Chevrolet

US, 1911 to date

Chevrolet Motor Co, Detroit, Mich.

Chevrolet, General Motors’ least expensive American car and the world’s best-seller, was actually started by W.C. Durant at a time when he did not control GM. In association with racing driver Louis Chevrolet he brought out a 4.9-litre six with side valves in a T-head, selling for $2150. This was followed by a smaller 6-cylinder model, but the Chevrolet marque’s first big impact came with the 4-cylinder overhead-valve Chevrolet Baby Grand touring car at $875, and its companion roadster model, the Chevrolet Royal Mail. Electrics were an optional extra on Chevrolet cars for sale until 1917, but in the meantime the Chevrolet company had come right to the fore with the 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Chevrolet 490, also an ohv, in 1916. The type designation indicated its original list price in dollars, and sales went up from 13.600 to 70.701.
General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1917, and by 1920 the Chevrolet marque was ousted in the United States only by Ford and Dodge. A one-model policy was pursued in 1923, but before this there had been other types of Chevrolet including the FA and FB fours, and a short-lived Chevrolet V8 with a Mason engine at $1100. There was also anabortive air-cooled Chevrolet car using the regular chassis and body styles in 1923. The 1925 Chevrolet Superior coach with disc wheels and Duco cellulose finish sold for $650, and two years later Chevrolet outsold Ford for the first time, though this was hardly a fair comparison, since Ford was shut down for a good part of the year during the change-over from the Model T to the Model A. Chevrolet did not have front-wheel brakes until 1928, the last year of the 4-cylinder cars. In 1929 came the ‘Cast Iron Wonder’, the 3.2-litre ohv Chevrolet International 6 with an 8ft 11in wheelbase and detachable disc wheels. More than a million Chevrolet cars were sold during its first season at $595, and the engine was progressively developed up to 1953.
In 1931 Chevrolet finally went ahead of Ford and stayed there apart from three seasons. 1932 Chevrolet cars resembled scaled-down Buicks or Oldsmobiles and featured rubber engine mountings, synchromesh and a free wheel, all for $495. In 1933 a V-grille was adopted to the Chevrolet cars, and capacity went up to 3.4-litres. GM’s Dubonnet-type ifs was fitted on the 1934 Chevrolet cars – in that year the ten millionth Chevrolet was delivered. Turret top styling followed in 1935 and hydraulic brakes in 1936. Engine capacity was increased slightly again in 1937. 1939 was the year of the fifteen millionth Chevrolet car; station wagons were catalogued, column-shift was optional, and prices ranged from $625 upwards. In 1940 Chevrolet was offering a power-top convertible in the low-price field, and Juan Manuel Fangio scored his first big victory in a long-distance race in Argentina at the wheel of one of that year’s coupés. Fastback Chevrolet coupés were listed in 1942, but along with most other American makes, the Chevrolet cars were little altered when they reappeared on the market after World War 2.

Extensive restyling and lowering took place in 1949, when a Chevrolet sedan cost $1460, but in 1950 Chevrolet offered the option of a 2-speed Powerglide fully-automatic transmission, as well as a now-fashionable hardtop coupé style. A new sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette, with fiberglass bodywork, featured in the 1953 programme with a 160bhp version of the regular 6-cylinder Chevrolet engine.
Chevrolet’s lead over Ford was down to a narrow 20.000 margin by 1954. In 1955 they came out with a 4.3-litre ohv V8 on conventional lines, giving 162bhp with an 180bhp ‘power pack’ available at extra cost. The capacity of the companion six was now 3.9-litres. By 1957 the Chevrolet Corvette had acquired the 8-cylinder engine, and special Chevrolet Corvette SS versions were being tried with 360bhp power units and 4-speed all-synchromesh boxes listed as a factory option. 1958 V8 Chevrolets had 5.7-litre engines and air suspension was available, though the idea was soon discarded.
A new departure was the Chevrolet Division’s 1960 compact car, the Chevrolet Corvair, a 2.3-litre air-cooled flat-6 with engine at the rear, unitry construction of chassis and body and all wheels independently sprung. It proved a little too advanced for the market at which it was aimed, but by 1966 Chevrolet had entered upon a new lease of life as a specialist semi-sporting machine available with such options as a 4-speed box and 180bhp turbosupercharged engine.

