(AOL Autos) -- With car companies going in into bankruptcy and shedding famous names left and right, it's important to remember that today's automotive titans started out as tiny startups, not unlike Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. General Motors was almost called International Motors Co. Names like Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota and Porsche call to mind the huge corporate successes of the past and the great automotive families that survive today. But behind every brand name, there is a flesh-and-blood inventor, entrepreneur or industrialist. Most of the time, they gave their name to the companies. And that fame was often about all they ended up with.
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David Buick invented the overhead valve engine, founded Buick Motor Car Co.
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Fearless race car driver Louis Chevrolet's name stuck for its musical lilt
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The Henry Ford Company fired its namesake who later started Ford Motor Co.
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Toyota name came from the Toyoda loom works in Kariya, Japan
For its part, @placeholder almost didn't get the name it bears today.