How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5 Billion Company
Success Secrets TV:
How Chevrolet Started, Grew & Became $11.5
Billion Company
The name Chevrolet originated from a Swiss-born
American racer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, who
founded his company with William Durant in
1911, stayed for four years and then left
his own company to Durant in 1915.
The Chevrolet Company previously called the
Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company
and simply called the Chevy is the automobile
department of General Motors, a manufacturing
company in the United States.
How Chevrolet Began
Twenty years before Chevrolet, Durant was
the founder of a successful Durant-Dort Carriage
Company which manufactured horse-drawn vehicles.
And so Durant wouldn't even touch a car with
a ten-foot pole, let alone allow his daughter
to ride in what he called, "loud and dangerous
horseless carriages."
But as time passed he realized that there
were more cars than carriages on the American
streets; an experience that did not settle
well with the relatively tentative public.
As the government regulated cars for their
safety, Durant had other ideas.
Why not improve the security of these cars
instead?
In 1904, Durant approached a struggling Buick
Motor Company and became its controlling investor.
Within a span of four years, Durant demonstrated
his salesman attitude and transformed Buick
into a leading automobile name amongst the
likes of Ford, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac.
For Durant, however, it was only the start.
Durant figured he could further improve his
odds in the industry if he built a holding
company that would control several automobile
divisions, with each division manufacturing
their own car.
With the Buick's outstanding profits, Durant
had sufficient capital to found the General
Motors Company in 1908.
A year later, General Motors acquired several
car brands like Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac,
Elmore, and others.
Unfortunately,Durant got so carried away in
his "automobile acquisition crusade" that
GM suffered cash shortage with their sales
losing to Ford's.
And so, in 1910, General Motors showed Durant
the exit door.
But Durant did not give up.
Having regained his bearings, he reunited
with an old colleague from the days of the
Buick motor company, Louis-Joseph Chevrolet.
Durant knew the Swiss-born American as a man
whose competency for car mechanics matched
his passion for racing.
In 1909, Louis had participated in the Giant
Despair Hillclimb.
An oddly apt name, considering the Hillclimb
race was less about the racers themselves
and more about test-driving the competing
car brands they drove.
Therefore, when Durant offered a chance to
build more automobiles, Louis couldn't resist
signing his name on the dotted line alongside
Durant's.
In 1911, Louis co-founded the Chevrolet Motor
Company with Durant.
Durant used Louis’ racing status as a means
of building a motor company, and his way of
getting back at General Motors.
The first Chevrolet car, the Series C Classic
Six was designed by Etienne Planche with directions
by Louis.
The prototype was ready before the company
was incorporated even though the production
didn’t happen until 1913 where it was introduced
at an auto show in New York.
In 1914, Chevrolet redesigned its logo.
And so a "bowtie emblem" logo was used on
Chevrolet’s first produced cars in 1914:
the Chevrolet H series and L series models.
That same year, Durant and Louis argued about
their differing intentions for Chevrolet’s
future car designs.
Durant wanted simple and affordable cars that
would surpass those of Fords.
On the other hand, Louis preferred playing
it fast and loose, with luxury or racing cars.
These differences split these two associates
and Louis sold his shares of the company to
Durant.
Now alone at the helm, Durant was able to
focus on his next winning car design.
He achieved this in 1916 when the cheaper
Chevrolet Series 490 finally outpaced Ford
in sales and cemented Chevrolet’s place
among the big automobile names.
To say Chevrolet made huge profits during
this period would be a severe understatement.
Durant revisited General Motors as a controlling
investor, purchasing their stocks, which gave
him the leverage to launching himself into
leading General Motors once more.
By 1917, Durant had become the president of
General Motors.
All was right, now that Durant's "big automobile"
dream was back on track.
And of course, his first directive was merging
the highly successful Chevrolet into the parent
company General Motors as a separate division.
How Chevrolet Grew
In 1918, Chevrolet launched a new V8 powered
model, the Series D for open two-seat cars
and the touring cars that could seat 5 passengers.
These models didn't sell well though and they
were scrapped by the next year.
Given Chevrolet's successful track record
in the market, General Motors rebranded and
sold their commercial grade cars and trucks
as Chevrolet with similar appearances with
the Chevrolet’s vehicles in 1919 from Chevrolet
factories located in Flint, Michigan.
The automobile company built several branch
assembly plants in New York, Ohio, Missouri,
California, Texas, and Canada.
Somewhere between the 1920s and 1940s, Chevrolet
would see Durant's vision for "producing simple
and affordable cars" come true.
In fact, Chevrolet, Ford and Plymouth were
known to Americans as "the low priced three".
During this period, one of Chevrolet's most
notable cars was the Stovebolt introduced
in 1929, which was tag-lined "a six for the
price of four".
This and several generations of the car model
blew away the competition of Ford and Plymouth.
In 1953, the Chevy Corvette, a sport’s car
with two seats and a fiberglass body debuted
to become the first mass-produced sports car
in the United States, championing the "America's
Sports Car" appeal.
