I’ve shot dozens of A-Body Valiants and Darts and all their swinging and dusty offshoots. And early-sixties Falcons are as common as back-yard chickens here. But Chevy IIs? Where did they all go? Not one single one on the streets here. OK; I did finally find a sedan, but that was in Junction City, twenty miles from Eugene, and I will do a full-blown CC on it soon. But when Hugo90 posted this 1964 Chevy II wagon at the Cohort, I just had to bite; consider it an appetizer. And when I bit into it, there was a chrome-plated surprise.
Having spent my childhood feeding my memory banks with early-mid sixties Chevy brochures, I thought I knew every permutation of the Chevy engine family. But when confirming them at oldcarbrochures, I came across this: in 1964, there was an optional 230 cubic inch Turbo-Thrift six with….155 hp. Wait a minute; I remember the 230 as having 140 hp. And it does, in the full-sized Chevys. But in the ’64 Chevy II (and Chevelle), this engine was rated at 155 hp, and even came with “chrome accents”.
OK; I can’t just let this go…google images time; which comes through once again. At stevesnovasite, here’s the picture, and a comment:
The 6 cylinder chrome treatment was a one year only (1964) 230 cid 155 hp engine used in Novas & Chevelle only. It had a chrome valve cover., chrome air cleaner cover., chrome breather., chrome oil & trans sticks., & chrome fuel & vacuum lines……..
Hmm. Now the odd thing, this would have made some sense in ’62 and ’63, as a top engine option. But by 1964, the 283 V8 was also available in 195 hp 2 barrel and 220 hp 4 barrel versions. And no chrome on them! And was this 155 hp 230 six really any different internally, or did the chrome add the additional 15 hp? And by 1965, the 230 six was back to 140 hp and no chrome accents. The mysteries of the Chevrolet Division; no wonder John Delorean had to fight so hard to get a handle on it; its management was a thousand-headed hydra; or Powerglide.
They had to make them quicker than a 110hp Corvair somehow…..
Was it available with a manual trans or did you have to take PowerGlide? (Not that manual trans were that sweet in the 1960s but at least you could likely get a kit and a short throw shifter to improve it.)
Either. Just not a four-speed stick, like the 283 could be had with.
All I see is a Holden red motor and other than the bore &stroke changes they are pretty much the same, nice old wagon though.
Chevy IIs were quite popular in the midwest when I was growing up and I remember them being reliable machines. My grandmother bought one of the very first to hit the dealership, Hefner Chevrolet in Fort Wayne, trading in a 60 Kingswood wagon+$400 for a new turquoise blue 62 Chevy II 100 2-door sedan with no options. It had the 90hp 4-banger, three on the tree, and a ribbed metal plate where the radio would have gone. It was her last car and ten years later she gave it to my Dad who finished it off. A very good little car – I drove it with her beside me and a learner’s permit in my wallet when it was in its third year on the road. The only problem she had when it was new was engine run-on when you tried to shut it down but the dealership got the timing straightened out and it was fine.
A friend had the opposite, a silver blue 64 4-door top of the line model with the 283, Powerglide, PS, PB, and wire wheel covers. Peppy car, traded for a new 67 Impala SS coupe with the 327. My junior high English teacher had a 64 white Chevy II Nova coupe with the 283, three speed, another good one.
Scary thing is that my aunt and uncle had a factory ordered 66 Impala with the base six cylinder but that’s another story.
I remember Hefner Chevrolet! I also remember riding in an early Chevy II. Back when it was a big deal to get a “second car”, some neighbors had one. While the “good car” was a 66 Bonneville, the car that my friend’s mom drove was a maroon 63 Chevy II with a 3 on the tree. Thinking back on the noises and vibrations, I think that it was a 6. This was one of the cars in my neighborhood kindergarden carpool. I remember thinking that the car felt smaller and less substantial than the 60 Lark VIII with the automatic that another mom drove.
I think you don’t see many of these because when they were fairly new cars they were disposable until the 66 model. They hit a home run in 66 and 67. Then the 68 was the start of the style that ran for years. i still see plenty of early ones here in Texas where the tin worm is not so plentiful.
As for the engine: I don’t know about the chrome but the 230 would get out of it’s own way. I had the 230 with the three speed manual in my 68. Always 20 plus mpg on the highway and hi teens in the city. 283 is an excellent engine with a heavy thirst. That thirst sold a lot of 230’s, especially the light weight nova. My Nova would cruise at 80 (to the detriment of mileage), had a big trunck, looked good, and was an excellent sailors car. No station wagons in 68 that I can remember. That would have been even better.
