Chevrolet Was Cruisin' In Lawrenceburg

In November, 1911 the former head of General Motors, William C. Durant, teamed up with a Swiss race car driver and his brother, two lads named Louis and Arthur Chevrolet. Together with a number of financial backers they formed the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant wasn't so much enamored by the skills of the brothers but saw this as a way to take back the company from which he had been ousted. Durant had taken control of a troubled automobile company called Buick in 1904 and used it to build a motoring conglomerate in 1909 when he bought Cadillac and the Oakland Motor Car company. This new venture was called General Motors. But Durant kept having run ins with the board of directors who eventually ousted him. Enter the Chevrolet brothers and his chance to resume control. By 1918 Durant used the profitable Chevrolet company to acquire a controlling stake in GM. Chevrolet became the base of a clever marketing pyramid that offered a brand for every income level. Up until the end of World War II, Chevy was an also ran in the race of entry level cars as Ford was basically untouchable. After the war Chevy began taking control of that market. Today, Chevrolet continues to be the largest selling of the GM brands. That's a good reason why there were so many Chevy products at this year's 9th Cruisin' to a Cure for ALS show in Lawrenceburg. Among the Chevys on hand was a first-generation Camaro, a couple models of Corvair, a Greenbriar van, another Corvair, an Impala, a HHR Super Sport, and another Camaro.