Did you know Chevrolet was a Swiss? Born in 1878 in La Chaux de Fonds, in the watch-making French-speaking western edge of the country, north of Geneva in the Jura mountains, Louis Chevrolet was a bicycle mechanic, racer, then later a chauffeur in 1900 (had to be able to fix the cars you drove for the rich owners in those days as they broke down often). He emigrated to Montreal to work for Fiat then New York. He ended up on the Buick racing team, later becoming a driver. He was big name in the nascent days of auto racing. Billy Durant persuaded him to lend his name to a line of upscale cars; Chevrolet got pissed off when Durant tried to increase sales by down-marketing the brand to small, affordable cars. He cashed out walked away from his namesake company and founded the Frontenac company that made overhead cam racing heads for the Ford four-cylinder engines in the teens and twenties. He even designed an aircraft engine. Chevrolet died in 1941 fairly poor and forgotten.
GM performed finish assembly of Chevrolets for Switzerland in Bienne to mitigate the taxes of importing them, which earned a 'mountain' grille badge through 1974 production. My friend in Chur, Switzerland tells me that in 1978-1980, when our economy tanked and the Swiss Franc was very high against the dollar (like it is now) imported cars from the US were cheap. There are a suprising number of them still rolling around there. They have been getting scrapped and sold because mechanical carbs and non-overdrive cars eat gas at $1.80 a liter - $7.20 a GALLON. When nobody wants to buy one, a Swiss tried to junk it. There are no landfills in Switzerland. A perfectly good running car must be torn down and separated in to its recycleables and 'incinerables'. This is typically $1000 to get RID OF a perfect car. (When they find out Furi will take them for free...well let's say he has a few on hand.)
After I caved and agreed to a third child, my wife suggested I go to this once-in-a-lifetime car show to celebrate 100 years of the Chevrolet brand/company. I had a total blast. I tried to get the car magaziones to let me write an article, but I'm nobody so it did not go anywhere. But I did make a few posts in the New York Times car blog...search, they're still posted somewhere.
Here is a link to photos from the Chevrolet 100th Anniversary car show I attended in 2011 in Louis Chevrolet's birthplace. Cedric's wagon (swissmalibu) was there, though I did not know of him then. Paste it in, then select 'slideshow' in the upper left corner.
https://picasaweb.google.com/qfatherley ... directlink
Enjoy! Love to hear your thoughts.
GM performed finish assembly of Chevrolets for Switzerland in Bienne to mitigate the taxes of importing them, which earned a 'mountain' grille badge through 1974 production. My friend in Chur, Switzerland tells me that in 1978-1980, when our economy tanked and the Swiss Franc was very high against the dollar (like it is now) imported cars from the US were cheap. There are a suprising number of them still rolling around there. They have been getting scrapped and sold because mechanical carbs and non-overdrive cars eat gas at $1.80 a liter - $7.20 a GALLON. When nobody wants to buy one, a Swiss tried to junk it. There are no landfills in Switzerland. A perfectly good running car must be torn down and separated in to its recycleables and 'incinerables'. This is typically $1000 to get RID OF a perfect car. (When they find out Furi will take them for free...well let's say he has a few on hand.)
After I caved and agreed to a third child, my wife suggested I go to this once-in-a-lifetime car show to celebrate 100 years of the Chevrolet brand/company. I had a total blast. I tried to get the car magaziones to let me write an article, but I'm nobody so it did not go anywhere. But I did make a few posts in the New York Times car blog...search, they're still posted somewhere.
Here is a link to photos from the Chevrolet 100th Anniversary car show I attended in 2011 in Louis Chevrolet's birthplace. Cedric's wagon (swissmalibu) was there, though I did not know of him then. Paste it in, then select 'slideshow' in the upper left corner.
https://picasaweb.google.com/qfatherley ... directlink
Enjoy! Love to hear your thoughts.