The first generation was supposed to (and did) compete with the Falcon, another dispo rust bucket that was an also-ran by 66 (or disguised with a Mustang body). Definitely not keepers, just workhorses though there are probably more Falcons around because they sold so many. My grandmother’s car stayed nice for a long time because it was garaged and we washed it frequently but the bodies of most early IIs were rusted out in a few years, with the mechanicals still going strong. The 64 sedan mentioned above had rocker panels full of holes within three years; part of the reason it was traded for the Impala SS.
I’ve written here previously about the ’65 Mercury the parents had when we lived in Canada in 1970. Don’t remember how it happened…but for some reason we sold the Merc and bought a ’64 Nova wagon from my uncle back here in the Pittsburgh area.
Quite a change, right, going from a semi-luxury car to an econo-beater?
Anyway, my dad’s employer wanted to transfer him from Niagara Falls to Nova Scotia….it would’ve been our 3rd move in five years…he quit instead and we moved to my mother’s birth home…Brattleboro, VT, in the Nova.
It was tan…and had the 194 so no chrome accents…
but it DID have…drum roll…
STICK SHIFT.
YESSSSSSSS!!!!!
Even though I was still a couple years away from having my license, just having a CHEVY with a STICK SHIFT…even if it had two doors too many, trumped a stupid ol’ Ford any day of the week!
But Grandpa Whipple was getting rid of his 69 Buick Special Deluxe, and Mom & Dad bit. The Nova became a second car…and as such, a couple years, was lent to some neighbors who’d trashed…er, their car broke down and was in the shop.
During this period, the oil pump decided it had had enough and went on a permanent vacation at the bottom of Melendy Hill south of Brattleboro…about a mile from the neighbor’s house at the top of the hill.
Yes the red light came on…yes the blonde aging hippie neighbors’ wife with occasional body odor drove it up Melendy Hill to their home, shut it down and then called my dad when it failed to turn over later in the day.
The engine was replaced with a 230 and for some reason the clutch disc was installed backwards in order to “work properly”. All I remember is that it never worked quite right after that but it somehow didn’t work at all when the clutch disc was installed facing the right direction so go figure…I remember dad getting pretty sloshed and accusing me of being as useless as “T*ts on a boy pig”.
So not really a happy end to that story but it was a cool car to own for the short time we had it. Don’t remember what happened next…but in rapid succession we ended up with a ’70 Chevy C-10 with a 350/stick, a ’66 Chrysler 300 that one of my sisters had spilled milk in…and a ’68 Mustang convertible…all more or less simultaneously.
I’m going to say the Nova was traded on the truck…or maybe the Mustang. And the above-mentioned Buick stayed in the family as well.
They were as common as mosquitoes up here in Manitoba in the ’60’s, but I haven’t seen one in decades.
My mother had both a Falcon and a Chevy II, in fairly quick succession in the early mid-60’s…I don’t remember the order, just that there was a story of an acquaintance (who later became a Congressman, believe it or not) who borrowed the first car and wrecked it, leading to her getting the second. This was before I was born–I was brought home from the hospital in my parents’ ’68 Impala SS (327 coupe, like a previous poster’s).
Wow your mom knew Ted Kennedy?!?!?!?!? 😛
Sort of a small-time version of Ted…though I’ve never heard that he was inebriated. This was pre-Congress, too.
The 155 hp six was available on 1964 full-size cars and on the ’64 Chevelle, as well — Car Life actually tested the latter combination, and several ’64 full-size reviews mention the hotter six.
From the specs I’ve found, I suspect the extra power was a camshaft change. The 140 hp and 155 hp engines had the same horsepower peak (4,400 rpm), but the 140 hp engine had 220 lb-ft @ 1,600 rpm, while the hotter six had 215 hp @ 2,000 rpm. (I thought the 155 hp version might have had a 2V carburetor, but it appears not.)
I don’t know what the 155 hp engine cost as an option, but whatever it was, I imagine that was the problem. The 283 retailed for $108 more than the 140 hp six, so I suspect that if anyone expressed interest in spending a little extra for the more powerful six, it was pretty easy for salesmen to steer them to the V8 instead. (“Why, for only $2 more a month…”)
No mention of it in the full-size ’64 Chevrolet brochure: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1964_Chevrolet/1964_Chevrolet_Full_Size_Brochure/1964%20Chevrolet%20lg-14.html
I checked that; which is why I said that. On the other hand, the Encyclopedia of American Cars says it was optional across the board. Maybe a late addition after the full-size brochure went to press.
