VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Question about 1934 Chev built in Africa

I've got another discussion going on with a guy from Germany. He works in the vintage car dept. of the German Autoclub ADAC. Same as AAA in the US. They are responsible for FIVA ID Card (kind of a passport for vintage cars) in Germany.

His question is:



Does anybody have an idea about this?

--Bill Barker

Bill, there was a two tone green 1934 chevrolet standard series roadster that was RHD that was supposed to be built in south africa. I think it was sometime last fall it appeared on ebay and sold from a seller in either florida or alabama .

Might be same car.??? I copied maybe 20 pictures from the ebay advert.

When trying to get info on my 34 std roadster supposedly built in Argenina on the buenos aries plant i googled various key words into my search engine about GM foreign assembly plants and was able to find some very intersting information about what they were doing worldwide back then. I suggest your contact also do the same.

sorry cannot be much more helpful.

mike lynch

GM South African Pty Ltd in Port Elizabeth assembled CKD kits from Bloomfield, New Jersey Boxing Plant. They then exported all over southern Africa. The Engine # is probably MR etc as a right hand drive Standard engine, built in Flint in July 1934.

Hi Bill - I live in South africa and have restored a 1934 Chevrolet Master Sedan. My car was originally built in South Africa by General Motors in Port Elizabeth from a CKD Kit imported from the United States. It has a plate on the firewall that states "Built in South Afica by General Motors South African Ltd.
My engine number is R4363268 and the Car number is XGCDA47199.
GM South Africa has not been able to assist me with any historical records. From research on the internet I have been able to establish the following:
The R in the engine number denotes a right hand drive.
The numerical part of the engine number identifies that it was built in the United States in May 1934.
As regards the Car Number the X denotes Export, the G denotes South Africa Port Elizabeth, I have not been able to establish what the C denotes, the DA of course denotes Master Series.

Dave

Dave in the front pages of my Chevrolet "six cylinder master parts price list" , "Chassis and electrical parts accessories and special equipment, effective april 1 st 1934 ".........

Is a numerical code page , its totally weird......it was used for all kinds of special PHRASE CODE and XL prefix phase. You might be able to figure out the XGCDA using this code.

I can scan it and send it too you if you email me.

mike lynch

mike350 at rogers dot com

For the benefit of those who might be interested, this is the known list, to me, of plant codes:

XA GENERAL MOTORS LIMITED, HENDON, LONDON, ENGLAND, APRIL 1923 TRUCKS/MAY 1924 CARS/MARCH 1925 CAR AND TRUCK BODIES

XB GENERAL MOTORS INTERNATIONAL A/S, KØBENHAVEN, DENMARK, ANNOUNCED October 1923, IN PRODUCTION January 7 1924 [Chevrolet truck]

XC GENERAL MOTORS ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES, April 1924

XD GENERAL MOTORS CONTINENTAL S.A., ANTWERP, BELGIUM, March 1925

XE GENERAL MOTORS DO BRASIL, S.A., SÂO PAULO, BRAZIL, September 1925 and then a further plant in Sao Caetano de Sul in 1929 for assembly of vehicles and bus bodies.

XF GENERAL MOTORS G.m.b.H., WAREHOUSE IN HAMBURG-FREIHAFEN [Free Trade Area], September 1925, TRUCK ASSEMBLY April 8 1926, then moved to Berlin-Charlottenhütte November 1926 until new plant opened a short distance away in Berlin-Karlsruher in October-December 1927. Assembly finished and became Zone Office in March 1932.

General Motors GmbH
Charlottenburger Strasse 63/85 Berlin … Borsigwalde
then Charlottenburger Strasse 1-93 Berlin-Borsigwalde
1925: G.M. Peninsular is established in Malaga, Spain, as General Motors Export Division’s first warehouse.
1925: General Motors (France) S.A. is organized with a sales office in Paris and warehouse in Le Havre.

XG GENERAL MOTORS SOUTH AFRICAN PTY. LIMITED, ELIZABETHTOWN, [LATER PORT ELIZABETH], August 1926

XH GENERAL MOTORS NEW ZEALAND LIMITED, PETONE, NEW ZEALAND, October 1926…although GM claim it started 30 August.

XI? GENERAL MOTORS URUGUYA S.A., MONTEVIDEO, November 1926 the REGIONAL HQ was located in the Arijon Building, Montevideo, Uruguay by September 1927.

XJ TO XN? [NEVER USED] GENERAL MOTORS (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LIMITED, 1 November 1926:
Adelaide
Brisbane
Melbourne
Perth
Sydney

XO? GENERAL MOTORS JAPAN LIMITED, OSAKA, April 1927 GM Japan Ltd. was established in Kobe, Japan and then set up the Osaka assembly plant about 20 miles away. CLOSED 1941

1926: General Motors Near East Limited, Alexandria, incorporated.

XP? U.A.C. OF NIGERIA LIMITED, LAGOS 1927 [Chevrolet CKD]

XQ GENERAL MOTORS JAVA HANDEL MIJ INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 3 1927 in TANJONG PRIOK [JAKARTA], BATAVIA, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES serving N.E.I., Malay Federation, French Indo-China and Siam. However may have only started assembly in May 1927.

XR? NOT KNOWN!!

XS GENERAL MOTORS NØRDISKA, STOCKHOLM, 26 January, 1928

XT GENERAL MOTORS INDIA, BOMBAY, December 1928

XU? GENERAL MOTORS POLSCE w Sp. Zo o, WARSAW, September 1928 [to 1931]

XV? GENERAL MOTORS (FRANCE) S.A., LE HAVRE, 1931 to April 1932?

