1946 Chevrolet Stylemaster Sport Sedan
On July 1, 1945 Chevrolet and Ford restarted production on civilian automobiles before General Motors due to the strike of 1945. Chevrolet production was exceeded that year by Ford Motor Company. In 1949, Chevrolet introduced its post war style designs. The two new series offered by Chevrolet were the Fleetline and the Styleline models. Chevrolet was right on target when it came to styling offering its bustle back which grew tremendously in popularity and increased sales for Chevrolet. During this year, production was 1,109,958 a figure, which at the time, topped all previous Chevrolet production records.
1949 Chevrolet
During the 1950s, Chevrolet astonished the public with the introduction of the new Corvette which was hand built in Flint, Michigan. On June 30, 1953, six months after the sports car appeared as the “Dream Car” in General Motors Motorama, production of the Chevrolet Corvette began. Each vehicle was produced in a Polo White with a sportsman red vinyl interior, a150-HP Flame 6-cylinder engine, and power glide automatic transmission. It was the world's first production sports car with rustproof fiberglass panels. The Corvette design offered curved safety plate glass and headlights recessed in fenders with a spacious Chevrolet Corvette cockpit interior. The Chevrolet Corvette became a worldwide symbol of American innovation and technical excellence.
1950 Chevrolet Assembly Line
During 1955-57, Chevrolet was referred to as the "Hot Ones" due to their great styling appeal and popularity. In 1955, Chevrolet offered three new series, the Bel Air, the Two-Ten, and the One Fifty models. Among the models, the Bel Air rose to the top becoming the most popular model among the buying public. During 1955-57 Chevrolet designed a new truck known as the 1955 Cameo Carrier model designed by Mr. Charles Jordan. This half ton pickup offered a full width body design, chrome bumpers, Bel Air hub caps, and a chrome grille which was set off by a distinctive cab with a wrap around rear window. The Chevrolet models during these years offered a youthful look and wonderful performance package making the 1955-57 Chevrolet models one of the most sought after collective American automobile today.
1953 Chevrolet
1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier
1956 Corvette
In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the name plate Impala for the model year and all new Chevrolet models were totally and completely new design. All models were 209 inches long, 77.7 inches wide, and 57 inches high. Five different series were now available with the wagons being considered a separate series from the cars. The Impala was introduced as a major sub series of the Bel Air series, the Biscayne replacing the formal 210 and the Delray being the least expensive series. In 1958, Chevrolet not only regained its first place spot from Ford, it also claimed 29½ % of the total United States market.
1958 Chevy Impala Assembly Line
In 1960, Chevrolet introduced the Corvair model which was a well designed economical model to compete with the popular Volkswagen line and other foreign competition automobiles.
 1961 Chevy Corvair models
During 1963, the Chevrolet Corvette underwent a major body design change due to the direction of General Motors Vice President of Design, Mr. Bill Mitchell. The Corvette design was very stunning and offered a split window which was a compound curve design. The 1963 Corvette Sting Ray was the development of a body design first seen on the 1959 Sting Ray racer. The all new 1963 Corvette caused a tremendous stir in the automotive world. Also in 1963, Chevrolet built its fifty millionth car which New York Governor, Nelson Rockefeller, drove off the line at Chevrolet's Tarrytown assembly plant on June 10, 1963.
1963 Corvette Sting Ray - Four Different Styles
1965 Chevy Assembly Line
In 1967, the new automobile design for General Motors was the Chevrolet Camaro.
The Camaro featured a sporty new look and its proportioned design offered a long, low silhouette style that many Americans loved and purchased. The SS 350 Camaro, with a rally sport package, was the top of the line model for Camaro. A total of 220,900 Camaro models were produced and sold in 1967. In 1968, the Corvette model had changed again with a all new body design which now featured removable panels in the roof and tunnel rear window design. 
1967 Chevy
Chevrolet also introduced a few new concept cars that year which included the Mako Shark II, which was based on the Corvette Sport Coupe. It featured custom body work designed by Vice President Bill Mitchell and Larry Shinoda. The Mako Shark II had been designed in early 1964. The Mako Shark II show car was a next generation Corvette.
In 1969, the all new Chevrolet Blazer was introduced to the buying public which created a new demand for four wheel drive vehicles. The Chevrolet Blazer was an open type of vehicle in which families could use climbing mountain trails or for other recreational needs for its rear seats could be easily converted into a pickup truck. The Chevrolet Blazer was designed and marketed to compete with the International Harvester Scout and Ford Bronco; however the Chevrolet Blazer out sold its competitors. During this year, the exciting news for Chevrolet was the return of the Camaro Pace car at Indy which they introduced in 1967.
1969 Camaro
1969 Chevy Blazer
On May 14, 1969, after nine years of production and 1,710,018 cars and trucks, production on the Corvair models came to a stop.
Stay tuned next week for the last story on Chevrolet Celebrates 100 years!
A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating the story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs courtesy of National Automotive History Collection and some features of Bob Tate’s personal collection. Please do not use any photographs without the permission of MotorCities. For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org
If you have a story that you would like to donate to be featured as a MotorCities Story of the Week, email Lisa Ambriez at: lambriez@motorcities.org
|
|
