This Beautiful Example of a 1955 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery Was Built at
The Los Angeles California Plant Nov. 8th 1954. Sedan Delivery Models
were Sold as Chevrolet's Lightest Panel Truck. It Was Painted Shadow
Gray When Built With The Typical Fold Down Single Drivers Seat in Brown
Cloth.
Boyd Did a Ground Up Frame Off Restoration/Custom on The Sedan Delivery
in 1992, We Believe the Car had 31,000 Miles on it at That Time.
Chevrolet Built 10,639 Sedan Delivers in 1955, The Second Lowest
Production After the Nomad.
The Recent Owner Met Mr. Boyd at the S.E.M.A. Show in Las Vegas Several
Years ago. Mr. Boyd Said That This Sedan Had Been Built as a Show Car to
Look Like His Delivery Truck. It Has been on the Cover of Several
Magazines.
Sedan
Delivery is a
Two-Door Station Wagon with Solid Panels in Place of the Rear Side
Windows. Sedan Deliveries Were Almost Always Ordered From the Factory
With Few or No Options and Spartan Trim. They Were Used in the Same Way
a Delivery Van is Used Today, By Businesses Ranging From Plumbers to
Bakeries.
The
1949-1959 Chevrolet Sedan Deliveries Were Attractive and Dependable Work
Vehicles. From 1959 on the Sedan Delivery Was No Longer Practical; It
Was Phased Out in 1960 as a Chevrolet Model, So the Requisite Chevrolet
Body Was No Longer Available.
History
Chevrolet
Was Founded by Louis Chevrolet, a Race Car Driver and Son of Cooper
Chevrolet, and William Durant Founder of General Motors, Who Had Been
Forced From the Management of GM in 1910. Durant Took Over the Flint
Wagon Works, Incorporating Both the Mason and Little Companies.
Chevrolet Motor Car Co. Was Incorporated in November 1911. He Wanted to
Use Chevrolet's Name As A Racer to Rebuild His Own Reputation. As Head
of Buick Motor Company, Prior to Founding GM, Durant Had Hired Chevrolet
to Drive Buicks in Promotional Races. Actual Design Work For the First
Chevy, the Costly Series C Classic Six Was Drawn Up By Etienne Planche,
Following the Instructions of His Old Friend Louis. The First C
Prototype Was Ready Months Before Chevrolet Was Actually Incorporated.
Chevrolet
First Used It's "Bowtie Emblem" Logo in 1913. It is Said To Have Neen
Designed From Wallpaper Durant Once Saw in a French Hotel. More Recent
Research by Historian Ken Kaufmann Presents a Compelling Case That the
Logo is Based Upon a Logo For "Coalettes". Others Claim That the Design
Was a Stylized Swiss Cross, in Honor of the Homeland of Chevrolet's
Parents.
In Control,
Durant Was in the Process of Setting up Chevrolet Production Facilities
in Toronto, Canada. Later That Year, During a Luncheon Meeting in New
York With "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin, Whose McLaughlin Motor Car Company
Manufactured McLaughlin-Buick Cars, It Was Agreed That Chevrolets With
McLaughlin-Designed Bodies Would Be Added to the Canadian Company's
Product Line. Three Years Later, The Two Canada Operations (Chevrolet
Was By Then a Part of GM in the United States) Were Bought By GM to
Become General Motors of Canada Ltd.
By 1916,
Chevrolet Was Profitable Enough to Allow Durant to Buy a Majority of
Shares in GM. After the Deal Was Completed in 1917, Durant Was President
of General Motors, and Chevrolet Was Merged Into GM, Becoming a Separate
Division. In the 1918 Model Year, Chevrolet Introduced The Model D, a
V8-Powered Model in Four-Passenger Roadster and Five-Passenger Toured
Models. It Also Started Production of a Overhead Valve In-Line Six. Most
Cars of the Era Had Only Low Compression Flat Head Engines. These Cars
Had 288in. 55 hp (41 kW) Engines With Zenith Carburetors and Three-Speed
Transmissions.
Chevrolet
Had a Great Influence on the American Automobile Market During the
1950's and 1960's. In 1957, Chevy Made the First Fuel Injected Engine.
In 1963, One Out of Every Ten Cars Sold in the United States Was a
Chevrolet.
The Basic
Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 Design Has Remained in Continuous Production
Since it's Debut in 1955, Longer Than Any Other Mass-Produced Engine in
the World, Although Current Versions Share Few if Any Parts
Interchangeable With The Original. Descendants of the Basic Small-Block
OHV V-8 Design Platform in Production Today Have Been Much Modified With
Advances Such as Aluminum Block and Heads, Electronic Engine Management
and Sequential Port Fuel Injection, To Name But a Few. Descendants of
the Small-Block V-8 in the Form of The LT V-8s, Had Influence in the
Design of The LS V-8s, Both of Which Are Still Installed in Chevrolet
Vehicles. The Original Small-Block Design is Simplistic Compared to the
Overhead-Cam V-8 That Ford Motor Company Used and Continues to Use in
its Line of Larger Cars and Light Trucks. Depending on the Vehicle Type,
Chevrolet V-8s are Built in Displacements From 4.3 to 8.1 Liters With
Outputs Ranging From 110 Horsepower (82 kW) to 638 Horsepower (476 kW)
as Installed at the Factory. The Engine Design Has Also Been Used Over
the Years in GM Products Built and Sold Under the Pontiac, Oldsmobile,
Buick, Opel (Germany), Hummer and Holden (Australia) Nameplates. |