Motor Trend‘s review of the ’64 Impala mentions it as an option, although their car had a V8. Car and Driver‘s ’64 Chevelle review mentions that the A-body was available with the 155 hp six also optional on the big cars.
So, it sounds like at some point it was at least presented as a possibility, although whether any were actually built is another matter. It might have been an early announcement that was dropped before that brochure was printed, or a late announcement. (The problem with looking at brochures is that it’s often hard to know when they were printed, which is I suppose the reason for the “subject to change without notice” line…)
This isn’t about a ’64 Chevy II wagon. It’s about a brand new ’62 Chevy II. Six, three-on-the tree, 4dr sedan. Although you probably never would have thought to ask the question-no, they don’t float. Who knew?
My two sisters and I were on our annual “home leave” with my parents. We lived in Mexico City, Mexico and were on our way to western Illinois and Lowell, MA to visit my parent’s respective families in my father’s new ’61 Mercedes 190 with leather interior. It even had a rolled and pleated package shelf sewn from the same leather that the interior was fabbed from.
On our way north, we stopped in Texas City, TX to spend the night with one of my mother’s WWII fellow Navy nurses. When we arrived at my mother’s friend’s home, I met this family’s 14-year old daughter (I was 13). She wasn’t exactly a looker, but she did have a brand-new Chevy II to drive back and forth to school. That made her beautiful in my eyes. At the time you could actually get a license in Texas at 14 if you had to drive to school. So I suggested that we go out for a little tour. So my two sisters and I, along with our new-found friend, took off for an evening’s drive. She took us to “the dike”, a two-lane levee that extended into Galveston Bay for what purpose I don’t know. Maybe it was erosion control, or expanded fishing possibilities. I didn’t really care. But our newfound friend was suggestible, and I soon found myself behind the wheel of the Chevy II. I proceeded to demonstrate how to get prodigious amounts of rubber in first gear. How to catch rubber going into second, and how to determine just how much second gear was good for (about 70 mph). I then turned the car over to her.
We were doing about 70 on this slick two-lane road when she hit a pothole and the car decided to explore the limits of dynamic control. As it turned out, those limits were fairly low. After a succession of lurid slides, the little Chevy II decided to broadside the large granite boulders at the edges of the dike on the passenger side, uh, my side riding shotgun. Kaboomshah, and flip city. On the initial flip my two sisters and the driver were ejected (come on, this is 1962, no seat belts) from the car. I wasn’t quite so lucky. The car, in mid-piroutte, landed roof-on granite block, delivering my skull a real noogie. It was quite pleasant, actually, as as the car began to settle on the floor of Galveston Bay, my euphoria was disrupted by the inrushing fluids of the Bay. This was Dec 6, so the water wasn’t all that warm. It shook me out of my Tweetie Bird complacency. Lucky for me, the headlights hadn’t been taken out and were still on, despite the fact that the car was in about six feet of water. I could see that the shotgun-side window had been broken and was the best option for defying death, so I swam out of it. I broke out and surfaced, ta da!
My older sister required a buttload of stitches in her skull, but my younger sister didn’t have a scratch, nor did the driver of the car.
I lost a brand new Hush Puppy.
Kevin, great story. My Dad used to tell the story of my grandmother (owner of the Chevy II above) rolling a big old Dodge sedan back in the 30s. The neighbors helped turn it upright, and she drove him and his sisters home, with no injuries other than a dented roof and broken side windows, one of which destroyed one of his sneakers when his foot went through it. The things folks survived before seat belts, air bags, Nader, etc.
That certainly gets the Comment of the Day award. Wow; I guess our generation really was immortal.
No seatbelts no stability control traction control airbags its amazing we survived.
Well, at least you ruined someone’s Chevy II and not your dad’s Mercedes! Amazing story.
How do you think I learned how to burn rubber?
