Got a comment on
my post about Le Doulos, a French film. Commenter mentions that the car is a Bel Air, not an Impala. OK, if you are driving around Paris in a Cadillac (which the director was known for), why would you opt for the economy model Chevy instead of a top of line Impala? Not that anybody cares, but it does make an interesting forensic analysis problem, at least for this old-time gear head. So I start looking at pictures and I notice a couple of things:
- The strip along the side across the rear door and the rear quarter panel comes in two styles. The Bel Air has a thin line running down the middle of this strip and the Impala has wide white stripe. The car in the top photo has the thin line, so plus one for it being a Bel Air.
- The Bel Air has two taillights on each side, the Impala has three. You can't see the rear of the car in this shot, so no points for either one.
- There are two roof styles. The flat style as shown at the top, and the one that curves down at the back shown here. Google for pictures of the Bel Air and most of the cars have the curved roof. Look for Impalas and you get some of each style. Kind of looks like it might be an Impala then.
Then I found
an old sales brochure and learn that the flat roof style came on the Sport Sedan, and Sport Sedans come in two flavors: Bel Air and Impala. So the stripe is the only evidence I have and it indicates Bel Air.
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