On November 3, 1911, Chevrolet Motor Company was incorporated in Flint, Michigan. The two masterminds behind the start were Mr. Louis Joseph Chevrolet and Mr. William Crapo Durant. History was born this year when the first Chevrolet, called the classic six, appeared at a small shop located on Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Chevrolet was the mastermind engineer designer behind the 1911 Chevrolet model selling approximately 3,000 Chevrolet Touring cars at $2,150 each.
Mr. Chevrolet was a native of Switzerland who came to the United States of America from France, by way of Canada during the 1900s. He made contributions to the success of the 1909-1910 Buick's motor car racing team as a creative engineer and driver. Close associates and fellow workers would describe him as “fearless and daring, but never reckless…persevering, but very quick tempered and impetuous at times.” He was a perfectionist who took pride in his work with very little patience for the mistakes of others.
In 1914, two new Chevrolet models were produced, and for the first time in history, the now famous “Bow Tie” trademark appeared. A wholesale organization started in Oakland California and soon followed in Kansas City and Atlanta. Under royalty agreements, Chevrolet automobiles were also were built in St. Louis and Canada. Soon, Chevrolet began production in the eastern market purchasing the Maxwell Motor Company Plant in Tarrytown, NY. Chevrolet sales were taking shape and the only thing needed was a car priced to compete with the Ford Model-T automobile. It wasn’t long after that Chevrolet introduced the "490" model having the price tag as its name. Two models were offered, a touring model and a black Roadster design.
In the 1920's, Chevrolet production models ran into uncertain efforts. For the first time since Durant founded the company, production dropped by 75,700 vehicles. By 1922, the old familiar line of Chevrolet vehicles marked its last year. Management of General Motors strongly felt that the entire line should be reborn and the newly appointed President of Chevrolet’s, Mr. Knudson, agreed. Shortly thereafter, the 490FB Chevrolet model was discontinued from the Chevrolet line. By 1923, things changed drastically as Alfred P. Sloan Jr. became President of General Motors. Chevrolet concentrated on only one series of cars and one series of truck models. The car series was the superior series B, consisting of five basic bodies.
In 1927, the Chevrolet advertising campaign was, “The Most Beautiful Chevrolet in Chevrolet History”. It wasn’t long before Chevrolet outsold Ford for the first time and became the world's biggest automotive maker.
However, even though the 1920s created opportunities to broaden one’s life, the late twenties soon became not so prosperous with the stock market crash of 1929. The early 1930s were a difficult time due to the depression years which created a difficult economic hardship times throughout the country.
However, during 1932, Chevrolet introduced one of great styling designs. All models were built on the 109” wheelbase and included built in sun visors, tilting windshield design, and adjustable seating. By 1935, Chevrolet was the first in the station wagon field with its suburban carryall model. The all new steel eight passenger wagon was built on the series EB half ton chassis. Chevrolet noticed it had a small but constant market for such automobiles in the 1930's. New styling, plus the introduction of a new design, was called the "Royal Clipper" a style that featured a totally new front end design.
In 1942, all Chevrolet factories, except the plant at Saginaw, Michigan, were completely converted to war production. The Saginaw plant continued to supply maintenance parts for civilian Chevrolet trucks and cars............to be continued.
Stay tuned next week for the second part of story!
A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating the story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs courtesy of National Automotive History Collection and some features of Bob Tate’s personal collection. Please do not use any photographs without the permission of MotorCities. For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org
If you have a story that you would like to donate to be featured as a MotorCities Story of the Week, email Lisa Ambriez at: lambriez@motorcities.org
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