The Australian GMH assembled ‘58 Biscayne interestingly was a 6 cylinder car with a three speed manual transmission. I have just received my ‘58 Biscayne from Trax and I think its a nice model.

With the ‘62 Dodge Phoenix, my only objection is that they were never offered in ‘red’ in Australia. But otherwise it looks a very nice model also.

Like your self I have a ‘62 Impala Sport Sedan on order but have also ordered the ‘62 Belair 4 door sedan.

Kind regards from down under in Australia

Carl  Kelsen

With respect much is being over looked with the soon to be released Trax 1962 Chevrolet Belair 4 door sedan and 1962 Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan (4 door pillarless) models.

It’s important to appreciate that these models are NOT of same and should NOT be confused with the common garden variety US domestic market LHD cars. They are copies of the much rarer Export RHD cars, and with this in mind, the models would look ridiculous if built in left hand drive form. They simply have to be Right Hand Drive.

With the ‘62 Belair 4 door sedan, these cars were assembled from what General Motors called “Completely Knocked Down” (CKD) packs. These CKD packs were shipped to Australia where GM-H assembled them as their high end luxury cars. They used genuine leather to cover the seats that was of Rolls Royce quality. The fit and finish of these cars was exceptional. They differed considerably from the very basic Belairs sold in the USA. Australian (GMH) assembled Belairs had six tail light trunk lids to provided for amber turn signals. I will never understand why the USA used red turn signals.

The Trax model ‘62 Impala is an Export RHD Impala Sport Sedan (4 door hardtop). This model is perhaps the rarest of any 1962 production Chevrolet with a worldwide production believed to be fewer than 1,500. In 1962 Australia received just 60 examples. Export countries included New Zealand, England, India, South Africa and Indonesia.

The models Trax have made might look similar but the roof line on the Impala is quite different to the Belair. The interiors are completely different with the Belair have genuine pleated leather and the Impala nylon fabric. The dash panels are of course the Export RHD dash which is similar (but not exactly the same) as the 1961 LHD Pontiac dash.

You may well ask ‘how do I know all of this?’ I own one the very few surviving Export RHD 1962 Impala Sport Sedans and have studied these cars in detail for the best part of 60 years. I was deeply involved in the creation of the Trax 1962 RHD Chevrolets.

As I write this, I think orders for these unique models may have now closed, but with out question the few, very few that will be made are certain to become desirable and very collectable as I can’t see them being repeated.

My sincere advice is that its important to look beyond the thinking that all cars should be left hand drive and understand that the once great General Motors exported to all corners of the world. GM’s former Tarrytown plant in New York State assembled thousands of RHD Chevrolets for export in CKD form and fully built form.

Accordingly no Chevrolet model collection is complete without one or two of these RHD export Chevrolet models by Trax. 

In closing, if anyone would like to know more about 1950s or 1960s Export RHD Chevrolet then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Carl Kelsen

BTW, here is the Kess Impala.