In my mis-spent youth 55-57 Chevys never had a nickname. They were just cheap used cars that had not earned a reputation yet. It wasn't until much later that they started calling them tri-five Chevys. I always thought that was a result of the reproduction parts people naming their niche in the market. Stovebolts were the earlier 6 cyl Chevys. I quess you could call a 6 cyl 57 Chevy a stovebolt but I couldn't. I think they had changed the sidecover bolts by then anyway. I was a GM guy back then and remember thinking get your own nickname the first time I heard a Chevy called a shoebox.
I'm with Jeff and Charlie. When I was growing up in the 50's and into the 60's "Shoebox" always meant Fords. Only recently have I heard Chevys referred to as shoeboxes...
Maybe Terry's right...I grew up in northern Indiana and the first time I can remember hearing the term was about '58 or '59 when a buddy's older brother brought out his '50 Ford for the first time. It was a thing of beauty. Chrome wheels with baby moons, green metalflake paint, flathead V8, and rolled and pleated interior. Everyone was talkin about the "Shoebox Ford". Sure would like to see a picture of that car again. He totaled it a couple of years later in a drag race just north of town....very sad....
Just to confuse things even further, I've also heard the term shoebox applied to first generation Chevy Novas.
Those are Acadians I think it might be regional, as Terry wondered. My father owned a '55 Chevy in '55 (in the northeast) and he's never heard them referred to as shoeboxes. '49-51 Fords have been shoeboxes since day one.
Well I'd say (like many others) Shoebox = '49 - '51 Ford NOT a Chevy They were the Cl***ics. Hmmmm some Chevy fanatic must have thought the Ford "nickname" were better? Klaus
Born in 1944 and I heard the term applied to '49-'51 Fords in the early fifties. Hadn't heard it applied to '55-'57 Chevys until I came on the HAMB. I, for one, hate the term as it confuses my early education. Walking into my closet , and without the aid of a tape measure, I KNOW there is no way I could get a Chevy OR a Ford in there and the shelves are stacked with my wife's "shoeboxes". The only appropiate term for a car other than the manufacturer and the year is "Deuce", but '32 Ford works equally well. Frank
A shoebox is a 49 to 51 ford. When the tri 5 chevys got popular the owners thought that the name "shoebox" was cool so adopted it. Ask an old timer and he will say ford. Ask a kid and he will say chevy. Do a survey and you will probably hear chevy because there are more kids than old timers.
It all depends how you look at it and how big the box is. As for a shoebox car, to me it's always been the 49-51 Fords. All these years on this thread and we still don't have the answer.
To me shoe box 49 50 51 Ford. But I have a friend who call's his early 60's Mini Cooper a shoe box. May be its a sports car deal.
Bored magazine writers have been inventing words and terms ever since magazines came to be. Shoebox is a stupid name for a 49-51 Ford
I put a vacuum gauge in my 1950 Crestliner today. Few tools are more useful and versatile than a vacuum gauge It can help you tune and diagnose problems including vacuum leaks and burnt valves. For great information, look here. http://secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm Heres a picture of the gauge I put in place of the clock on my 1950 Crestliner. Its an Autometer Autogauge 2310 And the bracket for the back. You can see the original dashlight for the clock pops into place.
My Mom had Model A's, both 'suped-up' by former Indy wrench Pete Dias. She then bought a new '37 Ford tudor flatback, had that until '49. (Columbia rear axle allowed her to 'push' it to 85 in second! She won money from doubting p***engers doing that one...) Mom didn't buy a new Ford, said "she wouldn't have one of those 'crackerboxes'." So, according to her, that was a widely used term in that period (when they were new) Some magazine cleric evidently coined them 'shoeboxes', but some research may bear me out, Mom was a 'language guru', and was keen on accuracy of terms. She bought the Langendorf '48 Cadillac, 1 year old...Mr. Langendorf was a family friend (yeah, the "bread guy", Langendorf Bread in San Jose) Her Caddy got dual exhausts, louvered hood, lowered front and rear, Olds caps. She HATED the Hydra-matic, said she wished it was a stick. The next Ford she'd buy was a year-old '56 T-Bird, 312 stick...traded it in on a '56 convert, 312 stick/O.D., when her cancer made it difficult to clutch the T-Bird. The convert sat upright, so she could clutch 'comfortably'. I suggested maybe she should opt for an automatic trans. She replied flatly, "None of those slush-boxes for this kid!" Miss her...Every time I see an old Ann Sothern movie, I get nostalgic. She was a 'ringer'. Looked just like her...
I was born in '78, so what do I know? All I can ad is that in the Mid 80's, when I used to make my Mom read me Hotrod Magazine as a bedtime story, the Shoebox Chevy name was going strong.
Bathtubs were and are Porsche 356's - but those guys argue whether it is just the Speedsters, or the Roadster and Cabriolet as well. And Shoeboxes are 49-51 Ford's, PERIOD. Pops was born in 1931, and says "they were called that here in So Cal right from when they came out. Chevy queers need to find their own nickname."
I always thought they were just late-40's - early 50's Fords, for their look and even because they were still such small cars. I suppose you could stretch that to mean anything in the Ford Family that still had a flathead in those years? Anything else wasn't.
I know the discussion is focused on the concept of a shoebox, but the transition to post-war design really centers around the elimination of the last vestiges of a running board, which happened in 1949 for at least Ford and GM. Old style bulbous front and rear fenders carried over in GM cars through '54 but was already history at Ford, Nash, Willys, Hudson, Packard, etc. Chrysler was behind the curve on that, but way ahead in developing, producing and marketing the OHV, particularly the hemi and even the poly, which breathed better and produced more power than any compe***ors. My favorite "shoebox" was the early '50s Willys Aeros. Boxy, light (unit body construction) fast with the F-head Hurricane 6 and came with overdrive. Roomier, too, than its compe***ion.
Someone had to come on here and specifically search for "shoebox" in order to dig up this twice dead thread.
My old 50 coupe. HRP I have always thought that the ***ociation with the show box came along when the rounded Fenders changed in 1948. HRP
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