system, Byrd has kept practically everything else on the Impala stock. “I like to keep them as original as I can, just like it came from the factory,” he says. “The American Racing wheels make a statement. The old 15-inch wheels are too small.”
Byrd’s investment in the car has earned him a number of local awards over the years, including a first-place trophy for best paint, all of which he proudly displays in the backseat of his Impala.
Still, he says it’s cruising in the Chevy and attending car shows like the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit with his wife, Roxanne Byrd, that he enjoys most about having a ’69 Impala.
“It feels like I’m back in a time machine,” says Byrd. “That’s what I really love about owning a car like this, how it takes you back to another period.”
After having to give up his first ’69 Impala because he ran out of garage space, Byrd says he has no plans of ever parting ways with this one. “I’ll always have it. It’ll always be part of the family.”
