Louis Chevrolet - a Swiss inventor and racing driver (book review)

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Created on December 12, 2011

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Archiv

Cover picture of the book "Louis Chevrolet - a Swiss inventor and racing driver"

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Louis Chevrolet as a cyclist around 1895

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Chevrolet Classic Six (1912) - the prototype of the Classic Six around 1912

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Chevrolet Classic Six (1912) - Presentation Classic Six end of 1912

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Cup won by Louis Chevrolet in New York in 1917

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Fronty-Ford (1924) - Indianapolis in 1924 - Henry Ford at the wheel, Louis Chevrolet standing behind him

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Frontenac (1919) - Louis Chevrolet in 1919 - 7th place at Indianapolis

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No, "Louis Chevrolet - The man who gave the Chevy its name " by Martin Sinzig is not a picture book, it is too text-heavy and the pictures are too rare. However, this textbook is just right for the centenary of Chevrolet, as it tells the exciting and eventful life story of Louis Chevrolet, a passionate racing driver, engineer and inventor.

A Swiss in America

Louis was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland in 1878 and emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. He became one of the most famous racing drivers and was instrumental in the founding of the Chevrolet company.

Racing driver and constructor

Louis Chevrolet's heart beat for racing. After more or less successful times designing road vehicles at Chevrolet, he returned to racing in the middle of the First World War, designed new types of racing cars under the name Frontenac and was successful on the race tracks. His designs made racing history: they won the prestigious Indianapolis 500 race in 1920 and 1921, with his brother Gaston and Tommy Milton at the wheel respectively.

Foreword by Bob Lutz

It should not go unmentioned that another Swiss who worked for GM wrote the foreword to this exciting biography: Bob Lutz.

The book is well organized, and a glance at the table of contents shows the main topics:

A big name, an unknown person
From bicycles to automobiles
The bravest racing driver in the world
"We need a new car"
Of Frontenacs and Fronty-Fords
Constructor, entrepreneur and advertising medium
The private man Louis Chevrolet
Memories of Louis Chevrolet
The search for traces
The company that bears his name
Sports models for the average consumer

Martin Sinzig, a 48-year-old business journalist, is a great lover of the Chevrolet brand. This is also evident from the fact that he leaves the actual framework of the book, namely the life story of Louis Chevrolet, in the chapter "Sports models for the average consumer", for example.

Text book with pictures

As already mentioned at the beginning, this is not a picture book but a text book. Nevertheless, there are many contemporary picture documents - some of the pictures are compiled in the picture gallery - distributed throughout the book, which excellently support the text and allow a look back into the past.

Bibliographical information