VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Help ID 1935 from Europe...

I saw this posted on Facebook, and have chatted with the owner, Arno, about his car. The FB answers he was getting ranged from "somewhat right" to outlandishly wrong! It's clear that he does own a bit of a mystery to us North Americans though.

The car has a data tag that reads "General Motors Continental S.A. Antwerp" and follows with "Chevrolet, MTR Sed " Then there is an Engine and Chassis number.



Now the confusing part... The car also has a US tag that reads "Style 35 SD L"



So what do we expect the car to look like? A 1935 Master or a Standard?? Well, here's the confusing part... We have a 1935 Standard, with the Master Series Knee action suspension!! Or, is it a 1934 Master?



Does anyone know how European 1935 Chevrolets were built? Was it a knock down, crated in Detroit and assembled in Antwerp? Were all 1935 Chevrolet's in Europe Knee Actioned?

Looking at 3 clues on this.

The side of the hood louvers have the stainless steel spears on the edges of the louvers. 1934 masters have these

The other clue is the rear fenders, which are 1934 master , as you can see how much they roll over the fender.

Normally the 34 master also has a stainless steel spear running along front fender and running board.....do not see it on this one, but doesn't mean was not removed by somebody

I say car appears to be a 1934 master series DA.

Copying the car picture and zooming in on it, car shows to have a 1935 Chevrolet standard series radiator mascot ornament

also notice that the firewall tag is applied with screws, whereas the original would have been applied with rivets.

The head lights on this car are not chromed as a 34 master would be. The headlights are too small to be stock 34-35 standard series. headlights are off something else.

my understanding is that USA cars built for export were shipped out of Tarrytown NY.

Because we had COMMONWEALTH affiliation with England, Australia and new Zealand and south Africa got their CKD's from Canada for import taxable reasons. Taxes were much higher on USA built cars. I guess that makes sense from what I have read before.

mike lynch......

I was having trouble telling if that was stainless or pin striping on the hood louvers. It almost looks the same colour and with as the belt line pin stripe.

The car pictured is a 1934 Master with some incorrect parts installed.

BREWSTER, what I did was right click copy the picture and put it into my picture files, then use my zoom windows 7 feature and look at the hood and fenders for identifying features.

Because my primary interest has always been 1934---1935 Chevrolets , its much easier for me to identify the car and the differences between a 34 master and a 34 standard .

mike lynch........

I think my concern with just saying it is a '34 with incorrect parts on it is that it is a European assembled car, and has '35 on the US tag. We would need to establish if all European '35's were like this, or if someone has messed with the tags. It may very well be right for something made in Europe for that year. Any European production/ sales experts out there?

BREWSTER...........let me tell you there is all kinds of bozos playing games with firewall identification plates.

I bought a car in Kentucky as a 34 and when it came here with title / registration as soon as I pulled the floor board up, BINGO , its got a 35 standard frame under it.

Thanks to chev guru on here he identified the firewall tag as car being made in Atlanta GA and that it was a 1934 Chevrolet MASTER SERIES 4 door sedan.

Gee my car has a roadster top, ya think somebody was playing games with Kentucky DMV and police department to verify and get the title.??

If I thought it would get the offender slammed into the hoosegow , other than just a slap on the wrist I would pursue it.

So its obvious to me that the car has been messed with sometime over the last 80 years.

The tag you refer to was actually a European assembly plant build tag. = general motors continental A S, Antwerp which is Belgium. That factory closed a couple of years ago.

the other tag when copied and zoomed on says;
MODEL MTP SED

mike............

Phillips head screws should have been the biggest clue on those body plates.

Whatr makes you think it has a 1935 Standard frame?
The enclosed knee-actions would not attach to a 1935 Standard frame as well as the wheel base and width is less.
The 1935 Standard frame as an "X" in the center. The 1934 Master has a "Y" to the front with a K" behind it.

Gene....I have a 1935 Chevrolet coupe with an X member standard correct series frame. I know the difference between a 34 standard frame , a 34 master frame and a 35 standard frame My supposedly titled 34 std roadster has a 35 std frame. I have to assume that its the original frame judging by all the serious cracks and damage to it, to match the rest of the car when purchased.


BREWSTER thought it was a 35 standard in his post.
The European car In Beligium , in question on the tags and pictured in earlier part of this thread is obviously a 1934 Chevrolet master series. Whether it has an AS STOCK dubonet knee action front suspension I cannot say, as we cannot see it.

But we have to assume it does. Does not mean that somebody did not scrap it and install elliptical springs and beam axle when they could not get parts to repair it.

mike lynch.................

I'd be willing to bet that it does have a '34 Master frame. What I'm questioning is the data tag that says '35. The question remains, Did Chevrolet send cars with frames made from the stampings of '34 Master's to Europe and sell them as '35's? Could you buy a '35 Standard in Europe, or was this it? Or, as Mike said, have the tags been messed with? We all know what is right for N. America, but GM did weird and wonderful things to foreign (Non USA) cars...

BREWSTER...........your facebook friend needs to supply you with pictures of the underneath of the car so we can see whether its a 34 master with knee action or not.

The hood is 34 master , the rear fender design is 34 master.

If the car has a 112 " wheelbase center to center on the front to rear axles, its a master.

The S D on the tag is most likely for sedan terminology and the L is for LHD.

Why this tag system looks like this is anybodys idea of what is supposed to be correct. Would need to have pictures of other 33--35 chevys firewall plates to see if they are the same. He can do that there.

mike lynch-------