Selling a car on a television commercial isn’t as easy as it looks. Just plopping the car down and rattling off what it does have and how much it costs isn’t exciting. Exciting might scare off more pedestrian buyers who aren’t looking for hoodscoops, dual pipes and a healthy appetite for smaller sports coupes. You have to know which market you are selling to…are you wanting older adults with money, kids who want the sporty little runabout, or a family who is looking for that all-in-one vehicle? And how do you target them?

We aren’t quite sure what Chevrolet was going for with this television spot for the 1965 Impala. For starters, sticking a sacrificial B-body coupe onto a flat rock in the middle of the surf screams “bad idea” from start to finish…this car must have been a test write-off or something similar, and we wouldn’t be too surprised if it wound up deep in the drink before the stunt was completed. Even if it didn’t sink to the sandy bottom, there’s plenty of ocean surf and spray bashing the poor Imp that the car was already rusting out by the time the Chevy was returned to dry land. Sending the message that the Impala was a capable boat doesn’t seem to be a great idea, and neither does showing off the soft-riding suspension as the car gets battered by the waves.

Driving the Impala on the beach near some surf would have been a cool idea. But without the soothing voiceover, all we can picture is a beach blanket party gone wrong when young Jim notices that he parked his dad’s brand new Chevrolet in the wrong spot before the tide came in.