1. Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was an American racing driver, mechanic and entrepreneur who co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911.
22 Facts About Louis Chevrolet
1. 2.
Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was born on December 25,1878, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a center of watchmaking in northwestern Switzerland.
3.
Louis Chevrolet was the second child of Joseph-Felicien Chevrolet, a watchmaker, and Marie-Anne Angeline Mahon.
4.
Louis Chevrolet's family was originally from Bonfol, now in the canton of Jura.
5.
In 1887, Chevrolet left Switzerland along with his father to settle in Beaune, France.
6.
Louis Chevrolet worked at the Roblin mechanics shop in Beaune from around 1889 to 1899.
7.
Louis Chevrolet then moved to Paris, where he worked at various mechanics shops, between 1899 and 1900, before emigrating to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1900 to work as a mechanic.
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Samuel McLaughlin 8.
In 1905, Louis Chevrolet won his first race, racing a Fiat at Morris Park, the first-ever national championship race sanctioned by the American Automobile Association Contest Board, then known as the Racing Board.
9.
Louis Chevrolet's racing career continued as he drove for Buick, becoming a friend and associate of Buick owner William C Durant, founder of General Motors.
10.
Louis Chevrolet raced at the Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1909.
11.
Louis Chevrolet built an overhead valve six-cylinder engine in his own machine shop on Grand River Boulevard in Detroit.
12.
Louis Chevrolet is credited as one of three co-designers of the 1910 Buick 60 Special, known as the "Buick Bug".
13.
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 and Dr Edwin R Campbell, son-in-law of Durant and friend of Samuel McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Car Company of Canada Ltd.
14.
In 1916, he and his younger brothers Gaston and Arthur Louis Chevrolet started Frontenac Motor Corporation, designing and producing a line of racing cars.
15.
Louis Chevrolet drove in the Indianapolis 500 four times, with a best finish of 7th in 1919.
16.
In 1927, Louis Chevrolet launched the aircraft engine construction company Chevrolair, which failed three years later as a result of the Great Depression.
17.
Louis Chevrolet returned to Chevrolet to work as mechanic in the Detroit factories.
18.
Louis Chevrolet died on June 6,1941, in Detroit due to a heart attack.
19.
Louis Chevrolet's atherosclerosis had previously led to a leg amputation.
20.
Louis Chevrolet is buried in the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
21.
Louis Chevrolet has been inducted into the following halls of fame:.
22.
The centerpiece of the memorial is a bronze bust of Louis Chevrolet wearing a racing cap and goggles; it rests on a marble and granite square base.