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Heavy Chevy: Check Out This 9-Second 1,000+ HP ’95 Impala

1320video [1] is back with the last car you’d expect to see laying down blistering e.t.’s at the drag strip. It’s a 1995 Chevy Impala with a force-fed 6.0L LS, and it’s probably the only ‘90s-era Impala that can hold its head high at the strip against just about anything short of a track-specific racecar.

Impala vs. C5 [2]

A Borg Warner [3] S480 turbocharger crams 18 pounds of boost down the time-tested small-block’s intake and is aided by a neatly hidden air-to-water intercooler, which the car’s owner explains is buried in the dash. The install is commendably clean. It’s almost reminiscent of the cavernous engine bay you would find on an early-generation Impala.

Impala at Full Gallop

What does all that add up to? According to the owner, about 1,000 horsepower and a 9.40 quarter mile time. Be warned, however, that is only what the man is willing to disclose. This Chevy might have a few tricks up its sleeve we’ve yet to bear witness to. Better hope the Turbo 400 transmission is up to it.

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Sub 10-second times are impressive for any car, but downright silly for a cruiser like the Impala, which tips that scales at 4,200 pounds. Contributing to this land yacht’s straight-line speed are a set of broad and sticky drag slicks that we suspect are transmitting power from a limited-slip or locking differential.

Class Warfare

After his video against a late-model Mustang went viral, the car’s owner explains that it’s only right to compete in a special class that features LS-powered cars against other modified motors. In the second half of the video, you can watch the Impala lay waste to a Datsun 240Z and then come back for seconds [5].

[6]

Even though the car loses to a C5 Corvette by one-tenth, you’ve got to give this car credit for being so competitive. Compared to the C5’s featherweight platform, the Impala shouldn’t even come close in a head-up race, but it’s neck-and-neck as the two cross the line with the ‘Vette’s 9.75 at 138 mph just eking by. The Impala even had the higher trap speed, 140.68.

[7]

The car’s owner is all smiles, and even brings his kids along to represent the “blacktop mafia.” How could you not be with a car like this? Heck, you could pull the racing harnesses out of it and cruise home in comfort and style, and you’d still have the power to wax Ferraris on the highway. Try doing that in your Mustang.