Cruisin’: 1960 Chevy with turboglide

Q: Greg, I have a 1960 Chevy Impala four-door hardtop in very good condition. It’s all original except for the tires, and has a stock-from-the-factory 283 V-8 and a rare Turboglide automatic transmission. I’d like some information on this model, especially on the Turboglide. — Vic A., Akron, Ohio

A: Glad to help, Vic. Your Impala hardtop was marketed in 1960 by Chevy as the four-door Sport Hardtop Sedan. Its base price of $2,769 was the most expensive of all Chevy coupe, sedan and hardtop models (only some convertibles and station wagons were higher). Unfortunately, Chevy did not break down the individual production numbers, but I can tell you that 169,011 Sport Hardtop Sedans were built in 1960, including the Bel-Air.

Yours is indeed a rare Impala model, especially with the Turboglide, a forerunner to the now popular continuously variable transmission designs. The one-forward-speed automatic with a torque converter was totally different from its two-forward-speed Powerglide sister. The Turboglide, available on V-8 models only, did have an “L” on the gear selector, but was noted by Chevy not to be a “low” gear and was to be used for slowing purposes only.

The Turboglide’s “Grade Retard,” also known as the “Hill Retarder,” activates when your car experiences a “drag” on the rear wheels. Turboglides came in an all-aluminum case.