Just Chevys: True Tales & Iconic Cars From Americas No. 1 Automaker

Initial enthusiasm for the concept was followed by skepticism.

Books by Brian Earnest

The Airstream disappeared three years later, an opportunity lost. That included designing the first postwar model: One look at the body design revealed the differences: Fenders integrated with the body. The sides flowed continuously. And the passenger compartment was smoothly rounded. Underneath, the transverse leaf springs that Henry had stubbornly clung to since horse-and-buggy days were gone, replaced with coil-spring independent front suspension and longitudinal leaf springs for the live rear axle.

Chevrolet sold 1,, and Plymouth, , The third-generation Ford team led by Henry Ford II had taken a surprising initiative and made it a success. Pontiac offered the Parisienne, a two-seater with a landau roof and pink upholstery, meant to be driven by a chauffeur. Chevrolet went for something quite different: It became such a sensation that Chevrolet began low-volume, hand-built production at a plant in Flint. Only were built in using modified Chevrolet frames, suspension and a hp 3-carburetor version of its cubic-inch overhead-valve six. All had Powerglide automatic transmissions.

For Chevrolet moved production to a small dedicated facility in St. Louis, planning to sell 10, Corvettes. Chevrolet did reach its annual sales target of 10,, but not until Today Corvette production regularly exceeds 30, annually, all tracing their ancestry back to those Polo White roadsters.

A smoking-fast luxury car for grown-ups How many built: But for many car enthusiasts, that year will be best remembered for the introduction of the Chrysler C, which combined testosterone-fueled horsepower and sporty suspension with a handsome, muscular design. It came in just one body style, which was configured from stock parts, and in only three colors white, red or black. It was upholstered in tan leather. Despite weighing in at a hefty 4,plus pounds, the C proved its mettle on the track. Instantly recognizable on the street, it commanded respect at every stoplight, yet its cost meant that in pretty much every case a suit-and-tie-wearing swell was at the wheel.

Two-tone Chevrolet Bel Air with whitewall tires in a used-car lot. The small-block engine bristled with innovations. First was its light weight: Its short piston stroke, big valves and excellent cylinder-head design gave it unparalleled high rpm performance. Muscle and fins How many built: The aesthetic emphasized length and sleek, swept, dart-like features.

It was reinforced by dramatic two-tone paint schemes with bright chrome borders. Taillights were housed in the trailing edges of the fins. Bumpers and grille were treated as massive chrome appendages. The Adventurer got standard TorqueFlite automatic transmissions and power brakes among many other standard features. It also had gold plating for the trim accents. DeSoto proudly noted it was the only standard i. In a horsepower race, this was the car to have in , with flamboyant style to match its performance.

A dramatic new middle-market entry marked by utter failure in the marketplace How many built: The original Pony Car, creator of an entire category How many produced: It won uncountable races as the Boss It set drag-racing records as the Boss Advertisement featuring the Chevrolet Corvair. An ingenious concept felled by one fault: Small, lightweight and modestly powered, a compact served basic transportation needs—and maybe a little bit of counter-cultural disdain for prestige.

American automobile industry in the 1950s

A flood of them came from Detroit in , and the driving public gobbled them up. But Corvair had one fatal flaw: Even with the attraction of a turbocharged hp version of its cubic-inch engine. Corvair passed away after , a daring concept tripped up by negative publicity and the burgeoning auto-safety movement.

Pontiac Division president E. So Estes and DeLorean found a simple workaround to the new-model rule: Make the horsepower engines a mid-year option in the Le Mans. With sales success, all restrictions were off. It also ignited muscle car madness. An ingenious approach to a subcompact car How many built: In GM looked to have a hit when it introduced the handsome, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive, sub-compact Vega.

Its single-overhead-camshaft cast-iron cylinder head aided performance. Individual bucket seats and a floor-shift 3-speed manual transmission came standard, giving Vega a sports car flair. It was chosen by Motor Trend magazine as its Car of the Year. Unfortunately for Chevrolet, it also rusted quickly and the engine had vibration and cooling issues. Economical, hugely successful in the marketplace—but with a fatal flaw How many built: In , Time magazine named Richard M. Nixon its person of the year. And Ford introduced a spiffy new small car called the Pinto.

Despite promising starts, none of these would end well. It used two different cast-iron four-cylinder engines engines one 75 horsepower, the other which had been built in England and Germany and were already proven in their home markets. Bucket seats, a floor-mounted shifter for the standard four-speed manual transmission and rack-and-pinion steering sported up the driving experience. In an attractive and practical 2-door station wagon was added, and these three models would remain in the Pinto lineup until it was discontinued in Pretty much anyone with a passing knowledge of cars, or who lived through the s, knows what happened next.

With more than a million Pintos on the road soon after its introduction, the car displayed a sometimes-fatal tendency to catch fire when hit in the rear. The problem was ultimately traced to the location of the fuel tank and its filler neck. Ford relocated those components for and later models. But in , facing an impending recall order from the U. It proved to be a devastating and expensive blow to Ford and its prestige—particularly when, in , the State of Indiana charged Ford Motor Company with reckless homicide in a rear-ended Pinto fire.

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Brawn meets beauty in the ultimate European-American hybrid How many built: The blistering-fast brainchild of American racing driver and entrepreneur Carroll Shelby, the Shelby Cobra made incarnate the belief that you can never have too many horses under the hood. Theirs was a nifty marriage: Shelby was looking for an American engine-European chassis project.

