Cruisin’ in a Chevy Six in Colonial Vietnam

Chevrolet advertisement from colonial Vietnam

A six-cylinder car which is sumptuous and affordable for everyone.

Everyone’s been waiting a six-cylinder car which is really powerful, pleasant to look at and manufactured in a way which is deserving of the name of a six-cylinder car – comfortable and neat, and not too expensive.

The Chevrolet Six fulfills all of the above requirements.

Based on four years of research, General Motors, an automotive manufacturer of six-cylinder cars which are very powerful and expertly-made, has made [? can’t read the word here] the Chevrolet fully reliable and added a dose of gentleness as well, which has surprised automotive experts.

Baron Folke Bernadotte, who is someone well-versed in the automotive field and is also an expert engineer, has praised the good qualities of the Chevrolet.

Mr. Wittig is a famous engineer said, “We have truly entered a golden age of automotive manufacturing.”

In the past year, because of extensive purchases – as many as 7,000 a day – General Motors has been able to sell this six-cylinder beauty at such a low price.

General Motors advertisement from colonial Vietnam

Share This Post

Leave a comment

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Le Chi Khai

    “This car will run over any ‘nhaqué’ with ease. The sleek design makes sure their clothes or accessories won’t get caught, allowing you to continue on the Mandarin Road.”

  2. leminhkhai

    Exactly!!! And the air-tight windows block out the dying squeels of run-over pigs. Look out modernity, here we come!!

  3. nguyensau

    Let us taste some early modern Vietnamese! It seems that today people don’t call it “xe sáu máy,” but “xe sáu động cơ.” Is it right?
    “Ai ai cũng mong đợi cho có một cái xe sáu máy thật mạnh, dễ coi và phải chế-tạo cách nào cho xứng với cái tên là một thứ xe sáu máy, dễ chịu và lịch-sự mà giá bán đừng cao quá.
    Xe Chevrolet Six là thứ xe có đủ tất cả các khoản nói trên đây.
    Nhờ sự nghiên-cứu trong bốn năm trời, hãng chế-tạo dàng (=dòng) xe sáu máy rất mạnh và rất thiện-nghệ là hãng Général Motors đã gồm vào cho xe Chevrolet được đủ cả chắc-chắn và lại thêm êm ái, làm cho các nhà chuyên-môn về xe hơi đều phải lấy làm khoái ý. – Bá-tước Folke Bernadotte là một nhà thông-thạo về nghề xe hơi và lại là một nhà kỹ sư rất tài-tình cũng đã phải khen ngợi về những tánh chất (=tính chất) tốt của xe Chevrolet. ¬¬– Ông Wittig là một nhà kỹ sư trứ-danh có nói: “Chính là một thời-kỳ vẻ vang đã ghi vào trong lịch-sử về nghề chế-tạo xe hơi vậy.”
    Năm mới rồi, vì sự tiêu-thụ nhiều, mỗi ngày tới 7.000 chiếc xe, nên hãng Général Motors mới có thể bán thứ xe sáu máy rất đẹp đẽ này thật nhẹ như vậy.”

  4. leminhkhai

    Thanks, but I’m still not sure how to translate “gồm vào.” – Maybe this? = General Motors included in the Chevrolet all of the reliability and added some “êm ái” (that’s really hard to translate too).
    Yea, I don’t know my Vietnamese automotive terminology very well, but “xe sáu máy” (a six engine car) sounded weird. I found on the web though that in 1929 Chevrolet started to produce a six cylinder engine. This add is I think from the early 1930s.
    I looked up “Folke Bernadotte” on the web and found that he was a Swedish diplomat. I couldn’t find any evidence that he was an “engineer” or that he was a specialist on cars. And I have no idea who Mr. Wittig was.

    1. nguyensau

      So it is an passage in early modern Vietnamese. There are some expression which sounds strange to contemporary Vietnamese such as “gồm vào.” I think we no longer express like this “gồm vào.” People did say “gồm vào” possibly because the later clause “đủ cả… và lại” (like “not only… but also…”).
      hãng Général Motors đã gồm vào cho xe Chevrolet được đủ cả chắc-chắn và lại thêm êm ái.. = hãng Général Motors [đã nâng cấp sao cho] xe Chevrolet có đủ cả 2 đặc điểm là “chắc chắn” và “êm ái.”
      “Êm ái” likes in a sentence that “chiếc xe này chạy rất êm” or something like “quiet running.”

  5. leminhkhai

    Oh, and I just realized. The steering wheel is on the right in this picture. That was never the case in Vietnam, was it?

    1. nguyensau

      Many of pictures you provide here tend to show me that they were from South Vietnam in 1930s… I know little about South VN this period. Why wasn’t it that case?

  6. Le Chi Khai

    “Êm ái” = smooth (ride)
    “gồm vào” = build … with, equip … with

Leave a Reply