"Chev brakes"?

I mean, yes, Chevrolet, but I just learned that this is what old Ziggy is saying on "Rock and Roll Suicide":
"Chev brakes are snarling..."  Since I was 14 or so, I always thought it was "ship brakes," but I knew that ships didn't really have brakes, per se, even having been raised as a land lubber.  So now I know.