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The Chevrolet From 1916 to 1942 |
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1913 Chevrolet Baby Grand |
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A Brief History of the Chevrolet
...The first Chevrolet drawings were made by M. Etienne Planche
on 15 March 1911 at a garage premises at number 707, later 3939
Grand River Avenue, Detroit. It appears that the small second
story space above the garage was used for new engine design
and construction only. The prototypal Chevrolets were in fact
produced in what would today be called a "pilot plant" in the
1145, West Grand Boulevard Plant that was used between August
1911 and August 1913.
By November 3, 1911 The Chevrolet Motor Car Company entered
the turbulent automobile market.
Durant invisioned his new company as an inexpensive competitor
to the Ford Model T. |
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He chose to name the
company after its
designer, Louis Chevrolet,
because he liked the
sound of the name and
because Chevrolet was a
prominent name in motor
sports.
The Chevrolet family was
poor and Louis was given
only a basic education
before he left home. |
1917 Chevrolet Model D8 |
He was not capable to be a designer/drawer, but got a great deal
of technical experience, first in the wine-and bicycle-business in
Europe, and then with several car dealers in New York after
arrivel in 1900. After joining the racing car business, chasing
Barney Oldfield and others with success he was engaged by
Durant first to the Buick racing team No. 1 with his brother, and
later as a consultant advicer for the new car Durant had in
mind. Finally in 1934, GM put Louis Chevrolet on their payroll as a
mechanic in one of the factories. Illness forced him to retire in
1938.
However the Louis' car: The Classic Six was far too expensive
(USD 2100,-) to compete with the T-Ford, so Durant had to skip
the big, expensive car and go for small, simple ones as the Little
Four. As before, Louis disagreed. He "lost" his name to the car,
but left with $10,000 and 100 shares in the Chevrolet Motor Car
Company, and started working with another racing enthusiast,
Albert Champion, on his racing career again. |
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1920 Chevrolet |
The production of Chevrolet type C Six was so delayed that it
became a 1913 model. From April 1912 until end of the year the
Little Motor Company(owned by Chevrolet Motor Co.) produced
2999 Little Four's. All had "Little" as the emblem on the radiator
(not Chevrolet). Regrettably there is still the published misnomer
that Chevrolet built 2999 Classic Sixes as 1912 models as its first
year of production. The first Chevrolet Six was ready for the
dealers 2nd Jan. 1913, and was delivered to the first consumer
13th March. During July and August of 1914, all the remaining
parts were used-up and the Type C Classic production ended at
Flint. Advertisements in August 1913 announced that the Little
cars were now to be called "Chevrolets". Its 299-cubic-inch, 6-
cylinder engine could reach a top speed of 65 miles per hour. |
1920 Chevrolet 490 |
The Chevrolet Bowtie
has been one of the
World's most recognized
trademarks since 1913,
when William C. Durant
first introduced the
symbol that represents
Chevrolet's winning
success! The Bow Tie
was used on the
renamed Little-cars for
the 1914-season(late
1913). |
A story in Chevrolet Pro Management Magazine, October 1986,
which was copied in the May 1987 G&D, told that W.C. Durant did
not copy the design from the wallpaper in a French hotel room,
and that according to Mrs. Durant, the bowtie emblem was first
seen by her husband in an illustrated Virginia newspaper, while
they were vacationing in Hot Springs, Virginia around 1912. Mrs.
Durant was quoted as recalling, "We were in a suite reading the
papers, and he saw this design and said, 'I think this would be a
very good emblem for the Chevrolet' " She did not explain how the
newspaper used the emblem.
The Bowtie became an advertising icon, and is still the marque of
today's Chevrolet Chevy's first challenged to the Ford Model T, in
1915 with the "490' is introduced ($490). The success of the
490sales was smashing during the introduction, and gave
Chevrolet a flying start in the lowprice-market. However, the 490
was already too underpriced when introduced, as all margins had
been "cut to the bone" from start. Ford soon reduced his price
(several times) and Durant had to enlarge the price for his 490's
after some few months. He could not challenge the continuosly
cheaper T-Ford mass-production, so Durant added more comfort
(electric lights, starter etc.) and introduced closed bodies to
conquer some of the low-price market and he managed.
Ford was far ahead with much higher volume, but Durant earned
far more on each car, which, among other reasons, made him
regain the ownership in GM in 1916. |
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Chevy's first challenged to the Ford Model T, in 1915 with the
"490' is introduced ($490). 1917 The Chevrolets sales hit 100,000
in 1917 due to the sucess of the 490. Chevy sold it's first truck in 1918 and in that year joined GM
Corporation. GM nearly went out of business in 1920, when up to
100,000 cars of the "490" were stored at the factories, unsold for
some time.
Chevrolet offered the first radio option in 1924.
1927 was a year that Chev will never forget. Chevrolet outsold
Ford by topping 1 million units for the first time. In all but four of
the next 55 years, Chevrolet is the top-selling American
nameplate.
However the most obvious reason why Chevrolet reached # 1
position 1927 was the fact that Ford closed his factories for
several months to change all production lines to make the A-
Fords, leaving his share of the market open for Chevrolet and
Chrysler. |
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