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Brothers Louis, Arthur and Gaston Chevrolet
migrated to the US from their native Switzerland
as young men. Having worked for Mors, Louis was
able to find plenty of work in the automotive
industry, at the same time garnering a reputation
as one of the countries leading race drivers.
Building his own racer based on Buick running
gear, the car would catch the attention of William
Durant, founder (but no longer owner) of General
Motors. The two quickly formed a partnership,
which led to the development of the Classic Six
in 1911.
Some 3000 had been manufactured by 1912,
their popularity encouraging Chevrolet and Durant
to expand their line-up, the Little Four based
on Durant’s own Little Runabout, the first
to carry the now familiar blue-and-white badge,
while a single seat version was aptly called
the Royal Mail.
Forming the Chevrolet Aircraft
Corporation with brother Arthur, Louis would
have little to do with the company that bore
his name, apart from a brief spell in the 1930’s,
and would die in almost total obscurity in 1941.
In the meantime the Chevrolet company had gone
from strength to strength, first acquiring the
Maxwell Motor Company factory in New York in
1914, then releasing the incredibly popular 490 – with
a for the time bargain basement price of, you
guessed it, $490.
By 1916 the company had manufactured
70,000 vehicles, and was quickly becoming a real
challenger for Ford. In 1919 the company was
absorbed by General Motors, who helped bolster
production to almost 150,000. The depression
would take its toll on the company, Chevrolet
boss Pierre S. DuPont ignoring a consultants
report to close the company, and helping it emerge
from the depression in better financial shape
than most.
The post-war Bel Air was responsible
for the company’s dominance of the US highways
through the 1950’s, while the Corvette
was every bit the match for the Ford Thunderbird.
The one bump in the road came courtesy of investigative
journalist Ralph Nader, his book Unsafe at Any
Speed bringing about the demise of the Corvair,
but being merely a blip on the radar of the now
global giant. |
