Car story

A21

Bill Sherk

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Here is a delightful letter from Grant Zavitz of Arkona, Ontario:

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Photo Contributed

Grant Zavitz with his 1940 Chevrolet Club Coupe.

"Dear Bill: I really enjoy reading the old car stories in your weekly column in the Forest Standard. It's always interesting to hear everyone's stories, and gets me reminiscing about some of my own.

"Today, people think 'Hybrid' cars are something new. However, the very first car I ever had was an old 1930 Chev which ran on 1932 Chev wheels and was topped off with a 1930 Studebaker body.

"I guess I was really ahead of my time driving my very own 'Hybrid car' way back then.

"I recently came across this old picture of me with my 1940 Chevrolet Club Coupe, so I thought I'd share a few memories about this car with your readers.

"In 1952, when I was still 16 years old, I bought this car. I can't recall the exact price now, but I traded in my old 'Hybrid' car for this one, and I remember it cost me $15 a month to the finance company, and that was a lot of coin to come up with each month.

"This 1940 model was the last year that Chev had outside running boards. This coupe had a small space behind the front seat where I could carry two extra riders if they sat cross-wise.

"The car came equipped with a gas heater, which never really worked very well, so I changed it to hot water. It also came as standard equipment with a vacuum-assisted shift for the transmission, but this never worked very well either and the gears always grinded as you shifted, so I found a conversion kit to put on which resolved that problem too.

"Since I was a teenager, I had all the Canadian Tire trimmings: fender guides, sun visor, headlight eyebrows, etc., as the photo shows (also a '47 Buick hood ornament).

"I was a farm boy living in rural Ontario on a side road about half way between concession roads, so during the winter we had lots of snow to drive through just to get out to the main road.

"This car had an over-sized trunk, so on girl-dating nights, I would fill the trunk with firewood for extra weight, plus put tire chains on over my snow tires and head for town. I could go through a lot of snow with this car, but whenever I got stuck, I was stuck good. Then out came the shovel.

"I have many memories of my previous vehicles, and most were Chevrolets. I'm now 72, and 26 cars later (and counting), I find myself driving a late model Chevrolet Impala.

"Thanks for letting me share this photo and stroll down memory lane with my fellow readers."

* Bill Sherk is an automobile historian who has had a passion for the topic since his days pumping gas as a teenager. We want to say thank you to our readers who send in their stories. We are giving a copy of Bill Sherk's book, 60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960 to each reader whose story is published in Car Story. To share your stories or photos e-mail bill@carstory.com or write Bill Sherk, 33 Oak St. E., P.O. Box 10012, Leamington, ON N8H 2C3.