A big American car in a small scale? Yup, the Oxford 1/87 Scale Chevrolet Impala works.
The ’61 Impala was in many ways a forward looking car. Instead of huge tail fins, massive chrome bumpers and powerful yet leisurely engines, the impala heralded the sportier future of many American cars.
You could get the Impala with a 409 and a 4-speed under the iconic “SS” trim, a precursor to muscle cars and a vehicle immortalized by the beach boys in a song named after the car’s displacement.
Primarily though, this was a luxury car. In white with a Roman Red interior, it’s hard not to look at this car and taste a dairy queen strawberry dipped cone. Not only does the red and white perfectly match strawberry over vanilla, cruising to the ice cream shop on a hot summer day would be the first thing to do in one of these. The impala is clean, striking, and it looks like a pleasant afternoon on wheels.
In such a small scale, you think all the details, the gorgeous interior, the understated but still flowing lines, would be lost, but Oxford has done a great job of shrinking them down. The individual grill slats, the curve in the bubble windshield, matching accent stripe, it’s all there.
With this, you can build your 1/87 scale paradise. The Oxford Diecast 1961 Chevrolet Impala, White with Roman Red interior is our 1/87 Scale Model Car of the Year.