History of Chevrolet Trucks
Louis Chevrolet, a race-car driver, and William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors (GM), established the Chevrolet Company in 1911. Durant also helped establish the Buick Motor Company. He made Chevrolet famous through the company's promotional races. The Chevrolet Motor Company became part of GM in 1918 and introduced its first line of trucks to compete those produced by Ford.
Other People Are Reading
-
Model 490
-
The Model 490 Light Delivery Truck was a half-ton design based on the chassis of the 490 automobile. Its design was essentially the same as the car version. The vehicle retailed for $595.
The First Full Truck
-
Chevrolet's first fully-designed truck was the Ton Truck, which was released in 1918. It retailed for $1245. The buyer chose the chassis and the body he wanted, and the manufacturer put them together. Multiple colors and designs were available, which was still a rarity at that time.
-
V6
-
The engineers of Chevrolet changed the truck industry in 1929 by releasing the first 6-cylinder engine. It was a one-and-a-half ton truck with a 194-cubic-inch engine and a horsepower rating of 56.
Durable Designs
-
The first durable truck from Chevrolet was released in 1937. The one-ton model had a modern wheelbase length and a 216.5-cubic-inch, 6-cylinder engine. These trucks revolutionized the industry and changed the way Ford, Chevrolet's rival company, made its trucks.
Stylizing the Pickup
-
Chevrolet again changed the industry in 1967 with the release of different models and styles of its truck line. Consumers could choose among V6 and V8 engines, bed and cab sizes and turbo options. The engineers and designers also pioneered the modern look of a pickup truck, which helped make the truck a popular vehicle outside of work use.
-
Resources
- Photo Credit National Park Service, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1933_Chevrolet_trucks.jpg
