1913 Chevrolet: The First Ever

The 1913 Chevrolet became publicly available. The car, commonly called ‘the Classic Six’, was meant to be a competitor to the more established Ford. This Brass Era Chevy was much larger, more powerful, more stylized, and therefore more expensive than the cars that would ultimately replace it.

The founder of the company, Louis Chevrolet, was a famous racecar driver for Buick. He loved the new car and thought it would compete successfully. He particularly loved the six-cylinder engine, which would enable the car to travel much faster than its contemporary competition. Do you think this car set the tone for the larger, more powerful cars that followed?

1913 Chevrolet

The 1913 Chevrolet Type C was produced between 1912 and 1914; it was also called the Chevrolet Classic Six and was the Chevrolet Model C. The car was the first Chevrolet and was also sold by other makes. It was a well-constructed car and had a six-cylinder engine up front with a cone clutch and a three-speed gearbox mounted at the rear axle. It was the equivalent of the early 20th-century muscle car.

Henry Ford was the main competitor and had been selling his much less expensive Model T for three years by the time Chevrolet entered the market. So, he felt he had the market well in hand. The Chevrolets that followed, under the management of WC Durant (he founded General Motors). He thought the 1913 Chevrolet would be a much cheaper four-cylinder car that competed directly with the T. He was incorrect.

The Series C Classic Six had a six-cylinder engine and was capable of 65 miles per hour. Therefore, the car competed against the more high-performance cars of that time. Standard equipment included a starter, four doors, a folding top, a toolbox, cowl lights, and electric headlights. The 1914 Classic Six was, in essence, the 1913 model with a few slight changes. Chevrolet stopped producing these cars in 1914.

Design of the Classic Six

The model of the car first appeared at the New York Automobile Show. The designs were written by Etienne Planche under the direction of Louis Chevrolet himself. The 1913 Chevrolet had low running boards had a design more resembling European cars of the time. In terms of specifications the radiator shell and Chevrolet nameplate on the dashboard (the “bowtie” emblem did not appear until the 1914 Chevrolet Series H and L models) were polished metal, while the body, chassis, and wheels were blue.

The hood, fenders, and splash aprons on the 1913 Chevrolet were black. This looked good and received plaudits at the time. Light gray striping was found on the body and wheels. The first prototype Classic Six appeared in late 1911, and Louis Chevrolet himself tested it on the back streets of Detroit. Stuff like this does not happen now. Throughout 1912, refinements were made to the design, and the car appeared in the New York auto show in 1913, to much fanfare.

Power

The main drawing card of the 1913 Chevrolet was that it was a powerful car. It was more expensive than the Fords. Chevrolet’s first engine was a gigantic, for the time, liquid-cooled 299-cubic-inch, six-cylinder, cast-iron block cast in three groups of two, with a T-head configuration, that produced a whopping 40 horsepower.

The T-head engine was a side valve engine that was distinguished from the much more common L-head engine by its placement of the valves, so it was an innovation. The intake valves were on one side of the engine block and the exhaust valves on the other, making dual camshafts necessary.

Parting Shots

Competition is good, and the 1913 Chevrolet provided that to Henry Ford and the Model T. Though the ‘Classic Six’ was only produced for three years, more Chevrolets, and cars produced by different companies were in the offing. The monopoly Ford and its Model T had on the car market was over. The 1913 Chevrolet started that and is an important car because of that.