Description
Author: George H. Dammann, Hardbound, 320 Pages, First Edition, 1972, - Second-Hand book in excellent unread condition **
The creation of the Chevrolet was primarily the work it two men — Louis Joseph Chevrolet, for whom the car is named, and William Crapo Durant, who saw in the vehiicle a wedge to regain control of General Motors.
Chevrolet was the engineer and designer behind the first Chevrolet car. Durant was the marketing genius and thet money needed to put the car on the road.
Together the pair developed what, less than a half century later mould become America's best selling automobile. But, ironiically, both had long passed from the Chevrolet picture and were earning none of the huge financial
reward that the creators of this car could be expected to tare. In fact, both men finished their lives in meager itscurity, with their deaths going virtually unnoticed by tie world.
The names of Louis Chevrolet and William Durant were very well known in the early 1900s. Chevrolet immigrated to America from his homeland of Switzerland 1900 to try to sell a wine pump that he had invented. there he was joined by his brothers Arthur and Gaston.
The trio were fascinated by the infant motor industry,and all three entered the business. Gaston and Arthur joined those ranks of thousands who contributed in small ways to the progress of the automobile, but on whom ladies Fortune and Fame refused to shine their lights. But Louis attracted the fickle notice of Fate and was destined to find fame, fortune, heartbreak and obscurity in the automobile.
Louis first drew public attention and praise in 1905, when as a mechanic for the Fiat Motor Company of New York, he was sponsored by Fiat in a series of races, including the famous Vanderbilt Cup Race. His track record was one of consistent brilliance — in fact, in 1905 he three times beat Barney Oldfield, then considered America's best driver. Gaston and Arthur also were above average drivers, and the Chevrolet name was a common word on the racing circuits of 1906-1908.
William Durant had made several fortunes by the time Louis Chevrolet attracted his attention. A self-made multi-millionaire from Lansing, Mich. (then a rural city noted for its fine carriages and buggies, which Durant controlled) Durant had been instrumental in creating General Motors, using as its base the almost bankrupt Buick Motor Car Company, and adding such makes as Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Oakland, Carter, Elmore, Ewing, Welch, etc.
In 1907 Durant hired both Arthur and Louis Chevrolet to be the main drivers for his newly created Buick racing team. However, in one of Durant's several notorious financial tangles, control of General Motors slipped
Louis Joseph Chevrolet
