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Sales improved in 1963 when Chevy II had its best year ever with sales of 372,626 units, of which 42,432 were the new Super Sport featuring bucket seats, a floor shifter and special gauges on the inside and exterior emblems, hub caps and side moldings on the outside. The Nova was the top of the line and Chevy II sales were brisk at 326,607 units, but not as brisk as Ford’s rival.
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As did the Falcon, the Chevy II came in two- and four-door versions plus a two-door hardtop Sport Coupe as well as a convertible and a station wagon. Both were brand new, but the four was the first four from Chevy since 1928. Power options were either a 2.5L 153 ci four-cylinder or a 3.2L 194 ci in-line six.
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While the Falcon was a “clean sheet” design with uni-body construction, the Chevy had a front sub frame that bolted under the body. “There was no time for experimentation or doodling around with new ideas from either the engineers or from us in design.” Clare MacKichan, Chevrolet Designer
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Conventional like its rival and definitely not experimental like the Corvair, the Chevy II, code name H-35, was described by Chevrolet General Manager Ed Cole as offering, “Maximum functionalism with thrift.” Indeed, the development of the Chevy II, as it was called, took a scant 18 months until the first production car came off the Willow Run assembly line in August 1961-almost two years behind the Ford Falcon. “We worked night and day on that car, and it didn’t take very long to run it through our shop because we had a deadline.” Photo Credit: GM Heritage Center I think that was the quickest program we ever did at any time,” he continued. According to Chevrolet designer Clare MacKichan, “There was no time for experimentation or doodling around with new ideas from either the engineers or from us in design, and it had to be a basic-type car. GM was caught off guard, meanwhile, Ralph Nader was killing the Corvair, saying it was dangerous GM had to do something, and quickly. The Falcon took off and sold a staggering 417,000 units in the first year. Despite the “Nader-sayers,” the Corvair did well and forced Ford to develop the Falcon that debuted late in 1959. VW’s Bug made such an impact on the automotive world that it jump-started GM to develop its own air-cooled competitor, the Corvair. The story of the Chevy II Nova can be traced back to Germany and the Volkswagen Beetle, believe it or not.