VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 confederate name ?

Could someone explain the " confederate " designation on some chevys ?

"Confederate" was the series designation for all vehicles in the 1932 model year. The model year series for 1931 was called "Independence", the 1930 model year series was called "Universal" and so forth.

Those names were used in the U.S. In Canada it was Confederation.

Thanks for that information, Chip, Canada was way ahead of us in being "PC" I guess. :confused: :confused:

I still never figured out why they named the line up for 32 Confederate.

I think "Yankee" would have been better.

That would be fine for a F--d. Infact, they match really well.

Maybe It should have been named THE TEXAN, like the old Dodge V/8.

"The Texan" may not be "PC" either.

Fellas,
Let's try to stay on subject. You don't want to upset the moderator! and get the topic frozen.

Well anyway that was back in 1931 when they chose the name (just before the '32 came out) Lots of words had a different meaning back then, like rap, cool, and several others and that was before there was a concocked word pool like Politically Correct, and Intel, and other meaning for crack, mouse, spam, gay, etc.just thinking about it makes my head spin!

Why the question about the name? :confused: I don't see any problem with it. Remember the times.

Can't judge something that was based on values and definations of the '30's by the values and difinations of 2004; next we will be wondering about the "gay ninties" (that the 1890's not the 1990's). :eek:

Don't forget this is the same time period ('30's)as the movie "Birth of a Nation" plus the KKK was at its height of popular suport and membership. They marched on Washingtion in 1933 with over 5 million people in the association.

And there was a little thing called "The Great Depression" etc, etc... :(

Times were different.

I really dont think there was anything political or other wise about naming the 32 series. I just wonder how the name came to be selected. In Webster dictionary: "confederate: united in a league". Still no clue.

Roadster 32, that is not a political or anti-political idea, a very good question...I think the ones responsible for choosing the series names at Chevrolet during that time-frame used names associated with the U.S Government and US History other series were: "Independance", "Capitol", "Superior","National", and "Confederate", Confederate probably pertained to the form of US Government under "The Articles of Confederation" form of Government during the period of time that the original states were referred to as a Confederation of states, which I understand refers to a union of States with the rights of the indivigual states supreme to the rights of the Union, That is also the reason the States of rebellion were known as the Confederate States of America. Rather than having any social or ethnic meaning simply meant it was a Confederation of soverign states rather than a Union with Central governmental supremecy. That question was settled for good with the defeat of the Confederate States of America and the requirement that the Union be made whole again as The United States of America!

God Bless the United States!

You may be correct. The Aritcles of Confederation were the first encompassing document authored for our new nation. Then of course there was the constitution. The people who were given the responsibility to name the model years may have been doing it for historical relevance, I don't know. I have just never seen anything anywhere that gave a clue. Even in some internal documents I have looked through do not give a hint. My real question goes actualy beyound confederate to all the series. I am spending everyone's time on this subject more than most likely appropriate. Just have always been curious about this.

I thought I read somewhere that the word "Confederate" was used because of all the chrome goodies used in the styling of the car. The series just looks very overstated (I love it) and oppulant. Sort of overdone, like many well to do Southern homes of the period. Many GM cars carried the same style for 32.
Also, my own thought is maybe Chevy was tring to boost sales in the Southern states. It might be interesting to find some sales numbers just prior to 1932 in those states.

The amount of chrome used in 1932 had no bearing as to the series name. :( :( :( :(

I doubt very much chrome had a thing to do with the name or even geographics.

I have no knowledge of the rationale behind the naming of the model years. I think it is very interesting that some of the Canadian models had close but different names. I also remember that some of the US names were used in other world markets. Maybe Oracle can give us a summary of model names for the 20s and early 30s.

Chevrolet was well established in the Southern region of the USA well before the 1932 model year with plants all across the South. I believe the main reason for the Vintage Chevrolets being in the minority behind Fourd is because of the sheet metal nailed to a wooden frame and possibly the knee action suspension used in the middle 30s thru late 40s. Most rural areas roads were not favorable to this "Soft riding" setup, they soon became maintanence nightmares and may also have been a factor in the deterioration of the wooden framed cars, as there are a smaller porportion of Chevrolets that survived in the South, even though the number of Chevrolet new car sales were good, than Model "A"s, up to the time that restoration of vintage cars became popular.

I have to agree. Even today, a lot of vintage car dudes will shy away from the early Chevys because of the wood factor. :( :( :( :(

Good!
That means there are more cars for us to find.

Wood is always a factor. Most people do not have the correct tools for wood. It is just as hard to craft wood as it is doing great metal work. It certainly can make as big a mess as metal. When wood is done right, it makes a nice solid body.

Maybe you hit on the answer, Southerns did not have all of the factories and stuff of the north so they had to make about everything that they needed on the farm/plantation. So more Southerns had wood working and 'smithing skills and ability. So Chevrolet knew that in the far and distant future only Southerns would be able to restore the wood and metal cars; so they named the car the "confederate".

I'm sure you are totaly correct.