2021 – Dad’s Secret Chevy Bible?
(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on February 4, 2021)
As I’ve mentioned previously, my father was an executive in two Chevrolet dealerships. Occasionally, I find little Chevrolet goodies amongst all the family history.
Here’s a 1962 booklet from the first dealership:
Years ago, I found this old Chevy in the lot where I used to park my car:
A closeup of the bumper sticker:
We were brought up to believe that Chevrolet was the United States and Ford was the Soviet Union. That’s why I’ve never owned a Ford (which probably WAS really based in Moscow instead of Detroit).
So when I found this 320-page book – “SIXTY YEARS OF CHEVROLET” – (year #60 was in 1972), I figured that this must be some sort of early Chevy bible cherished by Dad that I could now reveal to the world:
Inside this 9” x 11.5” hardcover book were a couple of pages of pictures and text of every year’s cars, beginning in 1912: every model of every full-size Chevrolet, Corvette, Corvair, Vega, Chevy II, Chevelle, truck, Nomad, El Camino…………and I’m sure I missed a few.
I don’t have the time or patience to scan them all – quick frankly, most of them are boring – so I’ll just pick out maybe one page from most of the decades that I find interesting and insert some personal preferences/involvement that may or may not be of interest to you.
THE FIRST CHEVROLET (1912):
The 100,000th Chevrolet (1925):
1934 Chevrolet:
That middle one is interesting-looking (though the tiny rear window looks dangerous). At least now the wheels don’t look like spoked wagon wheels:
The Master Deluxe line (1941):
I’ve never heard of the Master Deluxe line, but the evolution is evident:
Personally recognizing what year the car was made (beginning in 1953):
I must have begun to take notice of year-to-year design differences when I was about 6. ’53 and ’54 Chevys always looked the same to me:
………..until I looked at their taillights (‘53s have boobs and ‘54s don’t):
Speaking of taillights, here’s another Dad goodie: 1959 Chevy taillight cuff links (which I’ve shown on this blog previously):
For the next decade, EVERY year of Chevy looked distinctly different to me. ’53 to ’65? No problem. ’66 and up? No clue.
I’d be curious if the same thing occurred with any of you car aficionados out there, but perhaps with different cars in different year groupings.
One omission, I think (I haven’t read every word of this book), is that I could find no mention of almost everyone’s favorite Corvette – the 1963 Split-Window coupe.
Here’s the 1963 Corvette page. The top pic looks like it might be that model but there’s no “split-window” mention and I can find nothing relevant when I searched the 0837 model designation number:
Here’s a nice shot of a customized split-window coupe:
After that Corvette page, there are 77 more pages in the book that I didn’t really care about, so I’ll finish the book with a 1972 page:
One final goodie: I bought this little 1964 Bonanza on eBay a long time ago because I watched the show:
Just found its 3:33 soundtrack on YouTube, if you’d like to hear it (it’s pretty lame):
So now I wonder what this very special, super-rare book is worth. I’m surprised I’ve never seen it anywhere before or even heard of it. And not finding it on eBay would be confirmation of its great value.
And eBay has……………………thirty of them, priced as low as $6.69.
(sigh!)
As famous SNL news spinster, Emily Litella, said nearly every week on “Weekend Update”:
I love the photos of the old Chevys here but the tail light cuff links are what really rule!
Enjoyed this! I remember my parents first and only new car was a black 1955 two door Chevy. It was such an event that I know it was purchased on March 5th that my Mother always said was a date that turned up in their lives with good events.