Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was born in Switzerland but lived in America. He was a racing car driver, mechanic, and business owner. He helped start the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911. He was born on December 25, 1878, and died on June 6, 1941.

Early life

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was born on December 25, 1878, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a town in northwestern Switzerland known for making watches. He was the second child of Joseph-Félicien Chevrolet, a watchmaker, and Marie-Anne Angéline Mahon. His family was originally from Bonfol, which is now part of the canton of Jura.

In 1887, Chevrolet left Switzerland with his father to live in Beaune, France. There, as a young man, he learned mechanical skills and became interested in bicycle racing. During this time, Chevrolet created a wine pump using a broken one-cylinder motor attached to a tricycle.

Career

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet worked at the Roblin mechanics shop in Beaune from about 1889 to 1899. He then moved to Paris, where he worked at several mechanics shops between 1899 and 1900. In 1900, he moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to work as a mechanic. The next year, he moved to New York City, where he briefly worked for a Swiss immigrant’s engineering company before joining the Brooklyn operations of the French car manufacturer de Dion-Bouton.

In 1905, Chevrolet won his first race by driving a Fiat at Morris Park, which was the first national championship race approved by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Contest Board, also called the Racing Board. In 1907, he was hired by the Autocar Company in Philadelphia, likely to work on a secret project to design a new front-wheel-drive racing car.

Chevrolet continued his racing career while working for Buick, where he became friends with Buick owner William C. Durant, founder of General Motors. He raced at the Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1909. Without much formal education, Chevrolet learned car design while working for Buick and began designing his own engine in 1909. He built an overhead valve six-cylinder engine in his machine shop on Grand River Boulevard in Detroit. He is credited as one of three co-designers of the 1910 Buick 60 Special, also called the "Buick Bug."

On November 3, 1911, Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with his brother Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant, and investment partners William Little (maker of the Little automobile) and Dr. Edwin R. Campbell, who was Durant’s son-in-law and a friend of Samuel McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Car Company of Canada Ltd. The company was established in Detroit. One story says the company’s logo was a modified Swiss cross to honor Chevrolet’s homeland. Another story says the logo was inspired by wallpaper from a Paris hotel room where Chevrolet once stayed.

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet had disagreements with William Durant over car design and sold Durant’s share in the company in 1915. He then started building Chevrolets in Canada for McLaughlin’s Company. By 1916, trading Chevrolet stock for GM Holding stock allowed Durant to buy back a controlling share in General Motors. By 1917, the Chevrolet company Louis co-founded was merged into General Motors after Chevrolet stocks were purchased from McLaughlin in 1918. The McLaughlin Car Company then merged with Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada Ltd. to become General Motors of Canada Ltd. in 1918, before the General Motors Corporation was formed in the United States.

In 1916, Chevrolet and his brothers founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation to make racing parts for the Ford Model T. That same year, American Motors Corporation (unrelated to the later American Motors formed in 1954) was created in Newark, New Jersey, with Louis Chevrolet as vice president and chief engineer. By 1918, the company produced cars in Plainfield, New Jersey. In 1923, it merged with the Bessemer Motor Truck Company of Pennsylvania to form Bessemer-American Motors Corporation, which lasted less than a year before merging with other companies to form Amalgamated Motors. This company soon ended.

By the mid-1910s, Chevrolet entered the car racing industry, partnering with Howard E. Blood of Allegan, Michigan, to create the Cornelian racing car. He used this car to finish 20th in the 1915 Indianapolis 500. In 1916, he and his brothers Gaston and Arthur Chevrolet started Frontenac Motor Corporation, designing and producing racing cars, including the Fronty-Ford racers.

Chevrolet raced in the Indianapolis 500 four times, with his best finish being 7th in 1919. Both Louis and Gaston competed successfully with racing Sunbeams, earning several third-place finishes in 1916. Arthur competed twice, and Gaston won the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 in one of their Frontenacs, later winning the 1920 AAA National Championship. He also raced for the Buick racing team.

In 1927, Chevrolet started the aircraft engine company Chevrolair, which failed in 1930 due to the Great Depression. He later returned to work as a mechanic in Detroit factories.

Louis-Joseph Chevrolet died on June 6, 1941, in Detroit from a heart attack. His atherosclerosis had previously caused a leg amputation. He is buried in the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Personal life

In 1905, Chevrolet married Suzanne Treyvoux, who was born in 1888 and died in 1966. She was the daughter of Louis Treyvoux and Marie Burlat. Chevrolet and Suzanne had two sons and a daughter named Clara. In 1915, Chevrolet became a U.S. citizen.

Awards and honors

Chevrolet has been added to the following halls of fame:

• Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1952)
• Automotive Hall of Fame (1969)
• Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame (1984)
• National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (1990)
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1992)
• Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995)

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in Speedway, Indiana, includes a memorial at its entrance that honors Chevrolet’s achievements. The memorial was designed by Fred Wellman and sculpted by Adolph Wolter. It was created between 1968 and 1970 and placed in the museum in the spring of 1975. The main part of the memorial is a bronze statue of Chevrolet wearing a racing cap and goggles. The statue sits on a base made of marble and granite.

The Swiss national train company, SBB, has named one of its long-distance ICN-Trains after Louis Chevrolet. These trains mainly run along the East-West direction and also stop in Chevrolet’s hometown, La Chaux-de-Fonds.