Just Chevys: True Tales & Iconic Cars From America's No. 1 Automaker

CHAPTER 1

1917 CHEVY

Story by Gerald Perschbacher

1917’S ‘HOT ONE’

Chevrolet toyed with V-8 power long before the ’50s

This delightful Chevrolet D touring car carries the famous early V-8 engine. Chevrolet expert mechanic Rick Quirin of Belleville, Ill., admires the V-8 for its overall construction and performance.

When you’re hot, you’re hot! So it was with Chevrolet in 1917.

The Four-Ninety model as it is being built today, offers without exception the greatest car value of the 1917 season, said the Chevrolet sales manager for the Kansas City region. But there was more about which he bragged.

Sample ‘F’ models will be delivered, we believe, this month; sample ‘D’ models next month, or early in January.

Sample was his term for demonstrator, but there’s more to the story behind the models he delineated.

The Four-Ninety was the aggressive model for Chevrolet. It became the quantity leader for the brand, lowest priced in the entire lineup. The Four-Ninety was for the first-time car owner who had trouble spending mega bucks on fancy cars or who didn’t know a clutch from a throttle. Its cone clutch allowed for relatively easy shifting, as long as the leather portion was properly oiled and in good condition. The H-pattern shift was to become standard for nearly all American cars in future years. The Four-Ninety wasn’t as easy to drive as expensive cars five or more times its price, but it was a heck of a lot easier than working the controls and pedals of a Model T Ford.

The Four-Ninety rode on a wheelbase of 102 inches for 1917. That gave it spunk and maneuverability in tight spaces, especially for citified parking. The F series for 1917 came as the F2 (Royal Mail roadster) running a 108-inch wheelbase, and the F5 (Baby Grand touring) on the same stretch.

Chevrolet’s foray beyond fours

Until then, the Chevrolet line consisted of four-cylinder engines, but the top brains at the company wanted more. Chevrolet was settling in as top dog among General Motors brands, having joined the bunch in 1915. Call it a test, an experiment, a risk or a dream, but Chevrolet rolled out its D series for 1917. And it was a honey. Riding regally on a 120-inch wheelbase, the D came as chummy roadster and as touring car. But greatest of all, it carried a V-8 engine.

Twice as good as the lesser Chevrolets, you might reason. Well, why not? Cadillac had relinquished any desire for a four-cylinder car when it launched its new V-8 in 1914. The implication: the V-8 was double any four. Luxury marques, such as Packard, had jumped ahead of the pack in 1915 with the Twin Six, twice the performance of the luxury sixes that had dominated the market. Cadillac also hinted its extra two cylinders made any six as antiquated as a pair of spats at a hip-hop party.

Maybe the time for a V-8 wasn’t right for Chevrolet. Perhaps its engineering needed more tweaking. Its engine could have provided a mixed message that confused luxury with low-priced motoring. Might have been too much internal competition within GM. For these potential reasons and others unmentioned, the first-generation Chevrolet V-8 Model D quietly faded into history after the 1919 versions. Chevrolet would go back to the V-8 with the 1955 model year.

The Kansas City general manager was aiming to make 1917 a banner year. In polite form he wrote, If there is anything that writing can do which our dealers believe will aid them in any way at any time, do not hesitate to apprise him fully. We are strengthening our sales organization in every way and our service department is likewise being extended. We want satisfied Chevrolet owners everywhere, and it is the intention of this branch to see that they are satisfied.

Chevrolet’s key to success

An early element of success that was discovered too late by too many carmakers was so simple it was overlooked. It involved servicing the car. When buggies, wagons and carriages plied the roads, their service was usually handled by blacksmiths or some other local expert capable of the task. Wagon and carriage makers usually stayed out of such business and simply provided vehicles.

When cars came along, the task of servicing took remarkably different tact. The basics of wheels and axles could be easily handled by locals, but engines were a different matter. So were pneumatic tires, transmissions, clutches and magnetos. Now maintenance required knowledge, manuals, hands-on training. It also required accessibility to replacement parts. These factors put the automobile in a far different camp than buggies and carriages.

Car owners needed a support system. Some makers, weary just with the making of cars, seemed to think that someone out there would magically be imbued with the abilities to instigate a proper, long-lasting and safe repair. Those companies faded away quickly as owner loyalty drained with the first or second major repair.

Some companies offered little information on how to rebuild or install replacement parts. They felt as though some magic wand would wave above the head of a car owner once the purchase had been made. It wasn’t their responsibility as a carmaker, was it?

Companies that took this line of thought merely helped the rise of repair literature, such as the Dyke manuals of yore. Offered to the general public, these instructive tomes — often thick with well-illustrated pages of technical information, theories, schematics and tips — filled the gap by offering correspondence courses on every pertinent subject of motor maintenance, diagnostics and operational safety.

Successful makers took a radical route to train field personnel, via authorized dealers. It was the safer plan to follow — safer for car owners and safer for the manufacturer. It also encouraged ongoing contact with the owner, who might be a potential repeat customer when the time came to buy another car. However, in long-ranging applications, this last idea was still in the development stage in 1917. There were still numerous families that had yet to buy their first automobile.

