NOPE! Once again your Humble Scribe had merged his factoids together, as I know very little About the late William C. Durant, who incorporated General Motors back in September of 1908 - before ultimately buying out Louis Chevrolet and then merging the Chevrolet brand into the General’s fold...
As ironically both men would go on to ultimately win the Indy 500, albeit neither in Chevrolet’s, as I believe the Bowtie didn’t actually win at the Speedway until finally breaking the then dominant Ford-Cosworth’s victory streak in 1988... BUTT! I’ll leave that discussion for the Dean ‘O I500 bloggers, Numero Uno Tennessee Titans fan Geo. Phillips instead.
Of course I was happy to learn via the History books that ‘Ol Shel, aka Carroll Shelby’s mighty Cobra’s, both in 289cid small block & 427cid Big Block form annihilated the Chevrolet Corvette amongst other competitors, whilst Ford under the careful supervision of Shelby defeated ALL comers at Circuit de la Sarthe - including Ferrari in 1966-67, before “FoMoCo’s” Henry Ford II pulled the plug on the project...
Yet, Chevrolet has always been a thorn in Ford’s side; be it Mark Donohue winning in The Captain’s (Roger Penske) NASTY Sunoco-blue Zed-28 Camaro, or “The Scotty Brothers,” nee Scott Sharp and Scott “Scooter” Pruett winning further Trans Am titles during the latter Detroit “Big-3” Factory “Pony Cars” wars... Not to mention some chap named Jack Baldwin, as all three men slayed Tommy Kendall aboard his NARLY Roush Racing Ford Mustang!
Encore for a Muscle Car Legend
And then there’s those beautiful canary yellow All-conquering ‘Vette’s, as the late 1990’s - early “Ought’s” (2000’s) saw the likes of Ron Fellows, Johnny ‘O (O’Connell) ‘MAG’s (Jan Magnessen) MAD MAX (Papis) and even ‘Ol “Scooter” winning multiple GT1 crowns at LeMans aboard the Works corvette C5/C6’s... Hell, even some cheeky BRIT television reporter named Justin Bell jumped ship from the Dodge Viper to Corvette Racing in order to remain competitive in the GT1 Category...
As I’d haveda say the ‘NARLIEST ever ‘Vette I saw; ‘Whale actually more heard then anything else - as it simply shook the ground as it tried tearing up the roughshod paved Hot-pits, Err Hot Pockets? Hya! At Kent , Washington
So Happy 100th Birthday Chevrolet; you’ve earned IT! Now if only Santa would leave me a ZR1 Corvette underneath the X-Mas tree this year, eh?
A Century of Chevy, From Cheap Date to America
Chevrolet turns 100
(Round 1) That’s the story title I posted three years ago - which Nobody seemed to object towards, and thus, reading various articles ‘bout how Chevy was turning 100 this November 3rd, I kept thinking something was amiss, eh?
As I’m now assuming that September 16, 2008 instead marked the 100th Anniversary of General Motors - NOT Chevrolet,! As on September 16, 1908 incorporation papers were filed and the GM “Holding” Company quickly rose to become the world’s Number 1 Auto Manufacturer...
Yet like its remaining two adversaries of Detroit’s crumbling “Big Three;” Ford and Chrysler, Chevy had fallen on hard times three years ago after riding a long wave of credibility due to its dependence upon SUV’s and Pickup trucks, along with artificially controlled oil prices and a total unwillingness to reinvest and modernize its Corporate infrastructure, instead simply trying to sell its same staid products in new overseas markets...
Thus, although Chevy finally rolled out its much hyped Volt EV automobile some three-plus years ago - a Pre-production model; we didn’t witness too much celebrating from the company that had lost $57.5 Billion in the preceding 18 months and was trying feverishly to grease the skids for a $25 Billion (cash infusion) handout which will cost the US Taxpayer and additional $7.5b in interest...
