Chevrolet is marking its 100th anniversary this week. To celebrate, we’re republishing two posts per day from our blog archives, each one plucked from a different decade of the marque’s long existence.
Well! It’s been an interesting century, hasn’t it? In a few months, the calendar will tick over to 1999. Everyone and their mother is playing that stupid Prince song, O.J. is still on the search for Nicole’s real killer—that will work out, we have faith—and you might have found our Internet Web Site by searching on something called Goggle Google. And people are saying Apple Computer is going to be relevant again. Riiiight.
So the century ends. Whither the bow tie? Back in the day, Chevrolet tweaked its entire lineup every year. Here, we get half effort. The Corvette line gains a new, lighter and cheaper hardtop coupe; Camaro Z28s and SSs now have a standard Torsen limited-slip. The big focus is on Chevy trucks and SUVs, which are selling so well, you’d think fuel is close to a buck a gallon. (Oh, wait. It is.) An all-new Silverado arrives this fall, along with a new Tracker and TrailBlazer model. The only major change to Chevy’s car lineup is the arrival of the bi-fuel Cavalier sedan, a version of the four-door Cav that can run on either gasoline or compressed natural gas. Thankfully, you can still buy the (aging) F-body Camaro. It’s a good, or at least entertaining, car that makes up for . . . well, that makes up for the Cavalier.
All things considered, the company’s position is interesting. In just over a decade, Chevrolet will be 100 years old. There’s momentum here, but not a lot of interesting product. Word out of Milford is that the next Corvette will be—my kids taught me this—the bomb. Time will tell.
–Samuel Smith, ss7482774901j@hotmail.aol.prodigy.compuserve.net.
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