Why do they think it's a Chevy?

[Mark Haymond]

For years people at a traffic light stop have politely asked these predictable questions, "Sir, what year is that car?" I answer "1947." They ask "Chevy?" I reply "Plymouth." They follow with "Nice car" or "I like your car." I say "Thank you." And that is about all the time we have before the light changes. Last night it was different. "What year is your car?"  "Chevy or Ford?"

Sometimes in a parking lot when there more time to talk the car talk goes: "What year is it? Chevy? Bet its worth a lot of money!" despite the fact it is not a pretty show car and is definitely showing some wear and tear.

I enjoy the attention and like to tell people more about the car when time is available, it is part of the fun of owning an old car. But why do they always start with "Chevy?" I am in California. Is the question the same in other parts of the USA?

 

[casper50]

Name recognition with non car enthusiasts. 

[TodFitch]

Don't you know that all cars built before WW2 were Fords and all cars built from WW2 through the 1950s were Chevrolets?

 

Can't count the number of times I've been asked what year Ford my car is. Often with either Model A or Model T in the question. And often while looking at the 1933 YOM license plates and the Plymouth ship emblem.

[Don Coatney]

Many times folks have told me there (choose one mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandpa, etc.) had a car just like my car but there's had a flathead V-8. Depending on my mood I sometimes just smile and nod in agreement.  And as with Tod they look straight at my YOM tag and ask what year??? 

[Young Ed]

Yesterday on my work I stopped and talked to a guy with a late 50s chevy pickup that was broke down. He asked me what I had under the hood. I said its a 6. He says oh a 216. Nope 218. He's says no 216. Then I reply its not a chevy. He takes a step back and goes oh its a plymouth......

[OldDad67]

Yesterday on my work I stopped and talked to a guy with a late 50s chevy pickup that was broke down. He asked me what I had under the hood. I said its a 6. He says oh a 216. Nope 218. He's says no 216. Then I reply its not a chevy. He takes a step back and goes oh its a plymouth......

Don't feel alone guy's some people think my 57 Corvette is a "Stingray".

[bobostski]

Old dad, Your Corvette is just a Chevy.

[Plymouthy Adams]

They call it a chevy for it usually too hard on many of them to pronounce Plym---outh

[BobT-47P15]

YEP....many relatives had a car exactly like my convertible........except it was a blue four door, etc...........

[MarcDeSoto]

Chrysler products are kind of a forgotten entity in today's world of Toyotas and Hyundais.  Several years ago I asked several older people at work to name the original four makes of Chrysler cars, and nobody could do it.  One guy, the principal, was able to come up with Dodge.  When I asked people to name the "low-priced three" of cars over forty years ago, nobody could come up with Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth.  That's ancient history now! 

Edited October 4, 2015 by MarcDeSoto

[casper50]

I read on CNN about a year ago that 50% of Americans don't know who John Wayne and Elvis were.  Most Americans have extremely short memories when something does not concern them.

[bobostski]

"I read on CNN about a year ago that 50% of Americans don't know who John Wayne and Elvis were.  Most Americans have extremely short memories when something does not concern them."

 

It's not that short of memory. Your talking about things that happened 50-60 years ago. When your were younger, what did you care about actors and events that happened in the 1920's. Could you tell one 20's car from another. Who were the 3 major horse wagon manufacture's in 1905? To most people a 50 Chevy looks exactly the same as a 50 Dodge. To me a 2004 Toyota looks the same as a Honda. Most people could care less about old cars. There a curiosity there but they really don' care who made it. Of course their Aunt had a car like yours. They don't mean a 1948 Specials Deluxe Plymouth Convertible, they mean a car that was big and old. They don't have any idea who made their Aunt's car or what year it was but they remember it was old and that seeing yours brings back a special memory to them. I love it when people one of my cars and smiles. I know that it's bring out a good emotion in them.

 

When someone asks you if it's a Chevy, it's there way of breaking the ice and starting the conversation. Don't get taken back because they insulted you by calling your car a Chevy. There just interested and want to talk to about it. If they as you what it's worth, They have no ideas about old car values. I have a nice 49 Chrysler and a lot a people assume it's worth  30 to 40 thousand because it's old. When tell them it's worth about $9000 their shocked. Why so little? They watched an auction once and all the cars went for big money. It's our job to educate. If you don't want to talk to people just keep your car locked in the garage. We are a very small  group and a dying bred who care about these old Mopars. I would guess the average age of people on the site is in their 60"s. You just can't expected people to see our cars and know what they are. Even old car people don't know about our cars. I do love having the only 1940-50's Mopar at the car show though.

[Don Coatney]

bobostski, You make some very good points. My best guess is two of the three wagon makers in 1905 are Studebaker and Conestoga. I have no idea about the third.

[Desotodav]

I had my 52 truck displayed at a car show almost 1 year ago and was nearby when a fella and a couple of others (possibly his teenage children?) walked by and looked in the engine bay. He saw my flathead engine and made the comment "it's got a diesel motor in it". Does that qualify as uninterested/uneducated or just downright stupid? My mate and I certainly had a good chuckle between us as old mate walked away to inspect the next vehicle on display.

