See a thrilling car chase between two 1940 Chevrolets and a railroad train in this wild Jam Handy film.

In its 30 years of producing promotional flms for the Chevrolet division of General Motors, Jam Handy came up with some imaginative story lines, but we think this one might take the cake. The story in a nutshell: In the fancy office of a Hollywood film studio, a bigshot producer and his writers are brainstorming a dramatic car chase scene. (From the characterizations, it appears the Jam Handy crew in Detroit was having some fun lampooning their counterparts in the West coast movie biz.) Eventually, one of the writers takes over the conversation and works out a thrill-packed chase scene involving two new Chevrolets and a speeding freight train, which we get to see play out on the screen.

Of course, the takeaway for us viewers in watching two stunt drivers beating the tar out of a pair of two-door Town Sedans, jumping cattle ramps and racing railroad trains, is that the 1940 Chevrolet is a rugged and reliable automobile. And many Americans agreed, evidently, as Chevrolet handily outsold archrival Ford that year by more than 200,000 vehicles. Buyers were no doubt sold on the modern independent front suspension (Chevy had ditched the quirky Dubonnet system in ’39) and the peppy 85-hp overhead-valve six. Enjoy the movie.