Mexican Media Brands
Superb Auto History About the Chevrolet Brothers
Last week, in a piece noting that a Chevrolet Corvette is going to serve as the pace car (again) for the Indianapolis 500, some historic notes regarding the Chevrolet brothers (Louis, Arthur and Gaston) were included, as those three had an abiding interest in not just automobiles in the early years of the 20th century, but in automobiles that went really fast.
.jpg;width=70;height=70;mode=crop)
Share
Last week, in a piece noting that a Chevrolet Corvette is going to serve as the pace car (again) for the Indianapolis 500, some historic notes regarding the Chevrolet brothers (Louis, Arthur and Gaston) were included, as those three had an abiding interest in not just automobiles in the early years of the 20th century, but in automobiles that went really fast.
If you have any interest in the auto industry in its nascent days, especially as seen through the lens of the Chevrolet brothers, and would like to see elements of this history in its original form (drawings, photos, documents, etc.), then you absolutely need to check out a website that contains more than 1,800 items related to the Chevrolet clan: Chevrolet Brothers.
This is Louis Chevrolet in 1906 with the Darracq that he used to set what was then the land speed record, 117.64 mph at Ormond Beach, Florida. Doesn’t seem to be a good idea to have a cigarette burning close to that V8. It is probably less of a good idea to go 117.64 mph in that Italian racer.
Billy Dunbar has collected and organized a tremendous compendium that will lead you to spend far more time than you can imagine looking at the wide array of items that are as entertaining as they are interesting.
Last week we noted that the brothers had established another car-building company, Frontenac. From the website we now learn that in 1921 Chevrolet Brothers Manufacturing Company was established—it would have probably been an early SEMA member, as it focused on producing aftermarket parts to increase the performance of Model Ts ,so even if you’re a Ford enthusiast, there’s something about Chevy that you can like—and in 1928 Louis Chevrolet established the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation.
This website is absolutely fascinating, and Mr. Dunbar has done a magnificent job in collecting and organizing this trove of material.
Consider this: Mr. Dunbar found a newspaper clipping from the November 10,1919, edition of The Indianapolis News that says Gaston Chevrolet was nabbed in a speed trap. And then a few months later, he won the Indianapolis 500.