Back then................

[Fran Preve]

This goes along with "Wake up Chevrolet........". I just watched the ESPN program on the 2004 Detroit autoshow, plus reviewing old Hot Rod magazines, plus posts on this site.

Ya know, unless you LIVED it back in the late 50's/early 60's. Unless you were 15-25 back then, you haven't got a CLUE what we went thru back then. If your in your 30's/40's, you REALLY don't know.

Imagine, if you can, back then the dealers HID the new cars. The new cars were shipped with CAR COVERS in Late August/early September. Every year was an adventure!. Imagine seeing the 58 Chevy for the first time in 1957!. Then every year was a NEW body style!. I can remember me and the guys cruising the dealers BACK LOTS looking for new cars to see what they looked like. Especially in the middle of the night, and having the cops interupt our "investigation" (and that's all it was was looking for a new Chevy or Ford). when you went to the track and 409's or 426's or 427 Fords were NEW cars!. Every year was a NEW year.

Do kids today search the car lots for a new Malibu?. Does the new Impala make them drool?. Will the new Mustang spoken of in "Wake up" be a surprise in the fall?. Now you see the new cars months, if not years before they hit the lots, back then they tried to SURPRISE you when new cars were introduced, each September/October was a BIG DEAL at the dealers. Look at the body styles of the new cars back then, how often they were COMPLETELY changed. Then the Corvair in '60, the Chevy II in 1962, the Malibu in 1964. And corrosponding Fords and Mopars.

Unless you LIVED it you can never know, now you can buy a 2005 today, it's the beginning of the 2004 model year, and we're looking at pictures of the 2005/2006 cars. Big deal............

[bubbletop61]

Great Post Fran! I had forgotten about doing this at the dealers every fall, but you are right. I grew up two blocks from Hodges Dodges ( The Ramchargers Team) and Higgins Pontiac. Both these Dealers were on the "Motor Mile" in Detroit (Ferndale) MI.
Others there were Floyd Foren , Ed Schmid, GAGE Oldsmobile.
Royal Pontiac was two miles away.

The bodies were a complete change over every year until they started using full width header panels and/or die cast end caps ( later fibreglass) on the quarters and fenders about 1965.
Cheers

[SS425HP]

If you knew somebody that had a dealership, and you could keep your mouth shut, you might get to look a few weeks ahead. The Chevy dealer in Middletown, Like all other dealers, rented a wharehouse with painted windows to hide the new cars in. If you got to see them, you were in tall cotton. The cars were shipped with full covers on them. Generally unloaded late at night. Hidden well.
I remember riding with my cousin, who is about 5 years older, in September of 54. WE were riding through Norwood, a Cincy suberb, when he let out a yell that could be heard a mile. We had just pulled alonside a new 55 Chevy, that wasn't due out for a month. Was the Charcoal and Coral paint scheme. And, the new V-8. Will never forget that. Through racing, I got to know the local dealer real well. He raced Corvettes on the GM team in the late 50s. He loved racing, too. Was a great help to me in racing. When we got into the funny car, I went to him to buy 5 427 tall deck truck blocks, 3 sets of heads, and 3 cranks. The blocks cost me $115.00 each, the heads $85.00 per set, bare, and the cranks were about the same. He loved racing as much as we all did. He later raced go carts, and had a cart with 3 McCoulloughs on it, all hopped up. It was a beast. He's gone now, but I sur3e do remember him, and do miss him. Always had time to talk racing. His office was the inner sanctum!
Got lost there, a bit. Yeah, today you have no idea what year car you are looking at, even on the showroom floor!

Fred

[tmracing62]

Wow Fred, you reminded me of something. In 1965, I broke an oil pump shaft in my 62 Impala 409/409 in the middle of a race. Roached a bunch of parts. Replaced it with a 409/425 '64 short block and heads for $450 as I recollect. That's the number that sticks anyway. Someone correct me if that's off base.

[bobs409]

I didn't live back then but I did know about them covering new cars and painting windows.

I have VHS tape with old car commercials and promo films on it and they did alot on the new 56 Chevrolet's. They showed the cars on the car carrier, each with a cover on it and supposedly with guards on duty, the dealerships painting over the showroom window and even the '56 Chevrolet being tested on Pikes Peak all disguised up. It sure must have helped to get attention.

This is all understandable as it was back when they made real cars! Would all this be worth it today for what they make today? Plthhhh! I think not. :rolleyes: Actually, with the way the cars look today, they should be the ones wearing the covers!!! :D

[64ss409]

In 64, about 2 weeks before the big announcement date for the new 64 Chevies, the dealer called up and asked if I wanted to take a look at the new cars. (I had ordered my SS in the summer without seeing even a picture) I said "sure".

The car he had just gotten in was hidden from the public in an old locked shed a block away from the dealership. The windows were covered and the shed had very poor lighting. The car came in with a protective wax and that had not been wiped off. It was a Bisquane 4 door, dark blue, UUGLY!!! I was just sick that I had ordered a 64 after really likeing the 63's.

All the dealers hid their new cars until the "big day" when they had free coffee and donuts. The local radio stations announced the showing date of the new models for a week or two in advance. And then there was something to look at!! The cars weren't shaped like a potatoe with doors.

Ron

[jim_ss409]

Those were the days... All the new models were introduced in the fall, not bit by bit like they come out now. Anybody who's old enough will remember the lengthy, (5 minutes or more) TV comercials to introduce the new Chevys. Everybody would be glued to the set on that Sunday night to watch Bonanza comercial free untill the end when they'd show all the new models. I remember them showing the Corvette last, usually in a spectacular location like on the top of an Arizona rock formation or on a rock jutting out of the ocean. I quess they must have used a helecopter to get them there.