In this fine old promotional reel from General Motors, the 1950 Chevrolet and its body by Fisher take a turn in the spotlight—with a spectacular stunt you won’t want to miss.
GM’s favorite film studio, the Jam Handy Organization of Detroit, produced this short movie pitching the 1950 Chevrolet line and its body by Fisher. And for hardcore gearheads, this is the good stuff: Check out the many insightful details on the on the body shell’s design, construction, and manufacture (for example the robust B-pillar assembly). And there are some fascinating glimpses of the engineering methods of the time, including repetitive wear rigs and stroboscopic analysis. Here it is, is the state of the art in body manufacturing circa 1950.
However, the big gee-whiz moment of the film is teased in the very first scene, and then finally delivered at around the 9:45 mark. At the GM Proving Grounds, a new four-door Chevy sedan is deliberately barrel-rolled to show off the stoutness of the body’s construction. There’s no business like show business.
Now if we could only buy such a Chevrolet today
I was an active car buyer and mostly Ford supporter during the time period in which these guy select the worst Fords built, and I pretty much agree that the list they ended up agreeing upon is correct…..maybe with the exception of the Ford GT which was not built in quantity and not ever produced for general consumption…..well, you know. The Pinto for the time was actually pretty good in that it came out just before the gas crisis and if you owned one (like I did – a 74 model), you got pretty good mileage in a very inexpensive car, so you were winning on both accounts. The only significant issue was the car was very light in the rear and traction on steep gravel roads was just dangerous. I replaced the narrow standard tires with the widest I could find to fit. Problem solved.