To celebrate 100 years of Chevrolet, General Motors is releasing monthly newsletters about the highlights and bad times of the bowtie company. This month’s theme is the Sixties – a relatively successful decade for the company. It was the time when the American giant made big strides in vehicle and powertrain development.
Chevrolet introduced its Covair 95 range in 1961. The line-up featured a pick-up, panel van and a six-seater passenger van. This led the way for the more radically designed Monza two-door-based supercharged XP737 Sebring Spyder.
GM vice-president at the time, Bill Mitchell, was also working in his XP-755 Shark – later renamed the Mako Shark 1 – as a way of showcasing what the next Corvette was possibly going to look like. In that same year, the “big-block” V8 with a capacity of 6 702 cm3 was also introduced.
The year 1962 was the first one in which turbocharging was offered on the Covair motor. That year also saw the first small-block Chevy with a capacity of 5 358 cm3. Powertrain development was possibly the big thing for Chevrolet in 1962, but this was also the year of introduction for the Chevy II and the unveiling of the XP-785 Corvair Super Spyder concept, as well as the XP-777 Monza GT fastback coupé, designed by Larry Shinoda under the direction of Mitchell.
Bigger than the progress made with its powertrains was when Chevrolet got involved with the Chaparral sports racing car project, led by Jim Hall. This vehicle featured aerodynamic tweaks, a race-bred automatic transmission, and an adjustable rear wing and “sucker” ground effects.
The production version of the Corvette Sting Ray landed in 1963, while Chevrolet was also trying to flex its racing muscles with the Corvete Grand Sport developed by engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov. Only five examples of this car was built before the Bowtie backed off in deference to the Automobile Manufacturers Association’s (AMA) ban on factory sponsored racing. Despite this ban, however, Junior Johnson, armed with the “mystery motor” Chevrolet Impala, won seven Nascar races. Chevrolet celebrated a milestone when the 50-millionth Chevrolet was manufactured.
The Chevelle was introduced the following year in three series – 300, Malibu and Malibu SS – and, on the same platform, the El Camino pick-up reappeared. The Chevy Van and Sportvan passenger models also arrived. A highly customised Impala convertible show car called Toronado was displayed at the New York World Fair (the name was later used by Oldsmobile) along with the Super Nova, which had débuted a few months earlier at the city’s auto show. The millionth Corvair was built and an all-electric powered Electrovair, based on a Corvair platform, also appeared during the year.
The AMA ban did not seem to deter Chevrolet all that much. The company developed the mid-engined CERV II to race at Le Mans and Sebring. However, this ended up being a research vehicle for a super Corvette programme that was eventually cancelled. Chevrolet used a similarly configured Corvette GS II to test the company’s performance limits. Also for experimentation, the Corvette XP-819 with a water-cooled V8 behind the rear axle was developed.
In 1965, the Mako Shark II débuted in New York and Paris to reveal what the next-generation Corvette would look like. The Corvair received all-new styling, the Concours show car did the exhibition circuit and the tilt-cab Turbo-Titan III “Truck of Tomorrow” was revealed, powered by a 209 kW gas turbine engine. More conventionally, the Turbo Jet 396 high-performance V8 was released. Big news for SA was when the Impala was made available in South Africa and GMSA’s engine plant in Aloes was opened. The local company also held its first travelling Autorama in this year.
On the racing scene, the famous Roger Penske Sunoco-sponsored Chev Camaro, piloted by Mark Donohue, dominated the Trans-American Sedan Championship (TransAm) when it was created in 1966. Other developments for the company that year include the new Caprice that replaced the Impala as the top-of-the-line Chevrolet, and the introduction of the Electrovair II. At the Chicago Auto Show, the Caribe convertible – built on an Impala four-door platform – had a top that folded smoothly away into the bodywork under a tonneau.
A new Camaro appeared in 1967 and paced the Indy 500, but it was the introduction of the now-famous 350 ci (5 735 cm3) small-block V8 that would have the most lasting impact. A light-duty truck line-up was introduced that had no less than 35 different models on offer. The Chevy van-based Dream Camper II was shown, the mid-engined Astro I premiered at the New York Auto Show and the Caprice arrived on the South African market.
1968 was a relatively quiet year for the company. The biggest news that year was the Astro-Vette, a study in aerodynamics, which was shown to the public. The third-generation Corvette appeared, but Chevrolet had not given up on a mid-engined Corvette as the reveal of Astro II at the New York Auto Show proved. A massive flood in Port Elizabeth caused a lot of damage to GMSA’s products.
1969 saw the introduction of the Blazer SUV and the reveal of a gas-turbine Astro III concept, while a steam-powered Chevelle was shown at the Progress of Power Show. A Camaro SS paced the Indy 500.
The styling and design of the Mako Shark II changed to create the Manta Ray. Chevrolet became the worldwide sales leader after it sold 2 834 716 vehicles for the consecutive year. An infamous battle over safety played out. Instituted by political activist Ralph Nader, the Corvair range – 1,7-million cars and more than 79 000 trucks sold during its nine years of production – was controversially discontinued.
On the local front, the Holden-based Kommando and Constantia models arrived and soon became a local favourite along with the new CE/CS-Series one-ton pick-ups.
Next month, Chevrolet will follow the theme of “Back in Racing” – and some trendy awards.