Design for Dreaming

Corvette Sting Ray circa 1965 from a Chevrolet photo gallery at the Daily Beast


Your Head Trucker notes that Chevrolet celebrated its 100th anniversary last month.  To help them celebrate, here's a few films made by General Motors in years past, maybe you'll get a kick out of them like I did.

Chevrolet Leader News from 1938, one of a series of public-relations films featuring several short, amusing items, including a pipe-smoking cow:



Here's your chance to see what 1955 looked like in these TV commercials from Chevrolet:



And this highly innovative - if very, um, campy - song-and-dance number comes from the 1956 GM Motorama held in New York, featuring production models, concept cars, haute couture, and Frigidaire's Kitchen of the Future:

See the USA in Your Chevrolet

The beginning of the tune is familiar to us ol' boys of a certain age, but do you know the next line of it?  Can you sing a whole stanza? 

I thought not.  Well, here's Miss Dinah Shore to give you the complete lyrics in her lovely way from 1952:



Dinah was the face of Chevrolet to TV viewers for years. Here's another Chevy commercial she did a few years later, with a less-memorable song but some cool shots of a '59 Impala:



And I can't help remembering the famous Hertz jingle too, with the magical ending:

WTF: Chevy Is a Four-Letter Word

Just when I was thinking it might be safe to get back in the water, here comes yet another jaw-dropping example of human pissiness and prissiness.

Perhaps this is old news to you fellas, but here in Greater Podunk we just got word of the mindless diktat which will no doubt become infamous for all time to come:  Chevy, "one of the world’s best-known, longest-lived product nicknames," so the NYT calls it, is now a taboo word for all Chevrolet employees, whether at work - or at home.  Strictly verboten.  Whether talking to colleagues, customers, or even your children in the privacy of your own home. 

Employees who break the rule at work have to put a quarter in the cuss jar each time; proceeds will be used for "team building" activities.  Which makes me want to throw up.

And just why should this be, you ask?  From the company's own memo:

When you look at the most recognized brands throughout the world, such as Coke or Apple, for instance, one of the things they all focus on is the consistency of their branding.  Why is this consistency so important? The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer.

I'm not making this up.  Swear to God.  Never mind the fact that Chevy has been extremely prominent and eminently recognizable for the last hundred fucking years, just like, um . . . Coke.  Ya know?

Ah, but the world never tires of reinventing the wheel, and every fresh generation thinks they are the first ones to come off the line with built-in brains as standard equipment.  But this folly surpasses even the Edsel.  It's right up there with New Coke.  Remember that one, fellas?

If GM is wanting to torpedo their biggest division . . . goll-ee Moses, I reckon they're halfway there already.

Frank - be nice now, no gloating.

Truck Porn: 2007 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab

High, wide, and handsome. Woof.