The TRAGIC Story of Chevrolet

so imagine this you're living in the year 1911 a time when ford's model t is fast becoming the best-selling car on the road but you're not worried about that you're on top of the world everyone loves you and they consider you the best race car driver in the country your fame and popularity leads you to partner up and build a car company one that even holds your name you must be proud of yourself because in just a few years your company would go on to beat ford in competition and dominate car sales bringing in record

profits the only problem is you're not part of the company anymore instead you're left struggling during the economic crisis of the great depression while your former company is bringing in millions of dollars you find yourself working in their factory barely making enough money to survive this is the untold story of chevrolet and the co-founder that bears the company's name louis chevrolet [Music] louis chevrolet was born on the 25th of december 1878 in vlasho de fond switzerland but spent much of his childhood in the small villages from the jorah mountain being the second son of seven

children louis would work alongside his father joseph chevrolet who took care of the family by working in the watchmaking industry when louis was nine the family suffered an economic slump so they had to leave their hometown and moved across borders to the city of bone in france there his father opened a new watch store but it didn't bring in enough money to feed a family of nine as time passed things grew more and more difficult for the swiss family so much so that they often went days without eating this led louie to drop out of

school at the age of 11 and get himself a job at the robin bicycle workshop where they specialized in fixing bicycles and carriages there he quickly learned all the basics and began repairing bicycles at a very young age by the time he was 16 louis had designed his own bicycle the frontenac which he rode in many local races in town and would often finish first place his talent and wins not only put food on the table of his struggling family but also sparked a passion for speed in the young mechanic one day during the spring

of 1897 louis was sent to the hotel de la post to repair a steam driven tricycle that belonged to an american this tricycle was one of the first automobiles at the time and was creating quite the stir around the region when louis arrived he was blown away by what he had just witnessed and instantly fell in love with automobiles and the american whose tricycle he had skillfully repaired was none other than william kissem vanderbilt grandson of cornelius vanderbilt one of the richest men of his time vanderbilt was impressed with the skills and talent of young

chevrolet and encouraged him to come to america so after his trip to the hotel de la post louis chevrolet began to dream of crossing the atlantic ocean in 1899 louis finished designing another bicycle the gladiator this piece was so impressive that it caught the eye of a manager at the duroc automaking plant who hired louis to work at the company's factory in paris during his time at dirac louis chevrolet learned the basics of both internal combustion and four-stroke engines there are rumors that he may have also worked for other factories including de dion bhutan one

of the most famous french car manufacturers at the time whether it's true or not this was only one more step toward fulfilling his dream of getting to america with the money he earned in paris louis crossed the atlantic ocean at the age of 21 and arrived at the city of montreal in canada before finally making his dream move to new york in 1901 once in new york louis got himself a job at an engineering workshop thanks to a fellow swiss immigrant william walter after a few months working for walter louis decided to move on and

started working at the american branch of dedeon bhutan unfortunately the branch was shut down the following year and chevrolet had difficulty finding new work around this time his father passed away so louis encouraged his remaining family to come to america during the next few years chevrolet struggled to make money as he worked in various small workshops and even took a part-time job as a driver to make ends meet but all that would change in 1905 that year chevrolet joined the american branch of the italian automaker fiat fiat at the time was fast becoming one of

the leading automobile companies in the world and as for louis he was hired to do his favorite thing to participate in the company's auto racing team during his time at fiat his obsession with engines reached new heights and he quickly earned a reputation for himself as a daring racer with little to no concern for his own safety his first time on the track came when he was given the chance to drive an underpowered fiat in a timed event at morris park to everyone's surprise he broke the one mile world record louis returned to the track

a few months later but this time in a head-to-head race against some of the best drivers in the country it was a highly publicized event and after previously beating the one mile record a lot of people were looking forward to seeing how chevrolet would perform in an actual race and he didn't disappoint capturing a first place victory this win earned him greater popularity and was even featured on the front of the new york times despite having a rather funny mustache chevrolet was a strong and muscular man and this strength really helped him in his races

race cars back then were more like monsters that had to be wrestled around the track since suspension was still based on back-breaking cart springs it wasn't enough just knowing how to drive a car a good racer had to be able to conquer his ride and chevrolet was a master at doing exactly that apart from being a great racer he was also a brilliant mechanic so he understood his cars and constantly pushed them to their limits with all those qualities it didn't take long for louie's talent to be noticed by some of the biggest players in

the automobile industry one of whom was acclaimed engineer and inventor john walter christie who invited louie to work for his company thus after his year at fiat chevrolet moved to philadelphia to start his new job at the christie factory it was there he developed a new racing car that would introduce a completely new concept front wheel driving even though front wheel driving was a brilliant concept and far ahead of its time it was still a work in progress and john christie never achieved the success he hoped for on the race track still louie's time in

the company further developed his knowledge in the automotive field in the following years louis continued to participate in many big races of his era including the vanderbilt cup races and the indianapolis 500 after several victories on the track and breaking numerous records in the process he became a public figure and was even given the nickname the daredevil frenchman by 1909 louis finished as the second best driver in the american championship but despite all his spectacular success on the track chevrolet paid a heavy price for his racing career it is said that he spent much of

his time in hospital beds due to various accidents and some of his racing mechanics weren't as lucky as louie and were killed on the track chevrolet's racing abilities eventually caught the attention of businessman william durant one of the founders of general motors and owner of the buick motor company he initially signed up louis to drive for his buick racing team but ended up doing something even greater founding one of the biggest car companies on the planet [Music] after william durant co-founder of general motors was fired from his senior management position in his own company due