The appeal of the Corvette and other Chevrolet
passenger cars would be enhanced with the
first-time introduction of Rochester Ramjet
fuel-injection engine as a high-performance
option for the price of $484.
The Chevrolet small block V8 car design made
its debut in 1955 and remained in circulation
longer than other mass produced engines around
the world.
Modifications to the V8 engine including the
aluminum block and heads, the electronic engine
management and the port fuel injection gave
birth to the designs in production today.
In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the Impala series,
which went on to become one of the best-selling
American cars in history experiencing popularity
during the 60s and 70s.
The parent company General Motors introduced
Chevrolet to Europe in 2005.
With rebranded cars manufactured from the
General Motors branch in Korea acquired Daewoo
Motors.
The economic depression between 2007 and 2010
hit Chevrolet hard.
But the road to recovery began in 2010 with
the introduction of fuel-efficient cars and
trucks to compete with foreign automobile
manufacturers.
Within the same year, Chevrolet introduced
the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Chevrolet
Volt in America, which was sold under the
name Opel/Vauxhall Ampera throughout Europe
with a record 5,268 units soldand became the
world's best-selling plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PHEV) car in 2012, winning the award
for the North American Car of the Year, European
Car of the Year and World Green of the Year.
The series was then named the combined Volt/Ampera
that was sold across the world.
It exceeded the 100,000 unit sales milestone
in late 2005 and eleven years later the Volt
family of vehicles had become the world's
best-selling plug-in hybrid as well as the
third best selling electric car after the
Tesla Model S and the Nissan Leaf cars.
In 2011, Chevrolet set a global sales record
of 4.76 million vehicles sold worldwide
In late 2013, the Chevy brand was withdrawn
from Europe by General Motors leaving the
Corvette and Camero lines.
In 2016, Chevrolet unveiled the first affordable
mass-produced all-electric car the Chevrolet
Bolt EV.
This car too has won several awards.
Where Chevrolet Is Today
Chevrolet now has its headquarters in Detroit,
Michigan, and operates throughout 140 countries
in North and South America, Asia, Australia,
South Africa, and Europe with over two million
vehicles sold annually in the US alone and
a brand value of $11.5 billion.
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Texas Barn Find: Five Pre-war Automobiles Discovered
Hagerty:
(blues music)
- I'm Antonio Brunet and I'm the chairman
and founder of Motostalgia Auction.
And we're here to talk about
an incredible Texas barn find.
(blues music)
It's one of those, that as a
car guy, you kind of dream of.
(blues music)
Funny enough this collection literally
it's seven miles from our office,
but we'd run into it.
The gentleman's name is Jack
and the story goes that
he moved down to Texas
in the early 70s, around 1972, 1973.
And he's obviously a car guy
and had some amazing vehicles
that once he got to Texas
he put away in his new barn.
And always with intention of
getting the time and the money
to fix them and to ride them again.
(blues music)
The moment that we opened the doors
to that barn find was
just absolutely amazing.
I mean as soon as I saw the
little signs of V12 and V16
on the Cadillacs, I knew
that they were something
very special.
One of my favorite, to be honest with you,
is a 1923 Milburn Electric.
And I think it's one of
favorite because of the story.
They were companies like Milburn
and Detroit Electric that
built very competitive cars
to the market at the time.
We're talking about the
teens and the early 20s.
So Milburn is one those stories
and history now tells that GM, in 1924,
bought out the whole company
to dismantle the factory.
So they wouldn't have that car competing.
Well the car that Jack had is a 1923 27L,
which is the very last model
that that company built.
Jack was obviously very... an enthusiast
and cared much about the Cadillacs
and the multi-cylindered Cadillacs.
It's actually a 1933 V12 coupe.
It's obviously a rare car too,
being that it's a
multi-cylindered Cadillac.
The great thing about this
particular car, obviously,
the condition of being a barn find
and being completely
unmolested and original,
is that the back of it, it
actually has a 1932 trunk.
But the car's a 1933.
So this is one of those
bodies which happened a lot
back in that early century,
where vehicles were built
with available parts.
And of course, this car
was built as a 1933.
But at the time they didn't
have a 33 trunk available,
so they slapped a 1932, which of course
makes it now a rare car.
Cause it's not something that happened
to any other body.
Some of the cars in this
collection, very important.
One of the most important
ones or the main,
is a 1932 Cadillac V12
Victoria convertible.
Now this is actually body number one,
meaning this was the very first one
that came out of the factory.
There were only four built.
The other three were actually V16 cars.
So the actually story of this car's tale
that this was the vehicle that was used
as a prototype to show to the executives.
See if they will approve the concept
of having a Victoria convertible.
At the time the body was ready,
there was actually not
a V16 chassis avaliable
so they put it on a
V12, with a V12 engine.
This is one of those cars
that's actually considered
within the V16 registry,
but it obviously carries
a V12 chassis and V12 engine.
It's never been offered for sale.
It's only had three owners and the fact
that we found it so close,
and in such magnificent shape,
it's truly a once in a lifetime.
(blues music)
The fourth car that he had,
it's a very interesting one.