Shelby approached Chevy for engines. Introduced in , the Shelby Cobra created a sensation among the automotive media—and wreaked havoc among its racing competitors. It would be a first for an American manufacturer. Yet another industry creates replicas—some good, some bad and a few downright ugly.

BUICK MODEL 10

The final fling of a Detroit legend, John Z. DeLorean How many built: DeLorean, whose flamboyant lifestyle grated with suit-and-tie-wearing Detroit managers, but who produced results wherever he worked. At Chevrolet, he drove development of the compact Vega and the frighteningly powerful Chevelle, leading Chevrolet to its first year of 3-million-car-sales in In between, he courted models and movie stars, splitting his week between working in Detroit and partying in Los Angeles. Production quality, in a word, sucked.

The DMC lasted two years. Then John DeLorean was caught in a drug sting. Although he was acquitted of those charges— and a later fraud charge brought by DeLorean Motor creditors and investors—his high-flying automobile career had crashed and burned. A simple, efficient little car that rescued an entire corporation How many built: At the beginning of the s, Chrysler Corporation was moribund and bound for bankruptcy.

Its premium cars were dated. Their production totals barely registered on industry sales charts: In , Plymouth sold just over 14, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive Gran Furys. They seized upon the transverse-engined, front-wheel-drive K-car platform to resuscitate Chrysler Corporation, with the help of a federal government guaranteed loan. The mpg K-car may not get much respect these days, but it turned out to be the right medicine for the early 80s: Hal Sperlich was the right car guy to get it built efficiently, with reasonable quality, and Lee Iacocca was equally right to sell it.

Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler ended up being saved by the K-car, and Chrysler Corporation paid off its government loan in , seven years before it was due.

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Sneer if you like. To this dye, the Ford Model T remains arguably the most influential car ever produced. This luxury American car might have come at a wrong time, but it still fulfilled all expectations. Despite the exorbitant price tag, the Model J was dubbed the finest car on sale and was still coveted by many. The status symbol of the time was powered by a cu-in.

A naturally aspirated horsepower motor was available at first while a supercharged horsepower mill became available in The fact it had easily beaten its more illustrious rivals makes it one of the most iconic American cars and certainly one of the most recognizable automotive linchpins of the late Art Deco era. The quarter-ton all-wheel-drive rugged vehicle is widely considered to be the very first SUV ever produced. Willys-Overland produced around , of them during the war to be used in mud, desert sands, and frozen tundras alike, and they never complained.

In fact, its spirit still lives inside the Jeep Wrangler which simply continued where its predecessor had left off. The best-sold American vehicle of all time has a cemented spot on any Famous American cars and vehicles list. This favorite American pickup truck has been around since and has gone through no fewer than 13 generations.

With F-Series sales surging towards , units a year, the Ford F and its siblings can definitely be considered defining parts of American culture. To the contrary, the F-Series will likely remain the best-sold American vehicle for the foreseeable future. The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 is widely regarded to be the first muscle car in history. Muscle cars define a large chunk of American automotive history, and this huge segment of the automotive market can trace its inception to this car.

The idea was simple back then — take a small, light car and stuff as much power into as humanly possible. Oldsmobile stuffed, at the time, the new overhead valve Rocket V8 engine inside the smaller Eighty-Eight body. From a conservative automaker to an inspiring beacon of innovation; Oldsmobile had it all. The Oldsmobile 88 nameplate would survive until , but Rocket 88 itself would lose its prominence by the mid-fifties.

Other manufacturers simply beat Oldsmobile at their own game. The Chevy Bel Air is the most prominent of the revolutionary Tri-Five quartet which, apart from itself, consisted of the , and Chevy Nomad, and The full-size Chevy strutted its stuff for 25 years in the U. As mentioned above, the Tri-Five era ensued shortly thereafter. The Bel Air revolutionized the market overnight thanks to its dashing and dazzling new styling.

Finned models would keep some of that flair, but subsequent generations would never replicate their success. Sales would remain steady, but the stylistic impact of the Tri-Five era would never again be matched by any other Chevrolet. Nor by any other manufacturer, for that matter. After all, Early Bel Airs are still some of the most beautifully styled cars to have ever graced this Earth. Enter the Cadillac Eldorado; a personal luxury car that would spawn a segment of its own.

It would also survive for longer than any of them by making it to the golden anniversary in The specialty luxury coupe always offered the most comfortable ride, the most advanced features, and the utmost level of luxury for an American car.

It practically pointed the way in all three of these segments for the U. Despite being gone for a while now, the Cadillac Eldorado will remain one of the famous American cars that always pushed the industry to its limits. It had also put the U. Especially not since its most powerful iteration in history, the new Corvette ZR1 , was recently revealed. Excuse us for going too heavy with the Chevy, but can you imagine the good ole USA without a full-blooded affordable full-size car? It became a separate model within a year of its initial launch, and has remained one ever since.

A true American family car with a hint of luxury and class.

Books by Brian Earnest (Author of Corvette)

The iconic Ferrari fighter was never intended as a mass production sports car, but it still managed to leave a lasting impression on both the American car industry and the world of automotive racing as we know it. The Ford GT40 has done it by dominating high-performance endurance racing — winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for four consecutive times between and , and recording a one-two-three full-house podium finish in We all know the story behind it. His engineers would build him a superior car that would go on to humiliate Ferrari — on European soil, no less. The Ford GT40 showcases what American automotive masterminds and manufacturers in general are capable of achieving when setting their minds to it.

It has earned its status among the icons of American automotive engineering. Alongside Corvette, the iconic pony is arguably the first synonym that comes to mind when non-Americans hear the words: