Posts Tagged ‘Chevy’
What was the First Muscle Car?
Let’s go back several years. Consider the spring of 1955. If you’re an American kid who wants to go fast, you’re devouring Hot Rod magazines and staying up late to work on your early Ford hot rod. It most likely has a Ford flathead engine topped with the latest and greatest from the expanding business…
Read MorePOTUS Private Rides
[wpadcenter_ad id=3527 align=’none’] So, what does it mean if the president enjoys driving? Cars can be divisive, but they can also unite us. Interested in a nonpartisan look at some of the presidents who have been car guys? We’ll begin with President Joe Biden and work our way backward. Joe Biden’s Corvette Joe Biden, as…
Read MoreCORVETTE “Just Gettin Started”
It wasn’t until 1927 when General Motors hired designer Harley Earl, that automotive aesthetics and design became essential to American automobile makers. Harley Earl did for automotive design what Henry Ford did for manufacturing principles. Earl designed most of GM’s flashy 1950s “dream cars,” which one journalist called “the American mentality made tangible.” Harley Earl…
Read MoreCORVETTE The Fourth Generation
The fourth-generation Corvette was introduced in March 1983. Due to production issues, the 1983 model year was skipped, but 44 prototypes were built. Except for the 23rd prototype, which is on exhibit at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, all 44 1983 prototypes were crushed. The C4 manufacturing ran from 1984 until 1996. …
Read More“CORVETTE” the Fifth Generation
The C5 Corvette was produced from 1997 to 2004. The C5 replaced the long-running C4. The transmission was moved to the back of the automobile and connected to the engine via a driveshaft. That squeak-and-rattle C4 was gone. The auto press thought the new C5 was a vast improvement over the previous Corvette design. The…
Read MoreChevy’s BEL AIR 1953 Until 1975
The Bel Air is a car series made by General Motors’ Chevrolet division from 1953 until 1975. From 1950 to 1952, hardtops in Chevy’s premium model range were called Bel Air, but it was not a separate series. The Bel Air was manufactured in Canada until the 1981 model year. 1953-1957 Chevrolet rebranded its series…
Read MoreNova (Chevy II) Super Sport
1966 The Chevy II Nova followed the restyled Chevelle. It, too, was completely restyled in 1966, becoming what many Nova fans consider the marquee’s finest rendition. The new Nova Super Sport came in six-cylinder and mouse-motor versions, but the L79 327 was clearly the hot ticket. With 350 hp, this monster mouse has factory hardware…
Read MoreImpala SS (61 – 96)
1961 saw the introduction of the first real muscle car, the Chevrolet Impala SS. This year also saw the introduction of Chevrolet’s 409 cubic inch V8, the engine that catapulted the Big Three automakers into a horsepower war that would endure far into the 1970s. The 409 was really developed in response to Ford’s new…
Read MoreHistory Tri-Five Chevrolets
One of the most notable aspects of the Tri-Five was the company’s recent creation of the 265 cubic inch V8 engine, which was introduced in 1955. It was a high compression, short stroke overhead valve design that continued in production in various configurations for decades. The original V8 was equipped with a two-barrel carburetor and…
Read MoreHistory of Chevrolet’s Z28
The Z28 is the most renowned Chevrolet RPO code. A high-performance option code has no equal. Known packages like Z22 and Z27 used other option codes, but the option names/descriptions became renowned, not the RPO number. The Special Performance Package is not used. RPO Z28 ran from 1967 until 1974. 1975 and 1976 had no…
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