Recently I was perusing the collection at oldcarbrochures.com and stumbled upon a few things that were too good to not share.
For a long time at CC, there has been the fascination with Australia being a parallel automotive universe to that of the United States. Likely those in Australia feel similarly, seeing our stuff and saying how it looks close but not quite to what they are accustomed to seeing. It’s all in one’s perspective.
So let’s take a look at a few Chevrolets. There’s just enough to make a person smile from the differences.
The earliest year shown for Chevrolet is 1934 and even then the utes are in full blossom. Note the variety of body styles and how one could get their ute with or without a steel roof.
Seeing the interior of this 1939 Chevrolet prompted a realization. In the various brochures I’ve seen, sometimes the gear shift/selector is on the right side of the steering column and other times it is on the left.
Credit goes to the Aussies for being an ambidextrous people.
The 1958 Biscayne was identical to what was sold in North America although the sole drivetrain was a 235 cubic inch straight six with a three-speed manual. The gear shift was on the left.
By 1960 the 283 cubic inch V8 was onboard as were amber lenses over half the tail lights.
Ditto for the 1961 Bel-Air.
While this had been the case since 1962 or 1963, notice this 1965 Bel-Air. There are several fundamental differences to be found in this picture and it revolves around this basic question: When did you last see a Bel-Air with three tail lights per side? Also, for the 1965 Chevrolet, the reverse lights were the most inboard lights whereas in North America they were in the center of the three. Similar could be found on the 1964 Australian Chevrolets.
The gear selector for the Powerglide had been on the right side of the steering column for a few years by 1965.
This 1966 Chevrolet ad touts the uncluttered rear of the new Chevrolet. However, for North American calibrated eyes, those tacked-on amber turn signals make a mockery of the uncluttered claim.
They bring to mind the erupting nubbin of a sheep’s horn.
That improved mightily for 1967.
The beauty rings with the dog-dish hubcaps do make for a rather pleasing and surprisingly elegant looking combination.
The brochures then jump to 1977 and cease with 1979. These last three years are for pickups. Despite the Victoria plates on the red pickup, this ad is identical to what could have been seen in North America. I suppose methods of touting the stamina of one’s pickup has no regional differences.
If you like this there is plenty more to offer.
I thought the first US Chevy with a column shift was 1940…but I’m probably confusing that with the regrettable vacuum assist, which I believe was new for 1940.
Cool, the vast selection of utes. Wish they’d have offered some of those here in the USA – with left-hand drive of course.
Interesting that these were sold alongside their more-suited-for-down-under Holden siblings.
30s Chevs in New Zealand were floor shift but we got Canadian/US cars assembled here not Aussie built versions except for some utes.
GMH down under had four main brands locally built, Pontiac Chevrolet Vauxhall and Holden in descending price order, Holden was the last brand developed but it took to the market well, they were cheap and fairly durable though quite agricultural compared to the others, once an upmarket model the Premier was brought on stream the other brands sales began to fade and were eventually dropped altogether, Chevys were considered a luxury car but were not as well equipped as the Premiers and Vauxhalls stagnated at 1964 levels untill 67, GMH didnt build any subsequent large Vauxhalls.
I believe you are mistaken – those are the current line up of Chevrolet cars being offered in Australia.
You failed to complete the text in the 1960 ad – “almost as good as an American car, but we had to screw it up with right hand drive and goofy amber tail lights to make the nannies in Canberra happy”
(Lets see who in that part of the world reads Curbside!)
Yeah, nah, i agree with the nannies on this one. Red turn signals are silly. A Mustang or CTS may look prettier with them but amber rear signals make a lot more sense.
The amber rear turn signals looked even more tacked-on in 1959 than 1966:
Yeah, but they were so cool, like little bats hanging upside down!
And pre-dated the ’61 Exner Imperials!
I love the 61 brochure. Growing up in the US “The Look Of Luxury” was not compatible with poverty caps, blackwall tires and two taillights per side.
Or the standard six, or even the 195-hp V8.
JP to get whitewall tyres from the factory you had to order them they only came standard with automatic transmission, Another thing missed in this article Aussie Chevs were high trim Del-ray four doors badged Bel-air leather sear facings fitted for the luxury look. For real Bel-airs and 4 door Impalas you needed to cross the ditch to NZ. WE got V8s from 56 onwards and automatics arrived in 60.
And in the U.S., the Delray was the lowest trim in 1958. It had started out as an upgrade package for the middle series, the 210. In 1959, the Biscayne became the lowest trim series.
Right, 54-57 it was a special vinyl interior option on the 210 Club Coupe. (Grew up with a ’54) In ’58 – it’s last year – it was the penalty box model. I guess it’s just another example of how the other side of the equator was a semi-parallel universe.
