Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was born on December 25, 1878, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, a town known for watchmaking. His parents were Joseph-Félicien Chevrolet, a watchmaker, and Marie-Anne Angéline Mahon. The family originated from Bonfol. In 1887, Chevrolet and his father moved to Beaune, France, where he developed his mechanical skills and an interest in bicycle racing. While in Beaune, he invented a wine pump constructed from a defective one-cylinder motor mounted on a tricycle.
Chevrolet worked as a mechanic at the Roblin shop in Beaune from approximately 1889 to 1899. He then moved to Paris, working in various mechanics shops between 1899 and 1900, before emigrating to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1900. He continued his work as a mechanic, then moved to New York City in 1901, briefly working for a Swiss immigrant’s engineering company before joining the Brooklyn operations of de Dion-Bouton.
In 1905, Chevrolet won his first race, driving a Fiat at Morris Park in the first national championship race sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA) Contest Board. He was hired by the Autocar Company in Philadelphia in 1907, potentially for a project to develop a revolutionary front-wheel-drive racing car. Chevrolet then drove for Buick, befriending Buick owner William C. Durant, founder of General Motors, and competed in the Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1909.
While working for Buick, Chevrolet learned car design and began designing his own engine in 1909, building an overhead valve six-cylinder engine in his Detroit machine shop. He is credited as one of three co-designers of the 1910 Buick 60 Special, known as the "Buick Bug."
On November 3, 1911, Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in Detroit with his brother Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant, William Little, and Dr. Edwin R. Campbell. Differences with Durant over the car's design led Louis-Joseph Chevrolet to sell his share in the company in 1915 and start McLaughlin's Company in Canada, building Chevrolets. By 1916, stock trading enabled Durant to regain control of General Motors, and by 1917, the Chevrolet company Louis co-founded was merged into General Motors after McLaughlin’s outstanding Chevrolet stocks were purchased in 1918. The McLaughlin Car Company then merged with Chevrolet Motor Company of Canada Ltd. to become General Motors of Canada Ltd. in 1918.
In 1916, Chevrolet and his brothers founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation to produce racing parts for the Ford Model T. Also in 1916, Chevrolet became vice president and chief engineer of American Motors Corporation (unrelated to the later American Motors created in 1954). This company merged with the Bessemer Motor Truck Company and the Winther and Northway companies, eventually ceasing operations.
By the mid-1910s, Chevrolet shifted his focus to car racing, partnering with Howard E. Blood to create the Cornelian racing car, which he drove to a 20th-place finish in the 1915 Indianapolis 500. In 1916, he and his brothers founded Frontenac Motor Corporation, designing and building racing cars, including the well-known Fronty-Ford racers. Chevrolet competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times, achieving a best finish of 7th in 1919. He and his brother Gaston both achieved multiple third-place finishes racing Sunbeams in 1916. Gaston Chevrolet won the 1920 Indianapolis 500 in a Frontenac and the 1920 AAA National Championship.
In 1927, Chevrolet launched the aircraft engine construction company Chevrolair, which failed three years later due to the Great Depression. He then returned to working as a mechanic at Chevrolet factories in Detroit. Louis-Joseph Chevrolet died on June 6, 1941, in Detroit from a heart attack, following a prior leg amputation due to atherosclerosis. He is buried in the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Chevrolet was inducted into the Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1952, the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1969, the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 1984, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum features a memorial dedicated to his accomplishments, including a bronze bust designed by Fred Wellman and sculpted by Adolph Wolter, installed in 1975. The Swiss national train company, SBB, has named a long-distance train after him, serving his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
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