In 1966 I was employed by a public utility and my job involved the use of a 1965 Chevy 2 equipped with the 4 cylinder engine and 3 on the tree. It was a typical fleet car, white and no options other than a heater. We put between 15 and 20 thousand miles a year on them. Lots of high speed runs on the roads of south Texas. So they got years of abuse in a very short time. Other than the typical problematic Chevrolet 3 speed shifter they held up well. One time I was shifting out of first and the shifter hung up. The old trick of realigning the arms under the hood didn’t work and while trying to get out of first I snapped off the shift lever. Drove, stuck in 1st, several miles to the Chevy dealer in Pasadena and they repaired it on the service drive in about 10 minutes. This was apparently a common occurence since they were so efficient in repairing it. That 4 cylinder propelled that Chevy 2 quite well. I got it close to the century several times. Ah, the good old days.
The sweetest surf wagon among my friends was a ’64 Nova like pictured in blue above, with the 4-bbl 283 an four-on-the-floor. Yes, a four speed manual factory ordered by his dad in a station wagon!
Bought a white ’64 4-door with a tired 194 (?) six and PG, w/red interior, heater delete (in Hawaii) in 1991 or so. Finished the interior and started on some bodywork when a guy three houses down the street GIVES me his identical, white, ’64, four door, good-running 194 (?) six and PG, heater delete, (I think it had a blue interior), but lots of rust. The motor ran like a top, so a buddy and I borrowed an engine jack and swapped the two motors in the driveway. Gained the equivalent of three college credits in motorology, and still have trouble comprehending I had so much time for projects like this when I was single with no kids…
how can I tell if the motor I have is a 230? I have a 1964 acadian/beaumont. The motor is a six cylinder. thanks
As a kid i can remember Acadian/Beaumont cars for sale in Lendrums the London GM dealer.We always visited there every time we had a break in London.Oddly despite visiting there my parent’s only GM cars were Vauxhalls and their only American cars 2 Falcons and a Dart (all plain vanilla 6 pot sedans) our RHD Valiant was an Australian import,again a plain vanilla 6 pot sedan
This comment, unlike Kevin Martin’s above, isn’t even about a NEW ’62 Chevy II. It’s about a USED one that my Dad bought in 1965 or so.
It didn’t meet its end as colorfully, either.
This thing was from the midline “300” series, a white four door sedan with the “big” 194 Six and Powerglide. Red interior. AM radio. Power steering, manual brakes. On the dash was an odd device meant for smokers: the vacuum ashtray. Put your cigarette with dangling ash into its tiny receptacle and vacuum would suck off the ash and deposit it in a jar under the dash, which one could unscrew when full, to empty out. When you were ready, it would suck in the cigarette butt, too. It was a dealer-installed accessory in the 1956-1960 Chevrolets, but it didn’t sell all that well; so this one must have been a leftover installed in this Chevy II by its original selling dealer.
Nobody in the family smoked so we fed the vacuum ashtray with spit-wads, chewing gum, dead bugs, pocket lint and whatever else we could find. Truly this was the most interesting thing on a very boring car.
I remember Dad maneuvering the lightweight, power-steering Chevy II with one finger around street corners in San Francisco. That was the SECOND most interesting thing about it.
I said the Chevy II was boring, and it was. Driven primarily around town on trips of a mile or two, it usually didn’t have a chance to really warm up. But take it out on the highway for a while, even just outside the compact city limits of San Francisco, and the trip could get a lot less boring, if not actually entertaining, as the engine started to make funny thumping noises. Our usual destination on these trips was about ten miles away in Colma, where we’d park the car and go visit relatives (readers from the San Francisco Bay Area will realize that these were DEAD relatives, in some of the many cemeteries that were Colma’s claim to fame before the big Serramonte Shopping Center was built on the other side of the I-280 freeway). Once the Chevy II sat for a bit, the engine cooled and quieted down, but it would start complaining again on the way home, just shortly before we got there and the car was parked again.
Any car person with any experience would know that there was something seriously wrong with that Chevy II. I was not even a teenager yet, and I knew! But Dad kept driving it a couple of miles to and from work five days a week, shutting it down before the thumping began. Finally even he must have suspected that it was time to get rid of it, because he started shopping for a new car. Always a Chevy man, he settled on a 1967 Camaro, a stripper with the base 210hp 327 and an automatic transmission (this particular box had its woes, written about in my comment following the CC article, “Powerglide: A GM’s Greatest Hit Or Deadly Sin?”) but instead of trading the Chevy II, he decided to sell it privately because he could get a little more money that way. That “advantage” was blown shortly after the private sale because…you guessed it…the new owner wanted to drive it farther than Colma. The mighty 194 Six spun a bearing on his first drive past San Mateo, and he was mightily pissed.