Louis Chevrolet was born in Switzerland on Christmas Day 1878. His father was a Swiss watch maker who taught Louis the essentials of mechanics at a young age.
When he was young man Chevrolet started building racing bicycles, and after seeing his very first car he gave up designing and building the bikes and started working at automotive factories through out Europe. With very little formal education, Chevrolet managed to become a self-taught mechanical engineer.
Louis Chevrolet immigrated to New York in 1901 and started working for Fiat as a race car driver and at the age of 22 he became a pioneer in racing and building race cars, and the rest is history.
Below are 3 interesting facts for car enthusiasts with a passion for racing.
The History of Chevrolet
The Chevrolet Motor Car Company was born on November 3, 1911 in Detroit Michigan. William C Durant and Louis Chevrolet were co founders of the company. The first car that Chevrolet produced in 1912 was called the Chevrolet Series C Classic Six. The iconic Chevy bowtie was designed by Durant in 1913 and first appeared in an advertisement. The first time the bowtie appeared on a vehicle was 1914 and it was placed on the Royal Mail Roadster. General Motors took ownership of Chevrolet Motor Company in 1918.
From 1942-1945 production of civilian vehicles was stopped in order to produce trucks for the military. The automatic transmission made its debut in 1950 and consumers loved them for their affordability.
The 1979 the Chevy Monza was the 100th million car to roll off the production line. The Chevrolet Brand has been in existence for more than 100 years and has produced more than 200 million cars and trucks.
The History of Car Racing
The very first actual car racing event was held in France in 1895. The racecourse was almost 2000 kilometers and the average speed of the car was 10 mph. As car racing rapidly swept through Europe, it didn’t take long for the sporting event to spread to the United States.
The first Indy 500 was held in 1920 and the cars raced on a cobblestone track. The cars that were used for racing were the prototype of the next new carline. The production of the Chevy Corvette began in 1953 and is still going strong today.
The 50s and 60s were an exciting time in the world of car racing, and fans flocked to this motor sport extravaganza with the anticipation of being exhilarated by the speed and endurance of their favorite cars and drivers. From drag racing to Nascar car racing, it is still very much a popular sport to this day that is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world.
Cars of Yester Year
Race cars of the 1960s were known as Muscle Cars it is a tern used to define high performance. The 1966 Chevy Chevelle SS was a well-known favorite car for street racing and track races.
One of the best Chevy muscle cars is the 1969 Yenko Camero 427 with its 450 big block V8 engine. There were only 201 of these cars produced, finding one of these cars today would be extremely rare and exorbitantly expensive.
Some of the best Muscle cars were produced under the iconic Chevrolet brand, Chevrolet has been manufacturing cars for over 100 years and will continue to produce great cars well into the future.
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