Not Channel 13

It may look like a television station to everyone else in Bay County, but it’s Nelson Chevrolet on Harrison Avenue. Nelson Chevrolet Buick actually. My father told me it was originally just Nelson Buick; that would have been before my time. He bought trucks and cars there in my early years, because he and Bubber Nelson were Bay High classmates.

The first car my parents had in my memory was the 1935 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe coach, a black two door sedan with front-opening “suicide” doors, 

white tires, yellow spoke wheels and no trunk, 

but the 1935 Master series had the all-new steel turret roof, and ours had a radio and heater.

One afternoon in December 1942, I came out of my first grade classroom at Cove School and didn’t see the car anywhere. A horn honked, and my mother, grandmother, Gina and Walt were yelling at me from a strange car. The parents had bought a brand new dark-blue 1942 Chevrolet Aerosedan, 

the last one that arrived at Nelson’s in Panama City after Pearl Harbor and until WWII was over. That car served our family through WWII. The seats had a candy-stripe design. Under the backlight (rear window) was a large shelf just the size of a small boy,

and it was my brother’s private spot on our night rides driving home from visiting grandparents in Pensacola. A snug place to gaze at the moon and doze off to sleep for the long drive home. 

With the Japanese attack, war production went full force; the 1942 year model was only produced and sold about into December 1941, and there were no 1943, 1944, or 1945 model cars.

The first post-war Chevrolet was the 1946 model. It was identical to the 1942 model except that the Chevrolet hood emblem was a V-for-Victory symbol. 

Demand for new cars soared right after V-J Day

and there was no need or time to retool for new styles and designs, so prewar cars stayed the same through 1948. The 1946, 1947 and 1948 Chevrolets were identical to the 1942s

except for slightly different front grill treatment; and the first post-war new design was the 1949 Chevrolet.

One evening, it wold have been fall 1948, searchlights played in the night sky announcing that the totally redesigned 1949 Chevrolets had arrived and were on display in the showroom. 

We went down to look. The cars were astonishing, magnificent, modern, futuristic. Styling was all new. The windshield was still two-piece, but it was huge compared to the prewar cars design; and instead of being flat, it was curved. Curved glass!

For 1949 there was no automatic transmission in the low price field (Chevrolet, Ford, Plymouth), but the look was all new, streamlined, not old fashioned style with four separate fenders: the fender line flowed from front to back in union with entire car body.

Our rector, the Reverend Tom Byrne, swung a deal with Bubber Nelson for a sleek ’49 Chevy, a new color green, Styleline DeLuxe four door sedan. 

Evidently to test consumer preference, sedans were offered in both Fleetline (aerosedan):

and Styline (notchback) models.

In both styles, the DeLuxe series had fenderskirts, a strip of chrome on the front fender; and chrome around the windshield whereas the standard model had plain black rubber:

The 1949 station wagons were greatly improved from 1948 and prior year models, with steel roofs instead of fabric.

Also new for 1949, Chevrolet station wagons were offered in a choice of either old-fashioned wood body, or new all-metal body with simulated wood paint or applique. 

Which was which was quickly seen at the rear beltline in whether the “wooden” corner was curved, rounded (metal) (above). Or squared-off (wood) (below):

or curved, rounded (metal):

The real woody wagon quickly went away,

or rotted away

to be replaced by stamped metal covered with the faux wood appliques that became a familiar sight on American station wagons for decades to come

For Chevrolet, pre-World War II design and styling ended with the 1948 year model, and a new era was introduced for 1949.

Tom+