1955 Chevy truck down the drag strip

Chev truck pulls an 11-sec 400m pass

Black 1955 Chevy truck

Laying some rubber

1967 Camaro SS350 TV commercial

Volcano! The firey new Camaro from Chevrolet

Chevrolet Impala 1964 TV commercial

Route 66 Chevrolet Impala commercial from 1964

1960 Chevrolet Corvair promo film

This 1960 promotional film for the Chevy Corvair touts the Corvair as a masterpiece of design and engineering, with excellent handling. Further, it’s presented as a kind of all-terrain vehicle, going over grassy hills, up sandy embankments, through heavy brush, across fields of mud, down a river, and the like. “Using this stream for its highway, the Corvair actually followed along like this for 20 miles, and not once did its reliable Turbo-air engine falter.” And then we hear how safe the Corvair is in car crashes: “The Corvair took the punishment and asked for more!” This car, of course, would later be the subject of the book “Unsafe at Any Speed” by Ralph Nader.

1971 Chevrolet Camaro – From Lollipop To Big-Block – 154

Trevor retraces the path his brother took on the way to acquiring his current big-block Camaro

My brother Dennis left high school at the age of 16, to start an apprenticeship as an auto electrician at SV Turnbull and Son in Montreal Street, Christchurch. Within a few months Dennis bought his first car — a 1947 J Model Vauxhall 14/6.

However, his ownership of the Vauxhall was short-lived. At that time I owned a pink and black ’39 Ford coupe, our sister Rosalie’s ‘boyfriend’ Neil Stuart drove a red ’34 V8 five-window coupe, and our elder brother Jim owned a Ford V8-powered powerboat. Dennis also caught the V8 bug, and sold the Vauxhall in favour of a 1937 Ford V8 DeLuxe sedan which he bought from my then-girlfriend Lorraine’s brother.

Dennis was soon lowering the Ford, fitting new longer shackle plates and telescopic shock absorbers, and dropping the body by an incredible 77mm (three inches). That’s a lot for an otherwise stock ’37 V8. With help from Mum and Dad, the interior of the Ford was trimmed in possum skins! Of course, it didn’t end there. The tails were tied to the six foot-high twin aerials. A year or so later the ’37 was swapped for a ’34 three-window coupe.

1956 Chevrolet Bel Air – The Company Chev – 181

In 1956 a brand spanking new Chevrolet Bel Air was delivered to its owner in Nelson. Now, nearly 50 years later, it stands immaculate after a lifetime’s hard work that no car should be expected to survive.

Words & Photos Tim Monck-Mason

What a gorgeous old motor. Just look at it; it’s as beautiful as you would expect after a no-holds-barred restoration. Better still, it drives wonderfully due to great attention having being paid to the mechanical parts under that lovely coachwork. But that isn’t always enough; sometimes a highly restored car loses any ability to connect you with its past. By restoring out its patina, an old car can lose its ability to tell you about itself. So, the icing on the cake is that this ’56 Bel Air is still in the family, having lived a seriously hard life until its thoroughly deserved restoration. History, then, made this car.

The first impression is just how solid this car feels, and how every tiny thing works absolutely beautifully

The first time I saw the Chevrolet was a surprise, as it backed out of her garage next door to my own lock-up. But what a nice surprise! First impressions were of how original it looked — thankfully, this one’s never had a hot-rodder near it. I got talking to Bob, the Chevrolet’s caregiver, and soon jacked up a drive. It’s hard graft, this writing lark! Driving around Nelson, the Bel Air got the thumbs up and smiles all around. It’s a car we can all associate with; we seem to feel comfortable with it in a way we aren’t with more exotic offerings. Young and old love the shape, and this one looks just as it did when she left the factory, right down to the cross-ply tyres. Read the rest of this entry »