Fascinating! Those little nubbins on the back of the ’66 are frankly disturbing though.
Those little nubbins are the only round styling element on the back of a very squarely styled car. Yuck!
I wonder if they would look a bit less disturbing on a ’65?
My uncle had one of them, and at the time it never occurred to me that there was anything odd about them. But then various American cars had had the amber pimples added to the rear in one place or another: Pontiacs, Dodges….
The GMC truck used in the TV show “The Fall Guy” broke pretty much every time it caught air. My Chevy (Isuzu) LUV never broke; It did, however pop the back window out of the cab once after a really hard landing; the type you shouldn’t try at home. Yes I wanted to be a stunt person for a time in my life, until I realized pain actually hurts
Interesting to note while GM stopped to sold Pontiac and Chevrolet in Australia until 1968 while Ford continued to bring the full-size Galaxie until 1972. http://oldcarbrochures.org/Australia/Ford/Ford/1972-Ford-Galaxie-Folder/index.html
Australian Pontiacs are “Cheviac” or “Ponvrolet” with Chevrolet interiors and drivetrains like their Canadian cousins.
http://oldcarbrochures.org/Australia/Pontiac/1966%20Pontiac%20-%20Australia/index.html
By ’68, the Holden had got bigger (though not US fullsize) and flasher and could be had with a V8, so the Chevs became only available on special order. There was more profit in an optioned-up local.
The biggest locally manufactured Ford was the US ’66-sized Fairlane until ’72, when a larger local Fairlane got rid of the need for the Galaxies.
In one of the illustrations (front end) on the spiral-bound ‘65 sheet, it shows a car with what appears to be 3 different colors. Is this my eyes or monitor, or is it to highlight something?
I had to look close, but I found it. Not sure what the purpose would be. Mistake in printing?
The ’39 is interesting. Reversal didn’t reverse everything, so the center hump ended up with three little pedals together. Starter, dimmer, and ??? windshield washer ???
I was thinking that this would make heel-toe starting impossible, but this way would probably be easier. Left on the starter, right on the gas.
When I zoomed in, it looked like two pedals, one being the dimmer switch, and the other (with a rubber pleated boot on it) the starter pedal.
When I was driving a U.S. ’41 Chevy many years ago, the starter pedal was far enough away from the accelerator to make heel-toe starting impossible. If the engine was cold, I used the manual choke and the hand throttle. Those were the days….
Before my time, my parents had a ’38 Olds (until 1962). Now, this was fine for 6ft dad. But mum was only 5’2″, and all her height was in her body. If she stalled the behemoth in traffic, she had to slide over to the middle to reach that LHD starter pedal, departing from the driving position entirely. No wonder she didn’t drive far or much.
She one day got it stuck on a traffic island at the shops a mile or so from home whilst performing the restart shuffle, so she abandoned it. A kindly shop-keeper drove it home for her – now that’s home delivery! – and she wouldn’t drive it again.
Mum was never much interested in driving, even, it must be said, while doing it. But with a start like that Olds, I never blamed her!
My father ran a used 37 Chev for about 7 years replacing it with a new 54 Vauxhall he kept 10 years he had the rust cut of the chev and the Vauxhall he never kept a car longer than 18 months after that mum learned to drive in a 36 Chevy coupe and had no problems with the 37 sedan NZ cars all had full RHD nothing left over on the wrong side
From what I understand, all the GM cars that went to Australia came from GM Canada as CKD kits. There were preferential tariff agreements between Commonwealth countries, so importing from Canada made sense. Same for South Africa, too.
Perhaps the article can be renamed, “Canadians Downunder.”
Almost NZ got CKD kits, Australia got Chassis local body mabufacture was lergilated in the 20s
That’s not a bad observation about “Canadians Down Under”.
I suppose one in the U.S. could counter that a Toyota Camry is still referred to as being Japanese due to Toyota being based in Japan despite the Camry being built in the U.S. It may be splitting hairs and semantics, but hey I do what I can.
Having started on the Ford portion, that one is much dicier very quickly. Maybe I should do Dodge first. Ford presents a multitude of rat holes to discover, one of which is truly fascinating. More to come on that one.
Nice teaser on ‘that one’, Jason. Looking forward to it. Yes, please keep these coming.
I remember my first time driving a right-hooker car in Melbourne a long time ago. I had to look at where the ignition lock, turn signal indicators stalk, and automatic gearbox selector first. The car I drove was a large 1970s Toyota and had everything mirrored to the right. I realised how much I prefer the ignition lock on the left side of the steering column in the right-hand-drive. Why? I could use my left hand to unlock the door and to turn the key.
