1935 Chevrolet.
The following six photographs all feature one 1935-season Chevrolet Master DeLuxe, and its owner(s). I hoped that the car's registration number, TH 350, would help pinpoint the general area where these photographs were taken, and indeed more information has come to light. The car is righthand drive so that ruled out the USA, leaving Southern Australia as a likely candidate.
|
|
The first (printed on Selo paper, a British brand) is a front three-quarter view of the car, joined by a chirpy chap holding his hat while enjoying a smoke. Identifying features that confirm this car's date as 1935 include the style of grille, and the rear-hinged (suicide) front and rear doors. In this view the spare wheel cover is not in evidence, whereas in the remaining photographs it is fitted. Note the pinstriping applied to the road wheels. The spare wheel was, as standard, housed within the boot area, although fender mounting - shown here - was an optional extra.
|
| (Please click the thumbnails to view the full-size Chevrolet images.) |
|
|
|
Photograph number two is a side view, with a young child peering out of the driver's side window. This view was printed as a postcard.
|
|
|
|
The third picture in this collection, printed on Agfa-Lupex paper this time, isn't framed terribly well, but worth including all the same. Evidently the Chevrolet spent some of its time driving around rural areas.
|
|
|
|
Next is a great photograph of the (all-steel) Fisher-bodied car, parked, while its occupants enjoy a cup of tea and a snack from its trunk, or boot area. The lines of this large four-door car can clearly be seen. As in all the scenes, the car was kept in immaculate condition.
|
|
|
|
Here we once again see the Chevrolet with its trunk lid raised, although rather than food it provides a temporary home for three panting dogs. It looks like they're sheltering from the sun, rather than being released from the boot area after a journey shut in there. Note the twin boot lid handles and the large, single, rear lamp housing attached to it. The paper on this occasion is Leonar - a German brand.
|
|
|
|
The final image in this set of six is an idyllic scene at the side of a lake, on a bright sunny day. Three ladies pose for the cameraman. The single rear stop/tail lamp and rear licence plate fitted to the boot lid can be seen. Once again a different brand of photographic paper has been used - Velox.
|
|
|
|
In the advertising for this range of cars in 1935, they were touted as being "The Most Finely Balanced Low-Priced Car Ever Built". Other features highlighted in contemporary brochures included a front seat "adjustable with finger-tip control", the "two-position sun visor", and rear arm rests "equipped with built-in ash receptacles". The following sales-speak also featured:
|
|
"Chevrolet, with its Master De Luxe models for 1935, introduces a new and thrilling style to the low-price field ... a style so true to every artistic dictate as to win instant appreciation and exert enduring charm .... All lines flow unbrokenly from the high, narrow radiator, even the roof presenting a perfectly smooth surface ... The smooth roof lines flow into the sides which arch in pronounced and graceful contours .... The streamlining is carried out in the "V" windshield, which provides improved vision and helps to decrease wind resistance ... The new Master De Luxe models are longer - and notably lower in appearance .... It is fitting that such a car should provide the most luxurious riding ease known to the low-price field, as does the Master De Luxe through its employment of Knee-Action .... Power of performance throughout normal driving ranges is greater ... speed of acceleration is remarkably increased ... while heightened efficiency results in still finer economy of fuel and oil .... Chevrolet, in line with its policy of supplying quality transportation at low cost, has priced the Master De Luxe models so low as to leave no doubt of their extraordinary value."
|
|
Powering the Master De Luxe was a six cylinder overhead valve engine, and three-speed manual gearbox. In addition to the four-door Master De Luxe sedan, buyers could also choose a four-door Sport Sedan, a two-door Coach (on wire wheels), two-door Sedan, two-door Coupe, and two-door Sport Coupe.
|
More information on the car's registration.
As I'd hoped, more information regarding the car's location, based on the visible registration plate, has come to light - my thanks to Hugh Morgan for the following details.
|
|
"I have done some simple research which leads me to believe they may have been taken in the coastal regions of Northern NSW, Australia. Starting with the number plate. As you may know, each state in Aus issues its own number plates. Way back, early last century, the states got together and divided the alphabet between them, to avoid duplication of numbers. However numbering patterns differed between states. South Australia was allocated RAA.000 to TZZ.999. However it seems they never allocated plates with only two letters, so the Chev is almost certainly not a SA car. NSW, from 1924 to 1937, issued plates on a "NNN.NNN basis - ie with no letters. Then from 1937 to 1951 they changed to a AZ.NNN basis - ie two letters followed by three numbers. Hence my thinking that the Chev is a NSW car."
|
|
"But why was a 1935 car registered with 1937 (or later) plates? There are a few obvious reasons. Another theory - most American cars up to WW2 entered Australia as components, to be assembled here, with a high percentage of local bodywork. Chevs of that period were almost all assembled and bodied by the company "Holden Motor Body Works" (which was later bought out by GM and of course is part of the genesis of the Holden brand car). Australian-assembled vehicles often lagged behind their US counterparts by a year or two (I'm not quite sure why). Often too the Aus bodywork lacked fancy trim items, due to the low numbers assembled here. Also, parts were generally sourced from Canada, not USA, so sometimes differed slightly in detail."
|
|
"The reason I know all this is that it drives local restorers nuts - as they cannot be sure that a body part for a particular model, sourced in the US, will fit the local equivalent. So, whilst the car could be a 1935 model which, for some reason was not registered in NSW until 1937, it is also possible it was assembled in Aus in 1937, using slightly dated parts. Why do I think it lived in northern NSW? From the third photo, with the farmland background. I'm no agriculturalist, but I have a pretty good idea that the partly-harvested crop in the background is sugar cane. Which is only grown in the coastal areas of Northern NSW and Queensland. Of course they may have been on holidays in that region, but almost all the photos have a rural background."
|
|
Return to Page 17 in the vintage gallery.
|
|
A rare photo of the following year's four-door Phaeton model can now be found here, while the 1934 Convertible Coupe version may be found on this page here at OCC.
|
