Down the Gasoline Trail

Length: 7 Minutes | Produced:1935

This Jam Handy production was made to sell Chevrolets (now vintage Chevrolets), but it is a promotional video that is ostensibly an educational video. In order to teach us about the inner workings of the superbly designed Chevy engine and explain how an engine works, the production team combined clever animation with real footage of different parts of the engine to produce an entertaining and humorous film about what happens to gasoline when it is pumped into a car. A great example of black and white cartoons, one animated drop of gasoline acts as the tour guide through the gas line, fuel pump, manifold, and into the cylinder where he is blown up in order to power the car. At this point, he grows little angels wings and flies off, secure in the knowledge that hes lived the best life possible for a drop of gas, which is fueling a Chevy, of course. Theres some nice footage of old Chevy cars which along with the amusing black and white cartoon characters make this a fun promotional video.