1967 Chevrolet Impala SS Convertible in Red Paint & 427 Engine Sound

Owner Craig Golz brought his red 1967 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible, complete with a 427 big block and a white top, to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois. Lou Costabile lets the engine do most of the talking, and viewers respond with their own memories of owning full-size Impalas decades ago. It’s proof that a full-size convertible can hold its own at a show packed with Corvettes. Watch to hear the 427 come to life on camera.

Some owners buy a show car to flip it. Others buy one to drive it into the ground and then do it all over again. Craig Golz falls firmly into the second camp, and the car he brought to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois makes the case better than words could. It’s a red 1967 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible with a white top and a 427 cubic inch engine that sounds exactly as good as the spec sheet promises. Before the story gets to how loud it really is, there’s a bigger question worth asking: why does a fifty-year-old Impala still turn heads at a show packed with Corvettes?

A Full-Size Convertible Built to Intimidate

The 1967 Impala SS convertible sits at the top of Chevrolet’s full-size lineup that year, and this particular example leans into that flagship status with a red exterior, white convertible top, and bucket seats mounted around a floor-shifted console. It’s a configuration that trades the bench-seat practicality most full-size Chevrolets were bought for in favor of something closer to a personal luxury cruiser with genuine muscle underneath. Lou Costabile walks the car from front to back on camera, treating the trim details, from the SS badging to the console shifter, as evidence of just how loaded this particular build was when it left the factory.

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The 427 That Does the Talking

Power comes from a 427 cubic inch big block, an engine option that turned an already substantial full-size car into something that could embarrass smaller muscle cars at a stoplight. The video spends real time simply letting the engine run and rev on camera, treating the exhaust note as a selling point in its own right rather than an afterthought. That emphasis matches how viewers responded, several calling out the engine sound specifically as the reason they watched the whole segment instead of skipping to the next car in Lou’s lineup, a rare compliment for a channel built entirely around walking car shows one vehicle at a time.

Owner Craig Golz and Three Decades of Ownership Culture

Craig Golz isn’t a recent buyer flipping a restored show car; his relationship with cars like this one runs through the kind of long-term ownership culture that built events like the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in the first place. Golz walks Lou through the details with the easy familiarity of someone who has answered these same questions at dozens of shows before, discussing the car’s history and condition without ever sounding rehearsed. That kind of owner, more caretaker than collector, is a big part of why this particular Nationals event has built such a loyal following among full-size Chevy fans specifically.

Rosemont’s Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

Filmed on November 18, 2016, this segment captures one stop on Lou Costabile’s ongoing My Car Story series, built entirely around walking Chicago-area car shows and letting owners tell their own stories on camera. The Rosemont event pairs Corvettes with muscle cars under one roof, which means a full-size Impala SS convertible has to hold its own against machines built with a much more focused performance mission. That it draws a crowd anyway says something about how well-preserved, driver-quality cars like this one compete with trailer queens on charisma alone.

Why Viewers Keep Coming Back to This Segment

The comment section reads like a reunion of former Impala owners. Multiple viewers describe owning a 1967 Impala convertible themselves decades ago, one recalling a blue example bought in college in 1978 that carried a 283 and a slip-and-slide Powerglide, a much more modest combination than the 427 featured here. That pattern, viewers using the video to reconnect with their own memories rather than just admire the car on screen, is a signature of Lou’s format and a big part of why the channel has built such a dedicated following around ordinary owners with extraordinary stories.

Console Shift, Bucket Seats, and the Details That Matter

Beyond the drivetrain, the interior details get their own moment on camera: the console-mounted shifter, the bucket seat configuration, and the red-on-white color scheme that ties the whole build together. These are the kinds of specifics that separate a numbers-matching, well-documented Impala SS from a car that merely looks the part from across a parking lot. The video treats these details with the same attention as the engine, reinforcing that this is a complete, correctly optioned car rather than a collection of parts assembled to resemble one.

A Full-Size Muscle Car Still Finding Its Audience

Full-size muscle cars like this Impala SS have historically lived in the shadow of the Chevelles and Camaros that get more attention at auction, but shows like the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals are part of why that’s slowly changing. Cars like Craig Golz’s, driven and shown rather than trailered and hidden, are exactly the kind of ambassadors that convince skeptical muscle car fans that a full-size convertible with a 427 deserves a seat at the table alongside smaller, more famous nameplates, and the enthusiasm in the comments suggests that argument is already winning converts.

What ultimately makes this feature work is the combination of a genuinely well-optioned car and an owner willing to let it be driven, revved, and enjoyed on camera rather than treated as untouchable. That approach, showing a fifty-year-old convertible exactly as it’s meant to be experienced rather than as a static museum piece, is exactly the kind of content that keeps bringing viewers back to Lou Costabile’s channel show after show, year after year, regardless of which specific make or model happens to be featured that week. Craig Golz’s Impala is a reminder that the full-size wing of the muscle car hobby has just as much charisma as the more famous nameplates, once someone actually takes the time to let the engine speak for itself on camera. That’s a lesson every full-size muscle car owner watching this segment can put to use at their own next show. Full-size muscle deserves that same spotlight more often.

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