The second RHD car I drove was a 1980s Opel Kadett in the UK. Everything was in the same place for both LHD and RHD, including turn signal indicator stalk on the left side. I hated it because I couldn’t shift the gears and switch the turn signal at the same time with my left hand.
Here’s better photo of export taillamps on Chevrolet Impala.
And that’s what they should’ve done with the ‘66, instead of those tacked on round turn signal indicators.
Chevrolet wasn’t only one rushing to the J.C. Whitney and scooping up the amber nubbins. Pontiac did the same with its Trans Am for Europe…
All the RHD cars I’ve driven in the UK have had common control placement with the LHD cars I’ve been driving all my life. Except for the parking brake, seatbelt, and door handle. I realized that I’m a slow learner after I hit my passenger for about the tenth time reaching for the seatbelt … then scraped my knuckles on the door panel reaching for the parking brake.
I also hit the B-pillar when looking back for reversing. Ouchie!
The one time I drove outside the USA (in Scotland) I for some reason thought ALL the controls would be “mirrored” from what I was used to, so gas pedal up against the trans tunnel, and clutch by the door is what I was expecting. I even practiced using my “wrong feet” to work the pedals for weeks before I got there. I was pleasantly suprised when I got my rental car (A Vauxhall) and everything was pretty familiar. I don’t think the rental guy believed me that I’d driven a 3-pedal car before, though-he must have asked me about a dozen times that I knew it wasn’t an automatic before he handed me the keys…
Not only did the ’65 Bel Air have three lights but also genuine leather upholstery and wool carpets. Leather in a 60’s Chevy, wow!
See comment above Aussie Chevs were Del-rays badged Bel-air.
They sold against the big Humbers and Rovers, so leather was expected. With Holden doing the assembly it was easy to upgrade the trim.
Yes, please! Especially more views of the local equipment—RHD dashboards and amber rear turn signals and suchlike.
Speaking of which (because I can’t ever resist): it is surprising they went to the expense of putting triple taillights on the ’65 like that. They could have got away with just two colours—therefore just two lamps—on each side, as Australia’s and New Zealand’s regs permitted the amber rear turn signals to also provide the reversing lamp function,* and many American- or quasi-American vehicles were configured that way. And the thrown-on amber signals on the ’66 (like those on the ’59) are pathetic and sloppy when they could have made one of the red taillight’s sections amber instead, as they did in ’67. I’d like to see what they did for rear indicators on those ’70s trucks; I’m guessing some kind of thrown-on afterthought—perhaps something like the ugly chrome ones Ford tossed on countless US-body vehicles in countries requiring amber signals.
*Here’s a video. Basically it’s just like an American combination brake/turn light, only the combined functions are turn/reverse:
Dont confuse New Zealand with Australia when it comes to lighting regs big mistake NZ has none other than left dipping headlights we never had the little add on amber lights mandated in OZ red flashing rear indicators are common here on trucks/trailers even now, Aussie locally built Chevs always fascinated my father when he saw them so different from the US/Canadian models New Zealand had he worked at a Chevrolet Vauxhall Bedford dealership since leaving school in the 30s.
There is a great deal of overlap between NZ’s and Australia’s regulations; the main difference is that NZ accepts more foreign standards than Australia. Both countries require left-traffic headlamps. NZ allows red rear turn signals, but only on certain classes of vehicles (trucks/trailers)—the NZ regulators are slowly working on closing that loophole—and on privately-imported vehicles originally equipped with red.
Daniel,
Brazilian lighting might be interesting also in that respect.
The Corcel (based on the Renault 12) had up to the early ’80s a typically American rear light arrangement, with large red rectangles outboard as brake/turn/running lights and inboard white reversing lights.
However, the sedan version, known as the Del Rey, had separate amber turn lights…but when you turned on the four hazard indicators, the brake lights would turn on instead of the turn indicators.
Corcel rear lights
Del Rey rear lights
When I visit Brazil in 2016, I saw new Ford Fusion saloon loose on the street. The rear turn signal indicators flashed red through clear lens like American version. At first, it was just one Fusion probably imported from the US, then I saw several more Fusions with that configuration. That confused me because Brazil subscribes to the UNECE regulations.
I saw similar Fusions in Argentina that flash amber instead.
