Production 1962–1974 Body style sedan four doors. | Class Executive car | |
 | ||
Manufacturer Chevrolet (General Motors) Assembly San Martín,
Buenos Aires, Argentina Layout Front engine, rear-wheel drive | ||
The Chevrolet 400 was a compact car made by Chevrolet in Argentina from 1962 to 1974. With this car General Motors responded to the proposal made by Ford and Chrysler, when both brought the country's first compact cars: the Ford Falcon and Valiant II.
Contents
- The Beginning
- Chevrolet 400 Argentina
- The end of the Chevrolet 400
- Engines
- Sports
- Chevrolet Prototype
- References
The car was based on the car known in United States as 'Chevy II' and later as the Chevrolet Nova. Only the 4-door sedan version was manufactured in the country, although U.S. versions included a complete line of body styles, including a hardtop coupe, convertible coupe, 2-door sedan, and station wagon.
The Beginning
In the 1960s, the auto industry was revolutionized with the emergence of a new concept vehicle: the compact car. In the Argentina, a radical change occurred in the structures of large factories, such that Chrysler began to manufacture the Valiant II and Ford manufactured the Falcon.
General Motors could not be left behind and their response was a car derived from the U.S. market Chevy II, which was named in Argentina as Chevrolet 400. The first Chevrolet 400 which entered the country, brought round headlights on its front grille and came equipped with Chevrolet's ubiquitous overhead-valve, six-cylinder engine of 194 cubic inches or 3179 cc.
Chevrolet 400 Argentina
The first Chevrolet 400 Argentine was manufactured on March 21, 1962. As cited above the car came equipped with an engine called "194" which had a displacement of 194 cubic inches (or 3179 cc). The 400 was offered in two models: the "Special" which was a luxury sedan and the base, most of which were used as taxis. Its engine came equipped with a single-barrel carburetor Rochester BC, while the Special had a Holley carburetor. They generated an output of 106 hp. All this came attached to a 3-gear manual gearbox.
In 1964, GM released the "Super", which showed a slight touch up on its front portion showing a whole new grill. The Super premiered the new inline "230" six-cylinder engine (3769 cc), 127 hp and a Holley R2751 carburetor. It was also equipped with 3-speed manual gearbox.
The year 1968, is considered the year of glory for Chevrolet, because in that year it launched the new Chevrolet 400 Super Sport. This was the more aggressive version of the marque, and came equipped with a more powerful engine and an innovative gearbox. These had the 250cubic-inch OHV Six, and ZF 4-speed selector with trigger shifter, released just this year. The Super Sport, equipped with this engine-box duo, produced 155 hp. It also came equipped with a 2-barrel Holley RX 7214-A carburetor. It also brought updated front-end styling with quad round headlights.
That same year, the pilot Carlos Alberto Pairetti, was crowned champion of TC, piloting a prototype Chevrolet called the Orange Thunder,the name adopted due to the color of the unit, and equipped with an engine "250" with gearbox similar to Chevrolet Corvette.
The end of the Chevrolet 400
However, in 1969, the Chevy (based on the 1968 Chevy II Nova), a sports car that became the most famous in the history of the brand. The idea was to offer a luxury car with sports features on one side (Chevy 400), and sport on the other (Chevy). What was not taken into account is that sales of the Chevy increased at the expense of its predecessor, the 400, causing a competition between both models. While the 400 was produced alongside the Chevy, the 400's North American counterpart ceased production after the 1967 model year.
It was then that to avoid more of a problem, in 1972, "Rally Sport" was launched, which was cheaper than the Chevrolet 400. The same came with three engine options: the "194", the "230" and "250", which came equipped with a carburetor Holey R 2751, and coupled to the 4-speed box. These versions came with different shades of color characteristic of this series: White, Red with black side stripes, light blue with white side stripes or orange with the best known black sidebands. It also highlighted the logo "RS" in the rear of the car and a new grille with 2 headlights instead of 4.
In 1974, Chevrolet ended production of the 400 with 93,000 units manufactured . It was replaced by the Argentine Chevrolet Malibu (based on the 1968-72 USA Chevrolet Nova 4-door sedan, with no relation to the North American Malibu), indicating that General Motors bet all the Chevy. However, the same year, the engine "194" Chevrolet 400, was taken to start the project of what would be the first medium of Chevrolet in Argentina.
Engines
3 different sizes of Chevrolet Straight-6 engines were offered.
'Chevrolet 400 STD'
'Chevrolet 400 Special'
'Chevrolet 400 Super'
'Chevrolet 400 Super Sport'
'Rally Sport Chevrolet 400'
Sports
The Chevrolet 400, made its debut in the TC in the 1960s, at the same time they began to appear as the first national compact in motorsport. The prototype Chevitú coupé driven by the famous pilot Froilán González (derived from the US Chevrolet Chevy II Nova coupé), was the pioneer in this activity receiving praise and denials alike. The '400' was piloted at TC for several pamphlets, among which stood out Jorge Cupeiro, Carlos Marincovich, Jorge Martínez Boero and Charles Giay, among others.
Chevrolet Prototype
The 'Chevrolet Prototype', were a litter of vehicles submitted by various coaches that their machines with motorized Chevrolet engines .