Chevrolets of the 1950s: A Decade of Technical Innovation

My boyfriend is a big fan of American muscle cars form the 60s and 70s but this book helped him expand his car knowledge a bit more into how those muscle cars came to be.

This book is a detail in the history of Chevrolets. Wonderful photographs. My husband loved it. He has three GM vehicles--is currently upgrading his 2010 Corvette to a 2021. He really enjoyed this gift!

A very well-designed and graphically appealing book that has great photographs and diagrams on most pages. Chevrolet was first in sales for 7 years in the 1950s and this book does an excellent job of documenting the reasons for their success.Captions add considerably to the descriptions and information about the cars. Technological innovations, such as the small block V-8, air conditioning, power steering, transmission and safety upgrades, and chassis changes are explained so even a non-mechanically inclined person can understand. Harley Earl’s influence on Chevrolet, designing many of the cars and leading a team of stylists, is documented throughout the book. The author (Temple) also writes about some of the failures Chevrolet had during the decade such as an early V-6 engine that despite seven years of research was pulled from production in 1955.A chapter of the book (over 50 pages) is devoted to the introduction of the Corvette and its design challenges and changes over the decade. Another chapter discusses the modifications in design of Chevrolet trucks and their myriad uses; Panel delivery trucks, cargo carrying trucks, fuel trucks, buses, and, of course, pickup trucks.Car aficionados, particularly those interested in the history of Chevrolet in the 1950s, will love this book. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries as well as purchase by Chevrolet car enthusiasts or as a gift.

Once again CarTech has published a quality book. The author David Temple has written in this volume about several models of Chevrolet produced in the 1950’s. An era where Chevrolet really started to build its brand name.The author explains all the new innovations happening at that time in not just technology, such as engines, but all in the evolution of the modern automotive assembly line. These innovations allowed a factory to assembly different models on the same assembly line. No part of the process is ignored including the interiors and frames of these vehicles.What book on Chevrolet would be complete without acknowledging the creative work of Harley Earl. Mr. Earl is without question a large part of what made Chevrolet a large competitor in the 1950’s.This book is an excellent reference for those who love the classic Chevrolet’s of this era or for those looking to restore one. Both type of readers will not only enjoy reading this work but find it a valuable resource for your automotive library.

Chevrolet Of the 1950s : A Decade of Technical InnovationOnce again my hat is off to Mr.Temple and Cartech for another beautifully put together and hyper-informative book.The book is very in-depth,High paced and accurate as in everything else David Temple writes/puts together. The most popular cars as well as least popular are covered,personalities involved,tehnical matters(yet easy to read.)and Racing, A Chapter on The Beautiful Icon/Halo Car of Chevy:Corvette as well is included.Really Can't say anything bad or any errors that I found in this book and I am hard to Please. A Must read for every Fan in the bowtie brigade.

i won a printed copy off library thing. I have it to a friend of mine who loves older card he loves it he said it had information in it he didn't even know. I read it and love it.

David's best work ever. A vast amount of information. I have learned a lot from this book.

I love everything about this book - from the cut-away view of an early Corvette on the cover to the very-informative and easy-to-read contents. My only quibble is that some of the images are a bit subdued (computer printing still isn't quite up to the old color process printing in my opinion). I also wish the perfect binding (aka glued spine) was a bit more robust - but that seems to be the standard these days, at least with paperback books.Where this book really shines is in the quality of its contents - it's suffused with technical information that's still fairly easy to read, great images of early design concepts/history and an explanation regarding the impact of each. You step through GM's design decisions through the 50's, a postwar period where Chevrolet really shines though technical innovation. You'll find the Vette, the Bel Air, the Nomad, and the Impala here in good detail. You'll also learn about the small block and how GM's transmissions changed driving in the US, contributing to what's under Chevys today. This book is worth having in your library.I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program so it was a freebie.

Fiberglass manufacturing technical development and general history is especially thorough -- covers all early fiberglass development in the US industry.