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Tupac's 1961 Chevrolet Impala Has Resurfaced as a Hopping Long Beach Lowrider

One of Tupac Amaru Shakur’s classic music videos, the one for the 1996 song “To Live and Die in LA,” featured a very appropriate yellow-colored Impala – which further enhanced Chevrolet's moment of glory that year after Eazy-E's famous “cruisin' down the street in my '64” lyric. Well, this particular Chevy was a 1961 Impala, but no matter because the brand managed to snatch almost 17% of the U.S. automotive market that year... with its newer vehicles.
1961 Chevrolet Impala Tupac lowrider 89 photos
Photo: AutotopiaLA/YouTube
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Although made famous by the association with the legendary rapper, the 1961 Impala lived a quiet life afterward – according to the new owner, founding member of the “Plata o Plomo” car club from Long Beach. He came in possession of the ‘61 Impala in January, just before the start of the global health crisis, and has been working on it ever since.

Apparently, the ‘61 Impala had many technical issues and ended up getting back its original 283 cubic inch engine under the yellow hood... along with a massive roster of spectacular enhancements. Although the footage from “To Live and Die in LA” shows Tupac and his “crew” lowriding in the Impala, it turns out the car was stock – the production crew filled it up with sandbags to make it look cool...

That’s why the new owner actually went through all the customizations we see today on the car – the rebuilt engine, the new transmission, a complete suspension set, the matching yellow top (which is a custom job as well), and all the kit needed to make it a real hydraulics-hopping lowrider... much to the delight of his kids and family.

Shawn, the AutotopiaLA host, mentions at one point he’s not much of a lowrider type – although he definitely enjoyed (like a four-year-old) the hopping and pavement-scraping ride through the streets of Long Beach. He did get behind the wheel of a couple of lowriders at one point, saying it was an utterly scary experience when passing 40 mph...

Which is why he’s a little surprised by the owner mentioning that he wants to be able to cruise on the highway all the way to Las Vegas when the work on the ‘61 Impala is finally complete... and the fact that he’s already doing it because “they all have a certain ride height where they ride best, and every car is different... so you just get used to it!”

Well, it did seem like Shawn got a feel for the situation pretty soon when the ride started at the 7:30 mark, because we could see him grabbing and holding on tight while the ‘61 Impala hopped, dropped, and got on three wheels...

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Editor's note: This article originally stated the “cruisin' down the street in my '64” lyric was part of “To Live and Die in LA,” it has been corrected.

About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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