Today in Automotive History
1923 Landmark Chevy
The 1,000,000th Chevy was produced on this day. Chevrolet began when William Durant hired Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss race-car driver and star of the Buick Racing Team, to design a new car. Durant hoped to challenge the success of the Ford Model T with an affordable, reliable car. Chevrolet wanted to design a finer sort of automobile, however. Their product, the Classic Six, was an elegant car with a large price tag. But Durant built two more models, sturdier and cheaper, and Chevy was on its way. Durant eventually made over a million dollars in profits on his Chevrolet marque, money that allowed him to reacquire a majority interest in General Motors (GM) stock. Durant eventually merged the two companies and created GM's current configuration. Louis Chevrolet left the company before the merger, leaving only his name to benefit from the company's success.
Posted by Quality Weenie at February 22, 2005 08:04 AM