1933 Chevrolet Roadster 1933-3800 Series V6 images

Chevrolet built this roadster during the worst economy in American history – and somehow sold nearly half a million of its kind anyway. Find out how a rebadged “Eagle” with a beaver-tail rear end and a V-shaped radiator became one of the best-selling cars of 1933, and why collectors still chase these six-cylinder survivors today.

This roadster was available in three body styles-all on a 110 inch wheel base. The original engine is a valve-in-head 181 cu in six cylinder that produces 60 bhp and puts 125 lb-ft of torque to the wheels, with a top speed of up to 70 mph. A clock, heater and AM radio were the available options in 1933.

MCF thanks Gateway Classic Cars for the images displayed here.

⚑ Featured Gear

Start Car Conversations →

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

A Depression-Era Roadster With a Surprising Backstory

Before muscle cars were even a glimmer in Detroit’s eye, there was this – a Depression-era roadster that somehow made buyers line up anyway. Chevrolet had every reason to expect disaster in 1933; the country was flat broke, and yet this little six-cylinder roadster with its V-shaped radiator and beaver-tail rear end became one of the best-selling cars in America that year. It wore an “Eagle” badge before Chevy quietly renamed the whole lineup mid-production, which tells you something about how fast this era moved. Look closely at the skirted fenders and the slanted, louvered hood and you’re looking at styling cues that would echo through Chevrolet design for the next decade. So how did a car built to survive the worst economy in American history end up this good-looking?

A Depression-Era Sales Phenomenon

Chevrolet’s Series CA line sold a combined 450,435 vehicles that year, an increase of nearly 140,000 over the prior year’s Series BA – a remarkable number given the economic climate buyers were living through. Pricing helped: Sport Roadster models started around $485, climbing to $565 for a sedan, genuinely affordable transportation dressed up with real style. The name shuffle is part of the fun too – the car launched wearing an “Eagle” badge, then got rebadged “Master” once the cheaper Standard Six joined the lineup in February 1933, giving Chevrolet a proper two-tier range for the first time.

Small Six, Big Presence

The rest of the Series CA lineup rode on a stretched 110-inch wheelbase and introduced a three-speed synchromesh manual transmission, a genuine advance for the era, backed by four-wheel mechanical brakes. Fisher Body’s No-Draft ventilation system gave buyers fresh air without the wind-in-your-face compromise older roadsters demanded. Tie all of that to the styling – the V-shaped radiator, the beaver-tail back panel, the rear-slanting louvers – and you’ve got a generation of Chevrolet that still turns heads at any show field today, decades after it was built to survive nothing more glamorous than a Depression-era commute.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Republished by Blog Post Promoter