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STORY LINE: VINCE PIGGINS

BARRETT-JACKSON is over and … a couple of Chrysler 300G convertible cars broke records, and HEMI priced cars … are in the stratosphere, still. Try to buy your fathers Oldsmobile Rocket 88 prototype car at 3-million … When I was but a little guy at about 9 years of age in 1955, I remember sitting in those GM Motorama show cars-and THAT Oldsmobile too-in the Silver Styling Dome at the GM Technical Center in Warren. As dad was Art Director of Fisher Body Craftsmens Guild I did get to do/see things that others did not. Car loving is incurable.

Last month I wrote a piece about Jon A. Moss-GM and John Coletti-Ford retiring from their respective companies as revered horse power brokers, and while recently researching car ‘stuph’ I ran across another name in a press release written in an old CLASSIC SIXTIES magazine publication. A story first…. A few years ago while attending Ann Arbors ROLLING SCULPTURE car show I stopped to say hello to Mr. Jack Miller of Ypsilanti and the curator of the last known Hudson Dealership and he asked, “John, when you think back of GM performance what name first comes to mind?” My immediate reply was, “Vince Piggins, Mr. Chevrolet.” Jack then graciously introduced me to Mr. Piggins son and family. Vince Piggins has been gone a number of years but it sure brought a smile to these folks knowing that he was remembered for his efforts at GM/Chevrolet.

The press release/excerpts from CLASSIC SIXTIES reads… Vince Piggins was known to millions of Chevrolet performance fans in the 60s/70s as ‘Mr. Performance’ and spent some 27 years involved with Chevrolets performance and heavy duty parts program. He came to Chevrolet from the Hudson Motor Car Company in may of 1956 to help coordinate the exposure of Chevrolet products, including the new small-block V8 engine in racing activities. “The Piggins era witnessed the emergence of the stock block Chevrolet engine as the dominant force in a variety of American motorsports-from midget racing to tractor pulling-and the growth of a multi-million dollar aftermarket parts industry based principally upon 4-cylinder, V6 and V8 Chevrolet designs,” a Chevrolet spokesperson said. Among Piggins handiwork is “Chevrolet Power”, a catalog of heavy duty Chevrolet parts with special sections devoted to race engine and race car preparations. Revised as hardware is added to the Chevy performance storehouse, it is sold exclusively through Chevrolet dealerships. That was 22 years ago-1983-when a young Herb Fishel took over the position upon Vince Piggins retirement.

Interesting that the book ‘Chevrolet Power’ is still a mainstay after all these years, and while researching a little deeper in my archives-its amazing what the brain can recall-I found a copy of the book…the Seventh printing of 1994 celebrating the 40^th Anniversary of the Small-Block Chevrolet V8, sent to me by Mr Herb Fishel, dated April 1994 and personalized with my name ‘TOP HAT’ JOHN inscribed at the bottom. Mr. Fishel has been retired from GM for a few years now too.

A little more history. Some 45 years ago in the early to mid 1960’s, I would supply Detroit performance car info for the ‘Straight Scoop’ column featured monthly in CAR CRAFT magazine, and written by an ad writer from J. Walter Thompson … Vince Piggins suppplied me with the Chevrolet info. How well I remember Mr. Piggins telling me about the forth-coming under-rated 460HP L88 in 1966, and the guys at JWT and CAR CRAFT didn’t believe me …. Thank you Vince Piggins, this one’s for you.

Like Uncle Jack Miller once said, “This car stuph ain’t no sickness, it’s a damn disease.”

Did you know … Charles W. Nash and Walter P. Chrysler both served as President of Buick Motor Car Company before starting their own automobile ventures.