Eight new Chevrolets made their showroom debut last Saturday before a large holiday crowd at Porter Square. For the occasion, the management had on hand a collection of bubble gum, balloons, and General Motors comic books which it passed out to the children, and a case of perfume for the ladies. The men got no gifts, but they did get a chance to thump the sides and probe the entrails of the new Chevrolet.

There were visiting celebrities, too--Johnny Pesky of the Red Sox and Mickey Harris of the Senators ("friends of the management"). Pesky gave a half-hour broadcast in which he mixed commentary on the Sox with praise of the new automobiles.

At the door, six carnation-wearing salesmen handed out free chances on a television set, plus a crisp sales chat--Smarter, Safer, Greater in Value, one-third down and 15 months to pay, and look at that chrome. As Pesky and Harris and the salesmen moved among the crowd wearing neat name-plates and dispensing raffle tickets the affair took on the conviviality of a bargain basement. And bargains there were, judging from numerous dark nods toward Porter Square's used car lot across the street. When trading closed for the day, only one of the new cars remained unsold and there were orders for about 100 more.

A small group of visitors failed to join in the spirit of the occasion, however, forming solemn cliques around the new cars to discuss compression ratios and transmission. These connoisseurs sustained a notible sobriety in the midst of so much bubble gum, as they added wrinkles of their own to the rigors of Chevrolet's road test. The "knee test" figured frequently in this scrutiny: the test consists of placing one knee squarely in the middle of a door panel and pressing violently inward. The metal is then judged on rebounding quality and resonance. This kind of test is necessarily performed in the open, but some are more surreptitious especially those to check the durability of the finish. This calls for chipping off a small piece of the paint, or making a furtive scratch.

Unlike the men, who devoted most of their time to the exteriors and engines, most of the women concentrated on the upholstery. Some showed a lack of reverence toward the whole show, as did one female who stopped a salesman in mid-spiel by nudging her husband and saying. "Let's go buy a TV set." If they did, they were foolish. They should have waited for the raffle.