I can only imagine what kind of stories your grandpa got by working there!
The man who painted your grandma´s house may still have a troll face… what a deal!
Here you have a picture of the last Argentinean Chevy in the assembly line; it could very well have been my Utopia. On her body you can see some workers´ signatures, saying farewell to their beloved product:
During her production run, the Chevy SS was a premium, aspirational car. It only became affordable to the working class some years after the cease of production.
I look at the car, and, what do you know, it looks like a Chevelle. I love to see classic muscle cars. This car just makes me wish I could get the Muscle Car Pack on Forza 4…
It is just interesting to see the differences between the countries and the differences between the cars on each country. They are essentially the same, but differences make the difference. Name, engines, little part on the look…
In my opinion, the world of cars today is just too generic. No manufacturers are thinking about bringing back muscle cars like before. The remaining cars that date from there are now… not like they were before. Take the Impala as an example.
I’m sure that, if someone takes back that initiative, it will be crowned of success. Today, we simply can keep the good of the classic cars, without the bad.
And now on my road to get back my Unicorns… (in a Chevelle).
GamerTag: Racer4Evr
Unicorn: Ford Fiesta ST (Horizon)
Well, sad to start the HMA already with the bad news, I never had a car but I know the feeling of being stolen. Hope you can find your lady and she stills ok and hope that the people who did this, only did to “enjoy” the car by themselves, not to do anything bad and all car comunity can see they get catched by police soon.
Hey Kaji AF16, did you put your car livery to sell on storefront? A silver Nova and the word “Utopia” it seems a bit familiar to me. BTW, even that I’m without LIVE GOLD by now, can I add you?
Lovely landscape though, seems to be a great place to relax and enjoy a “man and his car only” moment.
Don’t know why but that beginning of the song on the video kinda scared me lol, is that “The Ecstasy of Gold”? And between that Porsche GT3 RS and your Chevy, I would pick the Chevy (I swear to God that it wasn’t me who stole it! :P)
As curiosity, way before this HMA appears, I bought a Nova on FM4 and painted it on silver
BTW, to John: we never received Chevrolet Nova in Brazil, because we had an muscle car based on it called OPALA, but we had a “Chevrolet Chevy” too and this is how it looks like (yeah, not a good design honestly IMO) :
Plus, this is one generation of our Opala which reminds me of Ariel’s Chevy (in-line 6 too), of course it doesn’t have the glamour of the Nova, Chevelle etc, but still looking beautiful:
Plus I would love to have one 1974 SS-6 like this (maybe in orange or green, which looks awesome if you see/search), and is the best way to have a Muscle car in here without spend $50K+ in local money:
Obrigado, Gaudelio Carlos! And of course you can add me to your friend list!
I put her on the storefront some time ago, indeed. It was tagged as “Chevy Opus” and I just added “Chevy Utopia”. It is a humble representation of her (its lack the “Serie 2” side letters, for example), but I think I got the color (“Plata Quásar” - Quasar Silver) quite well.
I know your Opalas (¿fusion of Opel and Impala, if I remember correctly?), they are cousins to our Chevys! They even shared engines and each had a clear rival from Ford: the V8 Maverick for the Opala; and the I-6, 4-door Falcon for the Chevy.
I would love to see our Latin-American muscle cars represented in Forza. They reached a mythic legacy in our countries.
Perhaps you find the following video interesting: Roberto Mouras, arguably the most adored Chevrolet pilot, testing a racing Chevy in an open road, during the early nineties. The sound of that engine is so sweet…
Don’t know about Opala’s history of its name but yes, Maverick it was like our fastback Mustang in that rivalry lol
At least we have the VW Fox on Forza, a car created in Brazil, is not our muscle cars but still one of our cars. Maybe in near future we will have some latin-american cars on Forza, let’s hope for that m8
After all this great bad-end history, I remembered one very close to this, what happened with me best friend “the fat”
It was 1995 when his grand-father bought a brand new volkswagen “gol”, a very lovely car here in Brazil.
“our” grand-father stood with this car a very long time. When me and “The fat” became 18 years old, our great diversion was take this car and go away on the weekends.
The years came on and unfortunately our grand father died. The family decided to keep the car, and my friend, for loving cars just like me, kept the responsability to take care of the car.
Wherever we came, people wanted to buy that full original volkswagen.
In 2010, our 15 years old “child” was stolen during his cousin dives to the college.