The evolution of subsequent Chevrolets reveals the need of the modern American mass-producer to offer a diversity of products, rather than to concentrate on a single basic model and ring the changes on body styles. In 1963 the Chevrolet company started to bridge the gap between the Chevrolet Corvair and the inexpensive, but by no means small Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Bel Air and Chevrolet Biscayne series(that year’s version were 17ft 6in long) with a ‘semi-compact’, thee Chevy II. This had integral construction, a 9ft 2in wheelbase and the choice of two engines of modest dimensions, a 2½-litre four and a 3.2-litre six. The slightly bigger Chevrolet Chevelle of 1964 was the first Chevrolet to use GM’s perimeter-type chassis frame (standardized on the big cars in 1965) and was available either with the Chevy II six or a 4.6-litre V8. Another new model in 1964 was the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray sports car with retractable headlamps, giving 145mph from 360bhp; the following season it had disc brakes as standard equipment. 1966 coverage of the market was comprehensive. Besides the specialized Chevrolet Corvair and Chevrolet Corvette there was the Chevy II in three series, the Chevrolet Chevelle with a wide choice of power units and five different types of full-sized Chevrolet from the inexpensive Chevrolet Biscayne up tot the luxurious Chevrolet Caprice. Prices ranged from $2028 for the simplest Chevy II with 90bhp 4-cylinder engine up to the Chevrolet Caprice custom station wagon at $3347. Chevrolet engines were used by Checker, Avanti, the revived 8/10 Cord, Excalibur, the last Canadian-built  Studebakers, the Anglo-American Gordon-Keeble and the Italo-American Iso and Bizzarini. They were also used in the smallest Oldsmobiles in 6-cylinder form and in Candian-built Pontiacs and the Acadian, an all-Canadian GM product. They are also found in the biggest 8-cylinder Opels. For 1967 the Chevrolet company added to its range a sports coupé model, the V8 5.7-litre Chevrolet Camaro with 295bhp and front disc brakes, a belated answer to Ford’s Mustang. 
Meanwhile Chevrolet Corvette-powered cars were dominating Can-Am racing, continuing to do so until 1971. Chevrolet’s sixth two-million year came in 1968 (the others had been 1962 – 1966 inclusive), the tenth successive season in which they had outsold Ford. Chevrolet Camaros were now available with 6½-litre engines, and the Chevrolet Corvette was completely restyled. Then 1969 brought the demise of the Chevrolet Corvair, the final season’s sales being a low 2359 as against its 1961 peak of 316.000. A further gap in the range was filled by the Chevrolet Blazer, a 4x4 jeep-type vehicle offered with 6-cylinder or V8 engine. Sporting and prestige images were combined in the Monte Carlo of 1970, a coupé on the Chevrolet Chevelle chassis with front disc brakes and a choice of five V8 units, the biggest having 7.3-litres and 360bhp. This was the last year of 4-cylinder engines in the Chevy II line, and Chevrolet Camaro sales came within 20.000 of the Ford Mustang’s. The major news of 1971 was a sub-compact, the unitary-construction Chevrolet Vega with coil rear suspension, offered in hatchback coupé, 2-door sedan and station wagon styles, and powered by a new 2.3-litre 4-cylinder engine with alloy block and cogged belt drive for its overhead camshaft. Transmission options included a 3-speed semi-automatic and front disc brakes were standard. The 1973 line was one of the biggest in the USA, embracing the Vega, Chevy II Nova and Chevelle in the compact and intermediate markets, the Chevrolet Bel Air, Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Caprice with 10ft 1½in wheelbase in the full-size group; the Chevrolet Camaro and Chevrolet Monte Carlo coupés; the Chevrolet Corvette sports car; and such specialist semi-utility types as the Chevrolet Blazer, the Chevrolet Suburban station wagon on a light-truck chassis, the forward-control twelve-seater Chevrolet Sportsvan station wagon, and the Chevrolet El Camino, a car-based coupé-utility in the Australian idiom. All passenger-car types with the exception of the Chevrolet Nova had front disc brakes as standard equipment, while innovations were a Nova hartchback coupé and a restyled and lowered Monte Carlo available with V8s of 5736cc or 7440cc. Power-assisted steering was standard on Camaros, big Chevrolets were now offered only with automatic transmissions, and energy-absorbing front bumpers were found on all types.
In the summer of 1972 Chevrolet announced plans for a Wankel-powered Vega to be available by 1975.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS
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