The funny little Chevrolet Spark we had on hire last week wasn't, of course, a Chevy in any meaningful sense but a rebadged Daihatsu or something of the sort. Is it still possible to get a new full-size Chevy V8 with front engine and rear drive? I don't even know. But I would be a tiny bit sad if those cars are no longer made.
The first Chevrolet I travelled in was a WW2 15cwt truck, so called. The navy had a lot of them in Ceylon and I once memorably went to school in one, 130 miles away in the hills, hitching a ride with a bunch of matelots going to some sort of r&r station they had a few miles from where my school was. It was an extremely stark vehicle with 4wd and huge wheels shod with military off-road tyres. The side valve V8 was between the front seats of the wood-and-hardboard box on top of the forward-control chassis. There was no sound deadening and the engine made the thing very hot to travel in. But you couldn't hear its relatively quiet V8 beat through the clamour from the transmission, two axles and a 2-speed transfer box, and the flogging of those tyres on the road. Someone more adept than me may be able to find and post a picture of one.
My school also had a Chevrolet, a 1920s charabanc known as Whizzbang, as well as a similar charabanc which was a Hotchkiss, known as Blunder. Blunder is quite a good name for a bus (blunderbuss) but as a vehicle freak I don't approve of names and thought of them as the Chevrolet and the Hotchkiss. They were both replaced while I was there by a shiny and magnificent modern Ford whose passenger capacity may have exceeded both of theirs put together. When the Ford arrived from Colombo it was painted bright pillar-box red which we nippers liked. But the headmaster didn't, so it was sent back and returned painted navy blue. Spoilsport.
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>> The funny little Chevrolet Spark we had on hire last week wasn't, of course, a
>> Chevy in any meaningful sense but a rebadged Daihatsu or something of the sort.
Daewoo.
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Ooh, ah, thanks Ian. Should have known that actually because my daughter had an old Daewoo in Oz that was really a Vauxhall.
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>> Ooh, ah, thanks Ian. Should have known that actually because my daughter had an old
>> Daewoo in Oz that was really a Vauxhall.
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Crazy set up. here we have the chevy spark, aveo, orlando, sonic (called aveo 2 in some markets. I'd call it a stinker), captiva which are all Daewoos. Plus the small pick-up truck, which is a sort-of-opel-corsa-with loadbed. Plus the Lumina, which is a real ass-tearing V8 Holden in saloon and pick-up form.
Then we have the Opels, which are Opels - the corsa and astra and meriva. But you'd call them vauxhalls.
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>> a real ass-tearing V8 Holden in saloon and pick-up form.
Yes, those Holdens and Vauxalls are very appealing to anyone who fancies a snorting monster. Better perhaps than any bog-standard US Chevrolet ever made, although modified ones abound and are often capable.
What's in a name? The Daewoo Chevrolet Spark we hired would outperform almost any standard US Chevrolet up to about 1960, and some models for years after that, while only using a quarter of the fuel. Uncomfortable though. Not ideal for continental travel on dirt roads, which old American cars could do beautifully and comfortably being designed for that.
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>> those Holdens and Vauxalls are very appealing to anyone who fancies a snorting monster.
Lumina Sedan 6.0 V8 SS Auto
• 260 kW 6.0L V8 engine
• 6-speed automatic transmission with active fuel management
• Fully independent suspension
• 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, EBD , ESP & Traction control
also available in 6-speed manual!
Respect - you need it. But an absolutely brilliant car if you can afford the fuel bill. 12.3l/100km -23MPG! And that is their official figure.
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The chassis is highly spoken of. All snorting monsters are thirsty guzzlers as well.
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>> The chassis is highly spoken of. All snorting monsters are thirsty guzzlers as well.
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Oh, but on my 'open road test circuit' on a midweek morning, with the exhaust note howling, there's nothing better to remind myself how good it is to be alive!
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>12.3l/100km -23MPG! And that is their official figure.
No matter how I drive it, my Z28 never seems to deviate from 22 to 23mpg in what I would consider to be a pretty good equivalent to the standard Euro 'combined' test. Probably because there are very few opportunities to get above 2000 rpm.
On a fast 400 mile motorway dash it returned 28mpg.
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>>The first Chevrolet I travelled in was a WW2 15cwt truck, so called.
Like one of these?
www.yorkshireairmuseum.org/exhibits/historic-military-vehicles/chevrolet-cmp-truck
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Yes, that's the thing all right. But without the forward rake on the windscreen (to prevent reflections I would think) and with a box body, metal at the front but the rest, from the rear of the front doors backwards, a crude sort of shooting brake made of cheap, flimsy materials. That would have been the personnel carrier version. It could hold quite a few bodies but was fairly comfortable and uncrowded with eight.
Virtually all vehicles in Ceylon, even our unglamorous and almost civilian looking dark blue Hillman Minx, had windscreens that could be wound open from the bottom, often needed in those pre-a/c days. But you had to close them at night because of the insects.
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Very like the first photo Crocks, but I remember the construction of the body as being like a Minor 1000 'Woody', with external wood strips and what I remember as hardboard panels, all painted in khaki or grey drab. There were sliding glass side windows, always open. My memory, although vivid, may be imperfect as I haven't seen a 15cwt truck for 63 years.
They all had the round hatch over the front passenger seat. It was so that someone could stand on the seat with a light machine gun mounted there for easy use. I longed to see one so equipped but of course never did as the war had been over for some years.
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Chevrolet - Chevy chase - Ian (Cape Town)
