Old Chevy Cars, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949

The Chevy Cars in the Forties

The Forties saw Chevy take off and pull away from its primary competitor Ford Motor Company.  The 1940 Special Deluxe Convertible Coupe was a Chevy's first, and they turned out almost 12,000 copies, which helped to beat out Ford by 200,000 cars. 1941 became a banner year for Chevrolet, as they celebrated their first million car production year.

The  design model Chevy for 1941 stayed basically the same right through 1948.  When World War II dictated that the production of civilian cars cease, the 1942 Chevrolet production ceased after about 250,000 units.  The 1942 Chevy Convertible and the 1942 Chevy Station Wagon have become real collector's items, as there were only about 1,000 of each produced. 

1942 also saw the introduction of the first Chevy  "Fastback" design, which was called the "Fleetline Aerosedan" in the two door model and the "Fleetline Sportmaster" in the four door version.  Both of these models featured a distinctive triple band of chrome on both the front and rear fenders.

Chevy lost the Ford vs. Chevy sales war in 1946, but retained it's number one position in both the 1947 and 1948 model years.  Post war Chevrolets for '46 to '48 remained look alikes to the 1941 models with the exception of minor grill treatments, and miscellaneous exterior trim additions.

Chevrolet played with an idea (at a cost of several million dollars) of producing a small more compact sized car, which they referred to as the Chevrolet "Cadet".  It was determined however, that there was no market for this type of car in the booming post war period, and the plans were put on the shelf.

1949 saw GM introduce its all new post war model line, with Chevy leading the way.  Although the new styling appeared to lengthen the Chevrolets, the wheelbase was actually an inch shorter than the 46-48 models.  The 49 Chevy's sported a new two piece bent glass windshield, swept back front fenders, and a suspension system that vastly improved the Chevy’s handling. There were two station wagons offered in 1949, an early year Woody, and then a mid-year all steel body, both weighing in at about 3,500 lbs.