Life of louis chevrolet

At six feet and one-hundred-ninety-five pounds, Louis Chevrolet cast as long a shadow in life as he did across the early history of the automobile. His career would take him from the early days of the French auto industry, through the tortuous halls of American capitalism and across the bricks and boards of American auto racing.

Few present at the birth of the automobile would leave behind such a rich legacy.

Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1878, Chevrolet, like so many auto pioneers, was drawn to the bicycle and by his teens had proved himself a skilled racer.

Life of louis chevrolet

One day, he was seduced by a de Dion powered tricycle and soon joined that firm, where his apprenticeship took him to Mors and then Darracq. By the turn of the century, he was in New York, working at de Dion's Brooklyn office. In 1905, he jumped to FIAT, where he earned his first racing victory against the infamous Barney Oldfield.

Chevrolet joined Buick's racing team in 1909 at the invitation of William Durant,