GM Uses Ford Body For New Car !!!

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Chevy chases Ford
Graham Smith
18nov05

A wildly wicked Chevrolet, actually built from a Ford, has given a much-needed spark to General Motors in the US.

The world's biggest carmaker is facing huge losses and falling sales, but that hasn't stopped it aiming for the spotlight at the giant SEMA after-market car show in Las Vegas.
Chevy was happy to follow Ford's lead and created the Bowtie Deuce - a move as outrageous as, say, Holden taking a Falcon GT, changing the stripes and rebadging it with the red lion as its own interpretation of the iconic Aussie muscle car.

The special Chevy paid homage to the 1932 Ford, the vehicle that has come to define the American hot rod.

It was actually built by a group of craftsmen who work for American television star Jay Leno.

Ford has dominated the hot rod scene in the US, thanks to the 1930s originals shaped into all-American muscle cars, many home-built specials with modern engines and running gear.






So Chevrolet effectively went with the flow by using a classic '32 Ford roadster body as the core of the Bowtie Deuce.

"Sure, it's a 32 Ford, but we've added a Chevy front, used a Chevy powertrain, and styled its interior like the original Corvette," says one member of the Bowtie Deuce team.

Even so, it was still a '32 Ford and sitting in the middle of the General Motors stand at one of the world's biggest car shows.

Leno's team - which looks after his huge collection of cars in LA - built the SEMA car with help from staff at the GM Performance and GM Performance Parts divisions. It will join the 80-plus cars - and a jet-engined motorcycle - that the Tonight Show host already owns.

The Bowtie Deuce hot rod began with a steel reproduction '32 Ford roadster body, but the Chevrolet involvement came early. The body is perched on a 1932 Chevy frame and was given the grille and bonnet from a '34 Chevy to create the exterior impression of a Chevy roadster hot rod - at least when viewed from the front.

Underneath the retro skin is a souped-up 450kW 7.0-litre LS2 V8 from a 2006 Corvette, which has been mated to a Tremec T56 six-speed manual gearbox from a Chevy SSR pickup. The final drive goes through a Getrag differential lifted from a Cadillac CTS-V.

Custom independent front suspension is used along with a rear end from a 2005 C6 Corvette and disc brakes lifted from a Cadillac CTS-V.

The result is a clean and tidy interpretation of the all-time classic hot rod, but the use of a Ford body means it will forever be seen as an admission that General Motors is a bit player in a hobby owned by its rival.

Herald Sun