Each founder of a car brand has its own story. Sometimes it’s an accumulation of successes, but sometimes it has a sad ending. The latter is true of Louis Chevrolet. His was born on December 25, 1878 in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. As a twenty-year-old, he left for France where he worked as a bicycle. Via Paris and Canada, he arrived in New York, where he got a job as a mechanic at Fiat.
His boss gave him a race car available and soon Louis made a name as a driver. William C. Durant, the man who founded General Motors, offered him a seat in his Buick racing team. Louis brother, Arthur, who had come to America, got to Durant for a job as a private chauffeur.
With the help of Durant started the brothers a car factory in an abandoned building Buick. The first prototype was driving on November 3, 1911 from the factory gate. End 1912 2.999 Cars were sold. A big fight with Durant was the reason that Chevrolet did his shares in the business for a tip to General Motors of hand.
Chevy then started building racing cars under the name Frontenac. The brand proved very successful. But Chevrolet had underestimated his former employer. When the name Frontenac in America was famous, Durant built cars in Canada under the same name. In this country, namely Chevrolet had not registered the name. On June 6, 1941 Louis Chevrolet died as a poor and forgotten man.