1913-1914 baby grand

[Guest haturner]

I need guidance on where I can find the value of a 1913 -14 chevy baby grand . Any Ideas?

[Layden B]

I think a 1913 Baby Grand would be a rare bird as Chevrolet started using the description of Baby Grand on the Model H introduced for the 1914 model year. Yes it could have been built in 1913 but would be considered a 1914 car.

[john2dameron]

When I was a lad my Dad had two Chevrolet touring cars that he called Baby Grands but he also said one was a 1921 and one was a 1922. Of course there were no Baby Grands manufactured that late but my memory tells me the cars were too large to be 490's and probably were Baby Grands in which case he had the wrong year for them. I am of the impression that he had at least of them licensed. I don't know how he managed to license them if he was that far off on the years they were made. All I know is they made a good place for an 8-year old country kid to play and a good place for the chickens to lay and the wrens to nest. He finally sold one in the late '50's and the other in the early '60's I think but might have sold both of them in the '50's. At the time I had no serious interest in cars that old and less knowledge about them. What interest I had in cars he tried hard to discourage. If he had held on to them a few years longer I would have gotten all the facts on them.

[JFranklin]

Go to vcca.org

[Guest Bill Miller]

Hi haturner,

I've seen several Baby Grands on eBay in the last 6 months. I can't recall what the high bids were or even if they sold, but you ought to check the eBay Motors site every couple of weeks and one or 2 will surely pop up.

Bill

[Guest Bill Miller]

Also, there's a 1915 Baby Grand that needs to be restored listed for sale on the Horseless Carriage forum here.

[Guest 1964 225 Roadster]

Chevrolet first called the 1914-16 "Model H" touring car the "Baby Grand" (and the roadster version of the same car was called the "Royal Mail"). When the little 490 came out as a 1916 model in the summer of 1915, the Model H became by default the "big" Chevrolet. It was slightly larger than a Model T, but certainly not big by comparison to other brands. In 1917 the H Model was discontinued and followed by the Model F which was slightly larger yet, with wheelbase increasing from 106" to 108". This "big Chevrolet" Model F continued using the Baby Grand and Royal Mail names for respectively the touring and roadster bodies. In 1918 the Model F became the Model FA (with a larger engine)and the Baby Grand name was no longer officailly used, but continued in common useage at the time by the public, who had become used to thinking of the small Chevrolet as the 490, and the big Chevrolet as the Baby Grand. The Model FA became the FB which ran until 1922, when Chevolet consolidated into a single model deriving from the 490.

[mercer09]

Chevrolet first called the 1914-16 "Model H" touring car the "Baby Grand" (and the roadster version of the same car was called the "Royal Mail"). When the little 490 came out as a 1916 model in the summer of 1915, the Model H became by default the "big" Chevrolet. It was slightly larger than a Model T, but certainly not big by comparison to other brands. In 1917 the H Model was discontinued and followed by the Model F which was slightly larger yet, with wheelbase increasing from 106" to 108". This "big Chevrolet" Model F continued using the Baby Grand and Royal Mail names for respectively the touring and roadster bodies. In 1918 the Model F became the Model FA (with a larger engine)and the Baby Grand name was no longer officailly used, but continued in common useage at the time by the public, who had become used to thinking of the small Chevrolet as the 490, and the big Chevrolet as the Baby Grand. The Model FA became the FB which ran until 1922, when Chevolet consolidated into a single model deriving from the 490.

1964-I beg to differ....

John's father was actually correct. I own a 1922 Baby Grand-the vin tag is original and has Baby Grand in large letters written across it-it also has the vin and in small letters on the bottom says, FB50

I had a fellow come out years ago and argue with me that there was no such thing as a 1922 Baby Grand, that it was in fact an FB

I then showed him the vin tag, which mounts under the dash on the passenger side-he didn't have much to say after that....

There are only a couple off 22's left and it was in fact the last year of production.

[Dandy Dave]

There was a very nice early Baby Grand Chevy roadster on the Hershey show field about 4 or 5 years ago. The car was early enough to have had magneto ignition. The owner told me that only the very early cars had this before going to distributor and coil ignition. It still sticks in my mind as a real beauty. Dandy Dave!

Edited February 16, 2013 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)