[OldDad67]

bobostski, You make some very good points. My best guess is two of the three wagon makers in 1905 are Studebaker and Conestoga. I have no idea about the third.

Chevy?

[garbagestate 44]

I find that here in Jersey at least, people with old cars when asked will tell you all you ever wanted to know about there car or they look at you like you're speaking High German.I ran into an elderly guy a while back with a pristine 1939 Buick. I tried to chat it up with him a little bit and got the same reaction you would expect to get if you said something unflattering about his mother. Sometimes when you ask a question, the vehicle owners just don't know.Those are the ones who just paid somebody else to do the work and quite probably never even sullied up a fingernail in the restoration process. 

[TodFitch]

bobostski, You make some very good points. My best guess is two of the three wagon makers in 1905 are Studebaker and Conestoga. I have no idea about the third.

I'd have guessed Studebaker and International (I think they made wagons in addition to harvesting equipment back then). No idea about the third either but I thought Conestoga was a generic term for a type of freight wagon that originated in the early 1800s in the mid-Atlantic area, maybe Pennsylvania.

[OldDad67]

I had my 52 truck displayed at a car show almost 1 year ago and was nearby when a fella and a couple of others (possibly his teenage children?) walked by and looked in the engine bay. He saw my flathead engine and made the comment "it's got a diesel motor in it". Does that qualify as uninterested/uneducated or just downright stupid? My mate and I certainly had a good chuckle between us as old mate walked away to inspect the next vehicle on display.

Here's a photo of my friend's homemade speedster with a 885 cu in Hall Scott 6 cylinder hemi head motor. I keep waiting for a guy to walk up and say my brother had one of those.

[Plymouthy Adams]

many folks at the shows or cruise -ns are owners only, having bought the car they are showing as a turn key and other than what was on the title that is about the extend of information they really have...

[Mark Haymond]

McDonalds, a few years ago. Dad and a ten year old boy look briefly at my Plymouth outside before coming in and they sit in the booth next me.

Dad, "It's probably a 55."

Son, "No it's a 50."

Dad, surprised, "How would you know that?"

Son, "It says 1950 on the license plate frame."

[deathbound]

bobostski, You make some very good points. My best guess is two of the three wagon makers in 1905 are Studebaker and Conestoga. I have no idea about the third.

Everyone knows the 3rd is Radio Flyer.

[halffast52]

I get asked what year my old chevy is quite often was at a cruise one night for a local food bank and listened to a guy tell his buddy it was a 50 ford because of the flathead then they wanted to know who cut it down when I told them Plymouth did in 1952 they said oh.... well its still cool looking. and those old timers who know what it is always have a story about one my biz coupe and cranbrook were the only 50's mopars running around this area for a while but they are starting to pop up now because most cant afford a 50's chevy or ford and I also get the what's it worth question I do my best to try to educate them

[Dan Hiebert]

A lot of interesting points in this thread.  We run the gamut from casual hobbyists to old car zealots, but folks that exist outside of that realm really have no clue about any car, much less old ones.  They have other interests, but many can and do appreciate old cars of all sorts, whether they know what it is or not.  Stand back and look without any knowledge, and the cars from our favorite eras do tend to look similar (although not so cookie-cutter as modern ones), so they go to their only frames of reference.  My father-in-law could name just about any 40's, 50's or 60's car, but had no interest at all in owning one.  What I find irritating is the know-it-alls that get it wrong when all they have to do was ask, also annoying in my pea-brain are the people that don't know anything about their trailer queen that they didn't bust a single knuckle on.  I do find some humor in the ignorance, though, my new neighbor and his son almost went to fisticuffs arguing about what the D24 was when I drove it home the first time.  Son insisted it was a Chevrolet, father insisted it wasn't, but didn't know what it is and wanted to ask.  

[Merle Coggins]

I had my 52 truck displayed at a car show almost 1 year ago and was nearby when a fella and a couple of others (possibly his teenage children?) walked by and looked in the engine bay. He saw my flathead engine and made the comment "it's got a diesel motor in it". Does that qualify as uninterested/uneducated or just downright stupid? My mate and I certainly had a good chuckle between us as old mate walked away to inspect the next vehicle on display.

 

I had a similar experience at a cruise night. A group of teenage boys were passing between my truck and the adjacent vehicle. The last one in the group glanced into the engine compartment of my truck, then looked at the grill, and I heard him say, "Hmm, I thought only Fords had flat heads.". I guess he knew a little about old vehicles anyway.

 

Merle

[captden29]

one guy thought my car was a Cadillac. I thanked him profusely.chevy of course is the most common mistake. I really don't care that people generally never recognize my car as a Chrysler.it is always the odd duck at a show and less recognizable than most to the younger public of today.they know edsel before mine. I enjoy answering any questions and if enough interest they can sit in it and take a picture.the kids love that, especially the huge steering wheel.come to think of it, I am glad it is not a Cadillac. capt den