The American Dream

19.12.2010

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Seeking opportunity in the fledgling auto industry, Louis Chevrolet initially went to Paris – then the European center of automobile production. During 1899, he learned the basics of the internal combustion engine in the workshops of automakers Darracq and Mors. Subsequently, he may have also worked for Hotchkiss. Chevrolet’s earnings in Paris funded a move to Canada, where he found employment as a chauffeur and mechanic for a few months. From there, he traveled to New York, where he was employed as a mechanic by fellow Swiss migrant William Walter, a pioneering automobilist. A short time later, Chevrolet joined the American subsidiary of the pioneering French automobile company, De Dion-Bouton.

In 1902, the De Dion-Bouton subsidiary was shut down and Chevrolet was out of a job. What was clearly a setback in his career proved to be a bonus on a personal level: While temporarily employed as a chauffeur for the Treyvoux family, he met his future wife, Suzanne. Wedding bells rang in New York in July 1905, and the couple was to be blessed with two sons: Charles, born in 1906 and Alfred, who followed in 1912.

In 1905, Chevrolet joined the American branch of the Italian automaker Fiat. Although he would not stay long at Fiat, Chevrolet’s fascination with engines reached yet another dimension while working there: Carried away with the notion of speed, he became a racing driver, as well as a skilled and innovative race car mechanic.

After a year with Fiat, Chevrolet moved to Philadelphia to work for the acclaimed engineer and inventor J. Walter Christie. In the Christie factory, Chevrolet was appointed first assistant in the development of a new racing car that would introduce a completely new concept: front-wheel drive.