CHEVROLET

About Chevrolet

Chevrolet didn't start in Detroit's boardrooms. It started with a Swiss immigrant who drove race cars and a businessman who'd already been fired from GM once. Louis Chevrolet and William Durant built a company on the idea that performance shouldn't cost a fortune. That bet paid off. The small-block V8 is Chevrolet's greatest invention. Not the brand, not the bowtie — the engine. Dropped into everything from sedans to boats, it became the foundation of American horsepower for half a century. The Corvette gave Chevrolet a halo. The Camaro gave it a rival. The Silverado gave it a paycheck. NASCAR dominance through the '60s and '70s cemented Chevy as the brand that raced on Sunday and sold on Monday. But Chevrolet also built Malibus and Impalas and Cavaliers — cars for people who needed to get to work, not the track. The "heartbeat of America" wasn't just marketing. It was arithmetic. More Americans drove Chevys than anything else. Then the C8 Corvette showed up with its engine behind the seats, and sixty years of front-engine tradition evaporated overnight. Chevrolet didn't ask permission. It never has.