Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I am now in the process of reading the history of Chevy.

In 1940 Packard may have had the Clipper, but GM claimed the the 1940 Chevy had Royal Clipper styling.

John F. Shireman

Was 40 a good year for Chevy or was Ford riding high. Don't recall what a 40 Chevy looked like but immediate postwars I thought were kinda short & dumpy & Fords were round & dumpy. Was it deserving of being compared to anything royal?

I don't have any production figures at hand. But Ford pretty much swept the popularity field 39 and 40. '39 was the old mans FIRST hydraulic brake NOT to be confused with 38 "Steeldraulic".

Prior to WWII and even 1955, Chev was mostly a "farmers car". While F was more of sporting image with the V8 and had been since 32.

At some time ca. early 30's chev got a bad rap for breaking rear axle shafts and that hurt chevy popularity for a few years going into WWII.

Especialy prior to WWII the general buying public could not finance a car. Car financing was mostly limited to people with COLLATERAL such as farmers (even small farmers), small bussiness OWNERS. Prior to WWII home "ownership" was not as common as the post war period, most commoners rented. SO, the Chevy was primarily a farmers car while F took to the more agressive popularity of youthful risk taking and sporting.

Altho i have been mostly a GM man tried and true i have to admit that Ford was probably a superior car to Chevy in the PRE-war years. Of course anything after 53 or 54 Chevy just blossomed like an atomic bomb .

Kinda thought that the case, but you're absolutely right about the take off in 55 for Chevy. To this day, I don't fully understand why and yet 50 yrs later, they still command a premium when sold. I don't see anything that special about them, the Mopars and Fords were every bit as comparable and comfortable yet Chevys in 55-7 were still magic & pretty much cleaned up. Until the last 5 or so years, don't think they ever looked back.

I don't know about 1955 and 56 but I am reasonably certain Ford outsold Chevrolet in 1957. I don't understand the popularity of the 55-57 Chevrolets either. They were good cars but no better looking or performing that any of the big 3 offerings during those years IMHO.

According to the book that I am now reading on Chevy, it is stated that Chevy out sold Ford in 1940.

John F. Shireman