XW? GENERAL MOTORS PENINSULAR, BARCELONA, SPAIN 1932

XX? GENERAL MOTORS SUISSE, S.A., BIEL/BIENNE, 8 February 1936

XX? GENERAL MOTORS NEAR EAST, S.A., ALEXANDRIA., TRUCK ASSEMBLY, 1936

XY? GENERAL MOTORS DE MEXICO, TRUCK ASSEMBLY, 1936

LILPOP, RAU i LOWENSTEIN S.A., WARSAW, POLAND, 1935-39: No Code

GENERAL MOTORS (FRANCE) S.A., GENNEVILLIERS, January 1939..No Code?

GENERAL MOTORS LIMITED, SOUTHAMPTON…No Code, 8 December 1939, bombed 30 November 1940.

RANGOON, BURMA, T.U.P. ASSEMBLY, 1941, SEIZED 1942

PERSIAN T.U.P. ASSEMBLY, 1942


The engine # quoted is a Flint-built right hand drive Master one, built in May 1934 in Flint Motor Plant. The engines were then railed to Bloomfield, NJ Boxing Plant and then shipped by sea to GM SA in Port Elizabeth for assembly. The XG code = GMSA, the DA = Master '34, and I think 'C' = Chevrolet. The rest is a sequential assembly number.

Here's another: 1934 Standard DC Early Series 2-door Coach assembled in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and then exported to Southern Rhodesia, Engine # RM51428 and cast date of January 3rd 1934

GREAT WORK ORACLE, YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR STUFF. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU---------- mike lynch

Thanks Oracle. Very interesting.

Dave

Hello from Germany!

My name is Jochen and I am working for the ADAC in Germany.
As he stated we are currently issuing a FIVA ID Card for a 1934 Chevrolet Standard Sport Roadster (Series DC).
HVA does the same thing in the US.

Bill Barker was so nice and help us out by posting our questiones here.
Your answers are very helpful so far.
I will ask the owner again about the correct an full ID numbers.
According to your answers the correct engine number should be MR83751 not PM83751 ? Right?
Also full car number should possibly be XGCDC10171 not only DC10171.
We will see what he comes up with.
I will get back with the numbers and maybe more questiones.
Thanks
Jochen

In fact I got another question right away:
Does anyone have the official measurements for front and rear track available?
Our Standard Catalog of American Cars gives only the wheelbase.
I could not find the measurements in the Internet.

Thanks
Jochen

Hi Jochen! I believe that you are correct with those numbers. The engine number will be stamped on the pad on the side of the cylinder block.

As an aside I was ecstatic once when I found a GM GmbH Chevrolet, and we then proved that the Karlsruher/Berlin plant code was XF...after which I found two more! I am not sure if the GmbH plant was operating in 1934...the last few Chevies that were assembled were in 1937. As a further aside I know of a '39 South African car in Austria...so they have been exported in modern times all over the world including the UK.

Not sure how to measure the track width..........would it be from outside of brake drum to outside of brake drum wheel mounting flange ??

Or the center to center of the tire ??

mike

Mike
I have always thought it was from center to center of the tire.

Dale is correct tyre centre to tyre centre at the road.
Tony

Jep. Measurement has to be between middle of the tires.
I just thought there was a official measurement for the track available somewhere. But sure if not I will ask the owner to measure it at the car directly.
Also in response to the Chevrolets built in Germany :Pre-war cars built in Germany are quite rare now for obvious reasons.

Thanks
Jochen

I just love this thread.

Posters from Germany, Canada, England, Australia, So. Africa and California (say what?).


And it didn't cost anything to participate!! Wow...

By the way, I hope that Jochen gets all of the answers that he wants. It just proves that Chevy guys around the world are pretty cool dudes.

Now... let's figure out how that surfer dude from California got invited. Ha!!!

In my capacity as a 13-year veteran Moderator at Chevytalk, I get queries from all round the world. That's the fun part!
In addition as some may recall, I have also written for GENERATOR & DISTRIBUTOR on foreign Chevies. I ought to do so again!

Best wishes,

David

David, I hesitate to advise you to write a few more articles. That is because there is so much research you have done and knowledge you possess that a few would not suffice. I have always enjoyed the articles because they illustrate the influence of Chevrolet in other places than the USA. The majority of us only think about USA and maybe Canada unless some of you overseas members bring us to our senses and make up aware.

Thanks Chip mate! I am still publishing my Indigeneous Chevrolet series in VINTAGE ROADSCENE mag...I shall make copies available somehow when the series has finished.

I must add that our friend has reminded me that a 1939 Lilpop, Rau i Lowenstein-assembled [Warsaw] Chevy sedan has turned up in Kazaksthan of all places! You can imagine that it was seized by the Germans and then the Soviets, or the Soviets, and shipped out East. Chevrolets do have a habit of turning up thousands of miles from where they were built!
And, dear Louis, I am not referring to the Daewoo-built [Korean] cars that carry your name.....

Photo posted for Jochzen. I'll let him explain.

Thanks Bill.
This pic we got a while ago from one of our club members for identification.
I am working for the ADAC , same as AAA in the US in the vintage car department.
Back then I identified it as a probably German made Chevrolet. Either 1929 XBAC International Sedan or 1930 XBAD Universal Sedan. "IY" on the license plate stands for Düsseldorf region.
This is also in reply to the earlier post about German made Chevrolets.
Maybe someone can correct my identification or add something.
cheers
Jochen

Most likely XFCBE12345 or similar. Built in Karlsruher or Brandenburg.

"Generalvertretung der General Motor GmbH Berlin Borsigwalde"

My 1941 RHD South African Olds has the chassis number start with XGO, so the third letter C on your chassis number looks like Chev. The engine number is 6-289889 and should be G-289889 but maybe they could not find the G stamp that day.Who knows,it was so long ago and many records are conflicting.