1. 1936 Chevrolet Phaeton.
Adrian's father served in Aden during WW2 with 621 Squadron RAF, and fortunately he had a camera with him. Here he is shown stood alongside a very impressive machine, in the shape of a 1936 Chevrolet Phaeton, a large four-door five-seat touring car. Interestingly it is fitted with a pair of headlamp masks, more often seen on the (relatively few) vehicles that were still being driving during WW2 back in Britain.
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On the reverse of the photograph, an official "British Forces, Aden" censor has stamped a date of 7th July 1944 on it.
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The caption written beneath this photo in Adrian's album simply says "Tour of Crater"; Crater is one of the main districts in the city of Aden, situated within a crater from a volcano. At the time Aden was still a British colony.
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A number of outside companies produced a four-door cabriolet body on the Chevrolet running gear. These included Holden of Australia, and also Glaser of Belgium, although I think this is a factory-built example, possibly assembled at a GM plant outside of the USA. It's certainly a rare piece of kit and I hope that more information on this car comes forward over time. There's a photo of just such a car on this external link.
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This season's cars, available in either New Standard or New Master De Luxe guise, were powered by six-cylinder OHV engines. Factory literature of the time was understandably gushing in its enthusiasm for the new year's range, which included saloons (sedans) and coupes.
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2. 1936 Chevrolet saloon (sedan).
While cycling around the roads of Utrecht in 1958, Leo spotted the following 1936 saloon parked up. Aged 22 years at the time, the pre-war Chevrolet had gained many battle scars. The front wing in particular looks quite battered, while the wonky running board, missing hubcaps, tatty brightwork and drooping door handles, all add to the melancholy air surrounding this particular car. I wonder how many more years the venerable Chevy served, before being dispatched to the breaker's yard and, ultimately, the melting pot?
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3. A Master two-door sedan.
The car parked alongside these three gents appears to be a two-door example of the '36 Chevrolet series, if the side window arrangements are anything to go by. It's also RHD (right-hand drive). Perhaps the style of registration plate will give a clue as to this scene's location. Alas the reverse side of this print, often a useful place to study for more information regarding the subject(s) of the picture, is blank, bar a legend for "Leonar" photographic paper. This paper was produced by Leonar Werke AG in Hamburg, Germany (in addition to their own range of cameras), the company later becoming part of Agfa AG.
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I wonder if the car was photographed in South Africa? Cars there are RHD, and used a style of registration similar to that shown on this car. If so, the TO prefix points to the car being registered in Brakpan, from the Gauteng province of South Africa.
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Visit page 17 in the vintage gallery, or return to the gallery's main index page. Photographs of a 1935-season sedan can be found on this page of the site.
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