Midweek Matinee: Chevrolet Leader News, 1935

Still images from video below.

Up for your consideration is Volume One, Number One of a series of newsreel-type short subjects; a veritable grab bag of things you never before particularly associated with a Chevrolet. So sit back and see what others were doing with, or in, or to, their vehicles back in the day. Take copious notes, so that you can look like a genius the next time an animated discussion on construction of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Norris Dam pops up around the holiday dinner table. And you thought it was a big deal to haul a few yards of mulch home from the local nursery in your shiny Silverado.

Here’s a Bucket List item you’ve probably left unchecked: racing your mid-’30s sedan, on a frozen lake, against an iceboat at speed in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. Our advice: watch for ice-fishing shacks, curious spectators and whoever’s hanging out of the chase car filming all this for posterity.

Dateline Detroit: Before there were touch screens and hand-held cell phones to distract you, there were, apparently, windshield-mounted gas gauges to settle certain disputes.

From Dayton, Ohio: a report on the All-American Soap Box Derby, where we note that these cars exude considerably more individual personality and creativity than those participating in present-day racing events.

And there’s more, from New York City to San Francisco.

Public domain archival footage courtesy of the Internet Moving Images Archive, in association with Prelinger Archives.