to a financial crisis he immediately began making plans to re-enter the automobile industry opportunity presented itself when he recruited louis chevrolet for his buick racing team apart from louie's performance on the track his fine swiss-sounding name was growing popular in the country and that sang marketability to william durant it was the perfect name to brand a car mr durant called a meeting with louie in which he proposed that the two of them build a car company together louis agreed and alongside his brother arthur they partnered up with william durant and founded the chevrolet motor company

in 1911. their plan was simple the chevrolet brothers would work on designing the vehicle while william would focus on the marketing side of the business louis immediately got to work and with the help of his close friend etienne planche they spent over six months designing a stylish six-cylinder car that proved to everyone that louie's design abilities were just as good as his racing skill the result was the classic six the very first chevrolet car to carry the name of its designer also known as the type c it came with a 4.8 liter displacement engine which

at the time was one of the biggest of its kind and could reach a respectable top speed of 65 miles per hour it was introduced to the public in 1913 with a price tag of 2 250 or 65 000 in today's currency the chevrolet classic 6 made a name for itself as a luxury car but in terms of sales it's believed that only around 500 cars were produced during its first year even though louis was proud of his creation william was not satisfied the two of them met to discuss the future of chevrolet motors louis

wanted to build racing cars for the company but william disagreed and insisted that they needed to focus on high-volume low-priced cars just like henry ford was proving with the model t he tried to convince louis that it would bring in the bucks and make their brand an institution but louis insisted that the brand stood for racing their meeting was never fully resolved and they left their arguments for another day louis continued traveling around the country promoting his car and then he took a short break to revisit his hometown in europe by the time he returned

from his trip william had restructured the company into building low-budget cars without louie's consent louis felt insulted by this and another argument arose between the two founders the story goes that william durant told louis to quit smoking his cheap cigar and to move on to something more exclusive especially since he was now an executive of a fast rising company durant's wife proceeded to say that it wasn't so much the brand of cigarettes her husband disliked as much as it was the way chevrolet held them in the corner of his mouth this comment hurt louis so

much that he famously told william i sold you my automobile i sold you my name but i shall not sell my personality to you after the disagreement louis felt that his influence in the company was fading away so he left the company and went back to doing what he enjoyed most racing cars but by 1915 louis would make a move that would eventually cost him his whole future he sold his stake in the company and gave up the opportunity to become one of the richest men in america with that move william durant was now the

sole owner of chevrolet motors and was free to do with the company as he wished so he continued his plans of creating budget-friendly automobiles while louis pursued his original passion of building race cars due to his departure the chevrolet classic six was the first and only car ever produced during louie's time with the company it's likely that louis never imagined that chevrolet would quickly grow to become one of the top car brands in the industry and there was no reason for him to stay in a company he no longer believed in louis used the money

he earned from his sellout and founded the frontenac motor company in 1915 he dedicated all his time and energy to designing incredibly fast cars and for the next few years his cars became very successful on the track louis and his younger brother gaston ruled the race track for many seasons thanks to their engineering and by 1920 the brothers had won the biggest racing trophy in the country the indianapolis 500 but just when louis felt that greater things were coming he never could have imagined what was about to come next in 1922 the youngest of the

chevrolet brothers gaston died in an accident while racing in beverly hills louis was deeply saddened and so inconsolable at the loss of his younger brother that he swore he would never race again after that his fortunes began to fade away his company frontenac motors had plans of building a prototype passenger car with the help of other investors but a huge wall street scandal surrounding these investors emerged forcing them to back out of the deal leaving louis stuck with all the development costs of the prototype shortly after that he had no choice but to file for

bankruptcy still he came together with his brother arthur and founded the chevrolet brothers manufacturing company where they focused on developing motors for automobiles and light aircraft engines the company started to pick up during the following years and was even expanding its distributions to canada england and even australia but with the rise of the great depression their new company only lasted a few short years after this louis chevrolet tried setting up an aircraft company in indianapolis but that too was forced to shut down due to the economic crisis chevrolet motors on the other hand was outselling

ford in the early 1930s thanks to their new model the chevrolet international the company's bowtie emblem logo was fast becoming one of the most recognizable brands in the world at the time ford chevrolet and chrysler were the top three car sellers in america and were bringing in a lot of profits unfortunately for william durant he too was no longer part of chevrolet due to various acquisitions he made that put him in large debts which resulted in him being bought out from the company in 1920 by the 1930s louis chevrolet was getting old and losing steam

to a point where he could no longer bring himself to start up another business he found himself poor and jobless during the worst economic crisis in america with no better option he returned to work at the fast-growing company that he once founded there was no triumphant welcome nor anything of that sort but instead he was employed as a simple mechanic working on chevrolet's assembly line around this time he contracted atherosclerosis and louise health rapidly began to deteriorate so much so that by 1938 this disease forced the amputation of his leg which then forced him to

retire from his work with no money to cover his health issues he died in 1941 at the age of 63 due to a heart attack his brother arthur would go on to fall into a deep depression and took his own life just a few years later [Music] after the tragic death of its founder chevrolet motors continued to dominate car sales and reached its highest peak level during the 50s and 60s it was around this period when they introduced the corvette in 1953 a two-seater convertible built using fiberglass instead of steel which made it easier to

design the round shapes of the car's body this new phenomenon was one of the first production sports cars in america and was the first to succeed and become popular throughout the country the company's success was followed with the debut of their best model yet the chevy impala which quickly became a big hit throughout the country for its incredible long design and amazing features the impala even broke the world record for the most vehicles sold in a year in the american car market selling over a million units in both 1965 and 66 a record that to

this day remains unbroken this is the story of chevrolet and the tragic fate of its founder even though louise's life was full of adventure and epic moments many people don't know his full story today he is buried at the holy cross cemetery in indianapolis close to the racing circuit where he was once a legend [Music] you