1914 Chevrolet roadster
date: label: date made
content: 1914
name: label: maker
content: Chevrolet Motor Car Company
notes: label: Description
content: The 1914 Chevrolet Royal Mail roadster represents the early years of a make that a decade later would become the low-priced, mass-market leader in General Motors Corporation's varied array of cars. In 1914, Chevrolet cars were redesigned to compete with Ford and other makes vying for the low-priced market, which comprised working class and middle-class Americans. The Royal Mail and its larger companion, the Baby Grand touring car, were the first Chevrolet cars priced under $1,000. The Royal Mail body was considered streamlined and attractive. Its four-cylinder engine featured an overhead valve design, a Buick innovation that increased power; the OHV design reappeared on other GM cars during the next several decades. Alton M. Costley, a businessman who owned a Chevrolet dealership near Atlanta, donated this car to the Smithsonian in 1978.
label: Description
content: The 1914 Chevrolet Series H roadster, marketed as the Chevrolet Royal Mail, is an open car with a folding top and folding windshield. Like many "streamlined" cars of the day, its styling is smooth and uninterrupted and flows from front to back without projecting hardware or accessories. The gasoline tank is external, but it has a pleasing elliptical shape that complements the body. The hand-cranked engine has four cylinders and an overhead valve design.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Automobiles
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Alton M. Costley
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.336719
label: catalog number
content: 336719
label: accession number
content: 1978.1027
label: serial number
content: 11505
objectType: label: Object Name
content: automobile
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 80 in x 66 in x 144 in; 203.2 cm x 167.64 cm x 365.76 cm