Louis
Chevrolet who put his name to one of the icons of the industry was born in 1878
in Bonfol, north Switzerland, bordering France, so not surprisingly a French
speaking area. When he was eight the family moved into France where his mechanical
prowess started to show through. After a stint in Paris, he moved to Montreal
and then New York (rumoured to be at the request of Vanderbilt) where he got
jobs with Hotchkiss, De Dion Bouton whilst racing FIATs and Darracqs.
Later he was hired by Buick to race their cars and used his skills to develop a 6 cylinder engine which he put into production himself in Detroit. It would have been at Buick that he met William Crapo Durant, the founder of General Motors. GM was the holding company that owned Buick and had been on a spending spree buying up most of what is today the GM Corp in America. The purchases meant huge debts, and Durant was forced out by the banks who took control.
A free Durant got together with Chevrolet and formed the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1909 but they soon had their differences as Durant wanted to compete head on with Ford and Chevrolet was against this strategy so in 1915, Chevrolet sold his stock to Durant so he could concentrate on being a race driver. Durant then used the profits to wrestle back control of GM and brought Chevy under the GM banner.
Louis Chevrolet and two brothers then went racing through the 20s and 30s with some success and many destroyed cars! There are photos online of some of the wrecks he left behind after races where the cars are completely smashed!
Meanwhile, the company was succeeding under GM although Durant’s desire to compete with Ford wasn’t. He was back on another spending spree and for the second time, the Banks took control and kicked him out. Alfred Sloan then took over. It was Sloan that cemented the foundation of the group by reversing Durant’s strategy to concentrate on quality and cars that people wanted to buy. They did have some firsts – the self starter was first seen on a Chevy and during the 30s and 40s sold cars that were good for the mass market but not spectacular.
Meanwhile in 1941, Louis Chevrolet died, broke and almost forgotten in Detroit after several failed ventures. A sad end to someone whose name lives on 100 years after his company was created. He was buried in Indianapolis and there is a memorial to him at the track.
It was really during the 50s and 60s that the Chevy name hit the big time with a V8 engine that is still in production today and has been extended right up to 7 litres. This engine in many derivatives powered a wide range of sports and family cars like the Corvette, Impala and Bel-Air.
During the 60s, Chevy added Compact cars like the Chevelle, Nova and Corvair. This was a new class at the time as the Europeans were targeting the US with cheaper, smaller and more cost effective cars.
Then in the 70s, Chevy like the other big US manufacturers developed sub compacts like the Vega, Monza and Chevette. Many of these models were based on European designs that were smaller than the compact cars. The Chevette for example was also built as a Vauxhall and Opel Kadett. The Monza competed with the Ford Capri and Maxda RX series. The class was designed to compete with the Japanese imports like the Honda Civic.
GM was by now developing world platforms, the sub-compacts were called the H-platform which was followed by the J. These platforms meant that each brand in the group had a base design to build on with similar but localised styling and as I’ve mentioned before the same names were used the world over but for different cars.
The sub compacts are now built in Korea by the old Daewoo brand but are badged as Chevy in many markets or Holden, Vauxhall or Opel in others.
The Compact platform is shared with the Europeans as the Vectra. One of the compact models that Chevrolet build is the Malibu. In 1981, Saddam Hussein ordered $100M worth of cars – about 12,000 units. They were fitted with a 3 speed manual box, a low powered V6 and high powered air-con and were built in Canada. As they were about to be shipped, Iraq cancelled the order with loads of excuses like no one drove manuals etc. In reality it was because the $100M was going to attack Iran instead! The cars originally destined to be Baghdad taxis were sold off cheaply to the Canadian public!
And like Chrysler, Chevy build a retro car based on the Opel Zafira people mover called the HHR and has a 40s feel to it – in fact it’s outer design is based on the 1940s Suburban. And talking of the Suburban (which used to be a car company in its own right), this is the longest continuously run name in the Chevy line up with the first model shipped in 1933 and is now on its 11th generation. Originally designed as a vehicle for the National Guard, it is probably coming to the end of its life unless GM can come up with a more fuel-efficient engine!
Chevrolet have really only built two sports models for the past 50 years: the Camaro and the Corvette. The fourth generation Camaro was discontinued in 2002 but we’re about to see a new retro version hitting the streets in the next year or so. The Corvette though is the flagship – successfully raced over the world including at Le Mans, it is now in it’s 6th generation with a 6.2 litre LS3 V8 – The LS series came out in 97 to replace the LT and is aluminium not cast iron.
Although Chevy has not been
at the forefront of technology, they have built cars that Joe Public wants and
under the GM banner have been a successful promoter of badge engineering!
Especially today with many markets taking Holdens, Opels and Daewoos badged as a Chevrolet.