Said the Kansas City manager, We are having service representatives in every state we control to instruct our dealers to take care of mechanical troubles as they find them, and in every way do what is necessary to build up the strongest and best liked sales and service policies of any automobile company in the country, barring none.

Chevrolet was the hot one for 1917. Positioning for the future, the marque was moving from success to success.

Some of the brand’s best years were yet to come, and those would be some of its hottest ever!

CHAPTER 2

1920 FOUR-NINETY

By Gerald Perschbacher

A LITTLE CHEVROLET BEAT PIKE’S PEAK IN 1920

Chevrolet proved the prowess of all of its 1920 models when William Bentrup took a stripped Chevrolet Four-Ninety up Pike’s Peak in record time for its class.

In the early 1800s, Pike’s Peak challenged explorers. Towering over the rugged southwest landscape, Zebulon Pike himself said the summit would never be conquered by man. Little did he realize that automobiles would reach the height about a century later.

By 1920, automakers saw Pike’s Peak as a challenge of endurance, performance and speed. The manufacturer that set a new record reaching the top would certainly revel in the light of positive publicity. This would equate to good sales as people flocked to dealerships to see the model that tamed a new speed record.

Thus, Chevrolet set out to conquer Pike’s Peak on Labor Day of 1920. By that year, thousands made the upward trek to the summit by car, enjoyed the spectacular view, and descended.

A Chevrolet official noted that the invention of the automobile was one of the greatest boons to mankind. The people reaching the top of the peak traveled in automobiles, the invention that is no respecter of obstacles and that has made its own roads over mountain, plain and valley in a manner that our forefathers never dreamed possible.

What assisted in the climb was the Pike’s Peak Automobile Highway, completed in 1915. Graded and wide enough for safe travel, it still posed a challenge for cars to set new ascent records. The road made a special competition event possible: the Penrose Cup Hill Climb, which made the road world famous. The road was not easy to traverse. It had numerous curves and W’s. The grade averaged 10 degrees and at times went as steep as 17.

The Weaver-Porter Co., Chevrolet dealers in Colorado Springs, Colo., had been getting such excellent reports from Chevrolet cars that had climbed the peak during the tourist season that they discussed the race with their chief mechanic, William Bentrup. He knew the road, reported Chevrolet’s home office. He also knew Chevrolet cars. He jumped at the opportunity to enter the event.

In times of good weather, there was little danger to life, and just as little danger for the company. If a car made good on the summit, glory was assured. Those that failed simply vanished into history. Given the factor for low risk, the chances were good for a Chevrolet to make a strong showing. Just finishing the run spoke well of any make, and if a Chevrolet could score in the top four or five cars, it was all the better.

Bentrup selected a stock Four-Ninety touring car. The model had been introduced for 1916 and had proved its merits in the hands of thousands of owners since. Four-Ninety Chevrolets had pulled hills, conquered streams, worked in fields, delivered doctors to house calls, hauled modest loads, and gave wings to family vacations hither and yon. By 1920, it had become a mainstay amid the General Motors lineup. In fact, it seemed to be the corporation’s future.

Bentrup’s Four-Ninety touring car had already run 7,000 miles in demonstration work and was stripped for action, an official reported. Certain modifications were allowed. Only the chassis was used. Wire wheels were installed. The gas tank was raised in front of the dash and the seat lowered lowered flush with the frame. No new bearings or parts were necessary, despite the punishment given a car in the trial tests up the steep and curved road.

The weather was far from good. In fact, at the foot of the mountain, the weather high up the peak appeared downright ominous. Clouds hid the peak summit on that day of the race, said the official Chevrolet report. It was only Sept. 6, but a blinding snow storm was raging, and a bitter wind blowing around the rocky cliffs 14,109 feet above sea level.

The Chevrolet took each sharp curve with ease, and got away again at full speed. Slippery curves where other drivers before him had skidded were negotiated with apparent ease.

In spite of conditions, about 3,000 motor cars lined the highway, and an estimated crowd of 10,000 onlookers were on hand to view the contest called the blue ribbon event of the West. Atop the mountain, hundreds of spectators were facing the blizzard just to have a prime seat to see the winner reach the terminus of the highway.

In 1920, there was an imposing list of entries, with factory experts from eastern motor centers and professional pilots at the wheels, stated an on-scene reporter. They practice for two weeks prior to the race. Bentrup made only two trial trips.

It was a time trial, which was still a speed race since the best speed meant the least time to the top. AAA monitored the race. Among contenders, the four-cylinder Chevrolet Four-Ninety drew the second to last position.

Every 10 minutes, a car would launch its bid for the top. Visually, each car was lost from sight due to pine trees along the road. At the end near the height of the peak, observers were communicating by telephone to officials at the starting line so everyone could know the results. It was a tense and exciting time.

Bentrup sped up the