I remember reading a brief account in a car magazine, probably twenty years ago, of a fellow who supposedly made of with some body dies at the end of the production run for the 1957 model year and was said to have produced quite a few counterfeit 1957 Chevys.
I asked Cecil (over a year ago) and I’ve searched the 'net and have yet to dig up any further info.
Sounds interesting, if true. Anyone know the tale?
And this guy just happened to have an empty factory building to set up shop in? You’re talking about automobile manufacturing, not someone copying artwork in his basement.
here is a WAG.
Some countries buy the dies and molds and start producing cars. Brazil made the VW bug (I think) till the late 80’s.
Argentina manufactures an older style car I cannot remember what though.
Now that I have helped very little and raises more questions, I shall take my leave of you all for the evening.
Osip
It was documented in The People’s Almanac.
"A dedicated group of ex-Chevrolet stylists and franchised used-car salesmen contined to turn out close to 200,000 1957 Chevrolets. . . .
"The enthusiasts, led by ex-GM stylist Ardell Malowick, quit GM in mid-1957 when it was learned, to nobody’s surprise, that the 1957 design was to be scrapped . . .
"Malowick and his associates quickly decamped and purchased their own auto assembly facility in southern Illinois. However, Malowich was unable to finance the die molds and giant steel presses which GM and Fisher Auto Body used to construct the basic body; rather, Malowick relied on the proved European coach-building technique of pounding the body shape out by hand over wooden molds, formed from fiberglass replicas of the real thing.
"Malowick and his associated knew that Chevrolet . . . would not consent to the manufacture of '57 Chevies to compete with their '58s. . . . Because of legal restrictions, the post-1957 New '57 Chevies built by Malowick were sold as remarkably well-preserved used cars in car lots across the U.S. . . .
“In 1967, Malowick was forced to close down shop because of rising costs and the rumors that GM was wise to his operation and was preparing legal action.”
I knew I’d read the tale, but I wasn’t coming up with anything. You’ve provided much search material.
Thanks, again, pal.
And he made 200,000 of these by beating out the bodies over molds “coach work” style… and he got his engines and transmissions and other associated Chevy parts from where… and Chevy didn’t start seriously ramping up legal action until after he had produced 1/5 of a million of these knock off Chevys?
There’s got to be more this story (or is this really just a a joke). The “facts” as presented (not that they are untrue) just make no sense.
This has UL written all over it. Can you imagine how much it would cost, in money and time, for skilled panel beaters to make one '57, much less 20,000 a year?!?!? There aren’t that many panel beaters in the world. And then to sell these cars as “remarkably well-preserved used cars?” During the period in question a good '57 was worth a grand or less. “Remarkably well-preserved used” ones a bit more.
“People’s Almanac” was not always that good with fact checking, and they blew this one bad.
OTOH, real Beetles are still in production in Mexico and someone (according to the newspaper, at least) has found a way to make them legal to sell up here, starting at $12,500. That’s less than a New Beetle, and should appeal to purists and masochists.
I think they made Packards in Brazil until quite recently.
Osip,
Brazil didn’t purchase the car, VW moved all of their Beetle production facilities to Brazil.
-Sam