Not many know that the man behind the ubiquitous Chevy range of machines – a range, a brand as well as an icon that we all recognize as distinctly American, was in fact a Swiss native of French descent.
Born on December 25, 1878 at La Chaux-de-Fonds in Neuchâtel Canton of Switzerland, Louis-Joseph Chevrolet emigrated to Montreal, Quebec in Canada in 1900 to work as a chauffeur/mechanic. Prior to that, even as a young man, Chevrolet had been honing his mechanical skills and alongside developing a passion for automotive racing, while working for the Roblin mechanics shop.
Watch rare footage of Chevrolet winning the Harkness Trophy in 1917, in the following video:
After moving to North America, it was more of a ‘rolling stone’ existence for Chevrolet, wherein he kept moving jobs and places – first to New York City where he worked briefly for a fellow Swiss immigrant’s engineering company and then to Brooklyn, where he took up a job at the local operations of the French car manufacturer de Dion-Bouton. From thereon, he again moved, this time to FIAT, as a race car driver and then once again, this time to a Philadelphia company which was developing something revolutionary at that time – a front-wheel drive racing car. It was there that he started driving the Buick for racing, and also became friendly with Billy Durant.
Eventually, he started designing his own engine for a new Buick car in 1909, and Durant, obviously impressed with the results, agreed to partner with Chevrolet to start the Chevrolet Motor Car Company, in Detroit. But the friendship did not last long, and eventually, after having sold his share of the company to Durant, got his company incorporated within the fold of Durant’s parent company, General Motors.
June 1, 1918. Louis Chevrolet and his mechanic in their Frontenac at the Sheepshead Bay Speedway in Brooklyn, racing in the Harkness Handicap.
Meanwhile, Chevrolet’s passion for racing never subsided. He competed in the Indianapolis 500, as many as four times, and finished best at seventh position in 1919. His younger brother Gaston also took part in the same competition next year in 1920, and in fact won it, driving a car that Loius himself had built. Both Loius and Gaston had been betting on car racing big time, even starting their own company by the name, Frontenac Motor Corporation, which was essentially into the design and production of racing cars, with their Fronty-Ford racers being the most popular and well-known.
Louis Chevrolet in a Buick racer in Crown Point, Indiana, during the Cobe Cup Race in 1909
In spite of his prior achievements, Chevrolet died in 1941, practically penniless and was given a quiet burial at the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Louis Chevrolet Memorial, Indianapolis Speedway
Miscellaneous recognition for Chevrolet the person, came long after his death. In 1992, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame while in 1995, Chevrolet was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.
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