Louis-Joseph Chevrolet

Swiss-born American racing driver Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was a co-founder of the Chevrolet car company.

He was born on 25 December 1878 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in Switzerland’s canton of Neuchâtel, where his interest in machinery and motor racing began. In 1886, his family moved to Beaune in Côte-d’Or, eastern France.

From 1895 to 1899, he worked at Roblin’s mechanical workshop, then briefly moved to Paris. In 1900, he emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and worked as a mechanic. The following year, he moved to New York, spending some time at an engineering company run by a fellow Swiss immigrant friend. He then joined the Brooklyn operations of French car manufacturer De Dion-Bouton.

FIAT hired him as a racing driver in 1905. A year later, he joined a Philadelphia company producing what were then revolutionary front-wheel-drive racing cars. His racing career continued successfully: he raced for Buick and became Billy Durant’s friend and associate. He also competed in Pennsylvania’s Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1909.

With only a school education, Chevrolet learned engineering while working for Buick. In 1909, he began designing an engine for a new car. At his own workshop on Grand River Avenue in Detroit, he built a six-cylinder engine with a low-mounted camshaft and overhead valves.

On 8 November 1911, he founded Chevrolet in Detroit with William Little and Dr Edwin R. Campbell, William Durant’s son-in-law, choosing a stylised Swiss cross as its emblem in honour of his homeland.

Design disagreements arose between Chevrolet and Durant, and in 1915 Louis sold Durant his share. In 1917, the company became part of Durant’s General Motors.

In mid-1910, Chevrolet moved into the racing industry, partnering with Howard E. Blood of Allegan, Michigan, to create the advanced Cornelian racing car. He entered it as No. 20 in the 1915 Indianapolis 500. In 1916, he and his younger brother Gaston founded Frontenac Motor Corporation, designing and manufacturing another range of racing cars.

Louis entered the Indianapolis 500 four times, achieving his best finish, seventh, in 1919. Gaston won in 1920 in a car designed by Louis.

Louis lost all his earnings in the 1929 stock market crash. Bankrupt, he took work as an ordinary mechanic at the Chevrolet factory.

He died in near poverty on 6 June 1941 in Detroit, Michigan, and was buried at Saint Joseph Holy Cross Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.