The car was never found, but the remember will always be in our mind.
This is the car, and my friend “the fat”. The pic was taken by me, something about 2006 or 2007, I don’t remember at right:
Obrigado, March rules. Sorry to hear the loss of Gordo´s VW… those family links strengthen our love for some cars.
The Gol is also incredibly popular here in Argentina. It dominated sales during the last 20 years.
A friend of mine lost his VW Senda -a similar car- and was devastated, but he also remembers it fondly.
Nice hma story. Chavy SS is certainly a fine example of old school American muscle car; I’m European, but the appeal of this type of car is indisputable!
Can a car become a part of yourself? The answer is yes, some cars may enter into the life of a man becoming a slice of life. I think the same applies to the Chavy SS and Ariel Fuentes: for a few years this car has been an integral part of Ariel’s life, not just a means of transportation from point a to point b, but an expansion of himself, part of his life and way of life too.
I believe that the theft of Utopia suffered from Fuentes was painful, a small but deep tear in the soul. Maybe one day the streets of Utopia and Ariel will cross again, mending the tear of loss. But if this doesn’t happen, I hope that Ariel can still find a 4 wheels worthy substitute!
Thank you very much, Brigante! Are you from Italy?
Utopia became a part of my identity, yes. Everytime someone close to me saw a Chevy, remembered me. And if that Chevy was a silver coupe… they would almost always believe it was me driving it!
A friend of mine, also owner of a quasar silver Opus, went to a classic car convention where I was also supposed to attend -but I couldn´t. He was called “Ariel” (not his name) by many people who knew my car through the Internet forums because of driving a Chevy so similar to Utopia!
I can´t imagine what would I feel if I find her. I think it would be like seeing someone loved resurrected.
As for a substitute… not for now. I never wanted nor needed any other car.
Hi Ariel!
Yes, I’m italian.
I know that a car can become a part of a man: I owned a mini cooper 2004 for about 5 years, then for various reasons I had to sell it. I was very close to the car, drive it was always pleasant and exciting. Its sale was hard to digest. I know that theft is more unpleasant than a sale, but the sad feeling that something was missing may be similar!
I wish with all my heart to find Utopia one day!
I can relate because I’m a die hard Chevy fan. My dream car is a 70 Chevelle so I can understand the passion. Also learned a few things about chevys track record. Excellent news article. Thanks for sharing guys
Thank you! Even today, Chevys have ferocious battles on the track against Ford Falcons, Dodge Polara GTXs (not the US Polaras) and IKA-Renault Torinos (not Ford Torinos, and fabled because of their success in 1969 Nürburgring 84-hour Marathon).
Man that really sucks to have a car as beautiful as that stolen. I’m sure that would’ve been a very fun project to work on. That 1978 Chevrolet Chevy SS looked great in that prime gray.
Thank you! My work on her was primarily directed to keeping her as original as possible.
Her paint was “Plata Quásar” (Quasar Silver), an exclusive for General Motors Argentina. In her prime she would have looked a little greener, not as metallic as in my recent pictures.
I think its great how different countrys embrace one anothers cars. I am American and I love are manufacters but I also like japans englands and Swiss cars. However I think the cars title like move Camaro etc should stay the same no matter where its sold. Great article as always. F4 BMW street version
There are some very interesting, even funny examples of car names being adapted to certain cultures. “Chevy” is not used as a “Chevrolet” synonym in Argentina, but the popularity of the model is enormous and it has effectively turned into a symbol of the brand (much like the Camaro or the Corvette in the US).
If you ask an average argentinean car lover to choose between a fine Chevy and a mint condition US Camaro… well, let´s say that the results of the survey would be evenly split.
Wow John, what a tearjerker of an HMA. I seriously almost cried for this guy and his beloved car. Makes me think of the day when my first vehicle died. She was just a beat up old minivan but I bawled my eyes out for hours. It hurts to lose something you care so much about, spend so much time with, share so many experiences with, even if to others it is “just a machine.” Thank you so much for sharing your story of Utopia with us Ariel. I sincerely hope that you get to see her again some day, and as hard as may be, take comfort in knowing that you took good care of her while you had her.
It’s so sad that someone stole Utopia. Do you remember how much you have cried after you heard that someone stole it?
And John, that HMA is so mind-blowing. I never knew that the was Chevrolet in Argentina.
GT: FerrariFan24
FM4 Unicorn: Ford Shelby GT500 '07
