This two-tone ’63 Chevy Biscayne enjoying the view of the surf caught my eye right away after a visit to the CC Cohort. It first glance I thought it might be California or Florida. But a closer look disabused me of that notion.
Given that it’s right hand drive, I was going to guess it’s a bit further away than that, like Australia or New Zealand (I’m not familiar with their license plates).
But when I went back to get the name of the poster (Pikesta), I saw that he also posted this shot of an elderly W114/115 Benz, with the caption “Early morning Table Mountain”. A quick trip to Google tells me that’s in Capetown, South Africa. Mystery solved.
ZA built Chevys were a popular import in to the UK in the 90s due to all being RHD and rust free.
More than 1 owner found still live deadly spiders in the trunk when they checked out after driving out the container!.
Beautiful picture and beautiful car. Me likey.
+1
Place the couple a little closer to the Chevy & you have a scenario ready for ad copy. I have an idea for amateur photographers: Real-life replicas of commercial ads (like Fitz & Van) from that period, such as at
http://fitz-art.com/galleries/1961/
Nice pix ! .
I miss my ’63 Biscayne four door stripper .
Cost me $130 in the mid 1970’s .
230 C.I.D. 6 Banger and a three speed with cobbled up T10 floor shifter so the pattern was reversed .
-Nate
Teenage memories.
That was the first US car I drove myself, even before I was old enough to get a license.
A local guy knew what I liked, so he filled the car up with his own kids and their freinds and took us all to the local factory parking lot, where we each took turns driving it.
It was a common practise for fathers, to take their kids practising there.
“See the S. of A. in your Chevrolet”?
What a beautiful car.
Braaivleis, Rugby, Sunny Skies and Chevrolet.
Interesting ad (and I had to look up what braaivleis are).
In browsing other Youtube ads I came across this one for Holden… same song, but the lyrics craftily changed to Australia-specific items instead of South Africa-specific items. “Holden Cars” replaced “Chevrolet,” kangaroos replaced sunny skies, etc. Pretty amusing that GM affiliates thousands of miles apart would change a song’s lyrics for an ad:
The ad jingle began in Australia for the HQ Holdens there was also a Kiwi version and of course a South Afriican version for their Chevrolet Holdens which oddly enough are unknown in Aussie but were sold in New Zealand.
I’m always surprised to see a civilian (non-fleet) Biscayne. The Bel Air was a mere $132 more for a 6-cylinder 4-door. I would also imagine that most dealers didn’t stock Biscaynes, so a buyer would have to special order one.
My guess that oversees sales would mainly be the low trim versions due to the income differences overseas.
There is also a matter of taste. In many countries they actually liked American cars, but found the amounts of chrome found on more higher trimmed models to be gaudy, excessive, vulgar, and in poor taste.
Some of those export Biscaynes had full leather interiors!
And Bel Airs too. My Aussie assembled ’63 Belair had the 283, ‘glide,
P/S, P/B, heater and the Impala’s 6 light rear end.
Aussie local content included leather seat facings NZ didnt the CKD packs varied depending on whick market they went to.
+1
Yeah, if you were buying sonething that size outside US/Canada, you presumably had money to burn.
$132 in 1963, adjusted for inflation would be over $1000 today. The people who bought these cars new were The Great Depression and WW2 generation. Many of them believed that the bottom would fall out of the economy again someday. Most of them were very wise with their money.
I see your point. My thriftier relatives drove Bel Airs in the later 60s. I think the dealership model had changed by then. You could find a Bel Air on the lot cheaper than ordering a Biscayne – dealers wanted to move what they had, rather than take an order.
Hardboiled: been channeling my Depression Era grandparents and parents thrift all my life. And yes, I do believe the bottom will drop out of the economy again someday. Soon.
Best of the day to ya.
You need to remember, in 1962 or 1963 $132 was more than a week’s wages for a lot of people in the USA – maybe a month’s pay, for those foreign-market customers – and, when financed over 36 payments (Lord, those were the days!) the extra money was worth half a week’s worth of groceries Stateside.
Besides, getting back to basics – many people back then just wanted basic transportation. My dad owned more than one car which had an AM radio so he could tune into WTIC AM-1080 and listen to his beloved Bob Steele out of Hartford every morning on the way in to work…and his Ramblers had heaters for the winter weather (it’s why he stopped buying VW Beetles!) but power steering? Power brakes? Power windows? Fie on that. (Interesting note: most AM radios had five or six preset station buttons…Dad’s cars only had one button preset to WTIC. If he ever listened to anything else, like WSPR or WBZ – one would never know.)
Anyhow…if two virtually identical cars were available for sale in the same city, and one had a few more creature comforts or gadgets? – Fuhgeddaboutit. Dad would buy the less expensive of the two, and never look back. That was the Depression-era survivor in him, and many thousands of others as well.
That Biscayne puts me right back to the day when these were everywhere. Right now I can still hear the starter engaging and that 230 shaking to life.
I was not a 6 cylinder fan by any stretch of the imagination. But in my town a couple of these had 283’s, one with the 2 speed auto and the other a 3 on the tree. Everything about those 283’s sounded right. I ended up buying and selling at least half a dozen of these x-frames, though none were modle year ’63. But they all either had with a 283 or I put one in.
This picture perfectly takes me back there.
These cheaper BelAirs and Biscaynes really were everywhere back in the day. I recall my grandparents owing first a 1962 Biscayne 2-door sedan, followed by a 1967 Biscayne 4-door sedan. The only options they ordered were the 283 V-8, overdrive and a pushbutton AM radio.
Sounds just right to me!
Indeed, these (and their Ford equivalents) were thick on the ground when I was in high school (class of 1969). An early sixties Chevy, with either the 283 or 327, was the golden grail for many high school students. They were produced in such numbers that they were available cheaply, and spare parts were easily available, for not much money. If one was so inclined the basic SBC could readily be modified for more power, or at least more noise. Almost everyone from my era has spent considerable time in early sixties Chevrolets.
I didn’t realize there was an overdrive option on these cars. Interesting. Was it available with the 2 spd auto? That would’ve made quite a difference on that power train.
Overdrive as I recall was available only with the 3-speed manual.
’63 Biscayne I shot in Ubud, Bali last summer.
Ah for the days when GM cars were the standard by which other cars were judged. They might be better or worse, but they were measured against their GM counterpart. Today, the standard is Toyota but I still hope for ‘the return of the king’ someday.
Hmmm… Full size Chevrolets were luxury cars when I was growing up in Israel in the 60s, regardless of which trim option or engine size; things like Novas were the equivalents of the highest spec Toyota Avensis or similar these days.
That may still leave room for the low trim. I think the bottom of the line MB 240D was always one of their bestsellers in the USA.
Yeah certainly not NZ the plates are wrong and Biscaynes werent assembled here only really Bel airs and mostly V8s 1960 being the first automatics.
Hi Paul, thank you for picking up on my picture! Im a bit late to the conversation but find attached a scan of the ’63 price list from Car Magazine, South Africa, to see Biscayne models available – Car Magazine is still going strong, not to be confused with the UK Car Magazine.
Wow. Rover 3 litres were expensive!
Before ’65-’66, the Bel Air was the ‘mid line’ trim, so the “B’s” were more common than later years.
The ’63 looks just right even as a post sedan. And the deep-dish color matched steelies with caps seal the deal. Very nice.