The Fusion red turn signal is an exception due the trade deal between Brazil and Mexico. But other cars imported from Mexico and the USA have orange turn signal, the Mustang come with a mix of US and Euro specifications, for instance
Oliver, Brazil has not actually adopted the UN Regulations for vehicles and components. It’s not a matter of subscription or lack of it; there’s no provision for subscription. Brazil is not a contracting party to the 1958 Agreement, so they can’t issue type-approvals and aren’t obliged to recognise any other countries’ type-approvals to any of the UN Regulations, including those on lighting. That doesn’t mean Brazil prohibits UN-spec cars and components; one way or another they allow a lot of those cars and equipment—this could be because their national regs incorporate the UN Regs’ technical prescriptions by duplication (as in the case of Australia’s ADRs) or by reference…it could be because their national regs don’t specify much in the way of specific performance requirements…it could be because their national regs don’t exist (as in the case of Mexico).
Yes, Brazil and Argentina are interesting cases with regard to vehicle lighting, in that a various mix of US and UN (“European”) principles and provisions are allowed. This document contains a list of countries that accept both the US and the UN standards (and also has the automakers acknowledging there’s no categorical safety benefit to one system over the other). Argentina’s on the list and Brazil isn’t, but it’s not presented as an exhaustive list. From time to time I’ve tried—admittedly not very hard—but I haven’t found the actual regulations for either of those two countries.
Observationally, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of consistency or reason to what’s permitted and what’s not. The Chevrolet Silverado (GMT-400, the ones sold in the US from ’88-’98) down there, for example, was equipped with UN-spec front and rear lighting made in Brazil by Arteb. European headlamps, amber rear turn signals, etc. The Ford F-series trucks down there had UN-spec front and rear lighting made by Cibie do Brasil and Cibie Argentina. The Rams and Durangos and various other Chrysler products have switched back and forth between US- and UN-spec lighting, seemingly at random. The Chrysler Spirit, sourced from Mexico, was sold in Argentina with a US-spec lighting system. About the only guess I can make is that it’s a volume-based threshold: import fewer than “x” many vehicles of a type, and they can have US-spec lighting, otherwise the authorities want UN-type lights. There’s a fair number of countries with that kind of rule. But that’s just a guess on my part.
Why would that ’67 have both wipers heading to the center? American Chevrolets had their wipers bolted at the left side since ’61 IIRC. I know, I have an OCD with wipers, starting switches and other things like that. After all, one of the most common GM spare parts is probably the column mounted chrome switch.
They probably retained “clap hands” wipers for RHD markets rather than designing mirror-image parallel wipers.
Your obsession is healthy. Nothing to worry.
Everyone has his or her own obsession about certain automotive parts. Mine is headlamps and taillamps, especially the domestic and export versions of American vehicles.
Chevs (and big US stuff generally) were loved here. They were so well-suited to the tough conditions. Unfortunately, the system of tariffs meant they could really only come in in packages (or earlier, as chassis) and even with local assembly, they were comparatively expensive. Further, petrol has never been cheap, which was a considerable further inhibition to their sales. Only those doing quite well could afford them.
Worse, due to a view that “home” was England and all that Empire rot, the plebs all puttered along in órrible little English pong-boxes that were entirely unsuited to distances or heat or dust. Or moving for long. They all wore out in no time whilst performing the same service for the occupants.
With this in mind, you can understand some of the odd specs you see in the post-war models above. GM had bought the Holden bodymakers in the late ’20’s, and with government assistance after the war, started the brand as a whole car in ’48. It was a raging success, partly because of nationalism and protectionism, but in big part too because it was smaller version of good old US engineering, good for at least 60k miles before an overhaul, used at 60mph+ over all roads.
The big US stuff was sensibly kept in low volume assembly, and could sell a bit upmarket for those who could afford it. Hence a a leather-seated Bel Air, or a “top of the range” 6cyl Powerglide Chev without aircon or fast glass or even a radio. A topsy-turvy thing result but of explicable and prosaic origins.
Incidentally, the preferential tariff arrangements with other enslaved nations on the blood-red-painted areas of the globe, I’m sorry, with fellow British objects, sorry, subjects, meant that the Chevs indeed came from Canada, and the entire local Ford operation was always a subsidiary of Ford Canada.
One other thing. To give an idea of how these ordinary old commuter Chevs were rated here, the very well-to-do 17th Prime Minister of Australia drove not a Caddy or Rolls but the exact car in the first photo.
One hot day just before Christmas in 1967, he drove it to a private beach near Melbourne, parked it and swam into the surf – never to be seen again.
(As a side note, the next year they named a swimming pool complex in suburban Melbourne in his honour. I am not kidding. It still exists, the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre. And you thought a Chev with amber tail boobs was wrong….)
NZ also had a Chevy ministerial fleet in black no AC but its slightly cooler here.
Justy, I think he drove a Pontiac Parisienne to the beach, easy to get confused as he drove it to Cheviot Beach.
Absolutely correct, jonco.
Another oddity: My Australian assembled ’67 Impala Sport Sedan had the Caprice rear bumper with reversing lights in it.