It's a 1908 REO and that
car's significant because
REO was founded by Oldsmobile.
And after he sold his company,
he wasn't able to go back
and use the same brand.
So he created REO.
It's a Model G from what we
have found in our research.
And it's a convertible
car, but not convertible
in the sense that we know.
It's more of a transformer.
Because it converts from a five-passenger
touring convertible to a
two-passenger boat tail.
The fact that the car
is absolutely complete
with both choices of
bodies, it's very, very rare
and very exciting to see.
Of course, it's a brass era vintage car.
So all the headlights and
all the little instruments,
it's pure brass, which
is absolutely gorgeous.
(blues music)
Another car that he had in his collection,
you know the Cadillac is
actually a Cadillac V16.
It's a 1938 limousine.
What's particular about this specific one
is that it's a five-passenger limousine.
Usually limousines in
early century, pre-war,
they were either seven-passenger
or as much as nine-passenger.
But this particular one,
does not have the jump seats.
Because the person that ordered it,
just wanted it for him and his wife.
So it's a great car, V16 chassis.
The car is absolutely enormous
and it just really talks
about the eccentricity
of Cadillac and in
American life back then.
Finding the cars and kind of
getting to know the story,
really, really capture us.
It's almost like a time machine.
I mean really opening those
doors of that barn that day.
When you enter there,
you feel like immediately
you're in, back in the 1930s.
And that's why I think it's so amazing.
(blues music)
A History that Runs Deep | Jim Trenary Automotive Group
Jim Trenary Chevrolet:
What's going on everybody? Today we are
at Jim Trenary Chevrolet in O'Fallon
Missouri, getting to talk with Kyle
Trenary, to learn a little bit more about
Jim Trenary Automotive Group and what
they're all about.
So what what made you want to get into
the car business?
Well, for starters, I've always loved cars.
It's always been kind of, just cars in my
blood. I want to be outdoors. I
want to be out driving, just cruising
around and in a cool car, because it's
something I enjoy. I would have race cars
before, you know, it's that's just fun to
me. Would you say you have the need for
speed? Ask anyone around here -- if they've driven with me -- I'd say yes, I have the need
for speed.
I always wanted to be in this business.
You know, my father got into business 40
plus years ago selling cars, and worked
his way up through management, and other
dealerships, and then managed to
purchase his own. And I think that's a big
thing; obviously with you know being
a second generation, to really understand,
you know, where you came, from where you are now. What would you say to
somebody that's never visited a Jim Trenary location? I think you're gonna
get a different experience from what
you're used to. Most people walk in to
the dealership scared. It's just that's
what it is, you know? They they have this
feeling that they're gonna be beat up,
you know, basically, when they buy a car.
And the typical car salesperson, you know, and we get a bad rap -- us and attorneys,
basically. There's a reason there's a
stereotype out there, because that it exists, you know? He wants to
sell you a car, and then he's pushing you
out the door, and he's giving you the keys,
and he's on to the next one.
People like that don't stay in the Jim Trenary organization. They don't
work, because that's not the way we work.
We don't want you to just walk out of here
and go to a different chevrolet
dealership again. We want you back. So
when you walk in you're gonna feel
welcome. We are excited that you're here.
We're excited to sell you a car. We're
excited to service your vehicles. And I
think that's a big thing is the stigma
about going into a dealership, and the
comfort level, and things like that. You
guys seem to ease a lot of tension in
regards to the way that you approach
people, and welcome people. What would you
say is one of the things that you love
about the car business?
I've been a car nut ever since I was a
little kid. I couldn't wait to sit on my
dad's lap and drive the car, you know? But
not only that, I started out as a porter
and I worked my way into different areas
of the dealership, and I learned about
people. You meet all kinds of people in each part of the dealership business,
and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being
with the people that work here, and I enjoy
meeting the people that come in here
every day. It was just always impressive to
me how my father had done what he did,
and I don't want that legacy to end.
We want you back, and we're gonna
give you a great deal on it, and we're
gonna give you the service that will get
you back here. Thank you all for watching
and if you want to know more about the
Jim Trenary experience, visit any of our
five locations. And don't forget to like
and subscribe to our YouTube channel, or
as always, you can visit the website
JimTrenary.Com.
CHEVROLET ENGINEERING ๐ Transmissions & Synchromesh (1936 Original Company Documentary)
HOT ROD 100:
HOT ROD 100 Presents...
Chevrolet Synchromesh
(Company Archive Footage)
meet mr. Archimedes of ancient Greece
long ago our key said give me a lever
long enough and I can move the world
what Archimedes meant was that the power
of a lever is practically unlimited
today almost everyone uses some form of
lever in his daily work the familiar can
opener is a lever with a sharp cutting
edge the playground seesaw is just a
simple lever - it takes a lot of force
to start a freight car moving yet the
railroad man can start the heaviest
freight cars easily with a pinch bar a
powerful lever which turns the wheel
tough luck old boy here's a place where
a lever comes in mighty handy let's take
the simplest kind of lever a rigid bar
working on a fixed support called a
fulcrum one end of this lever is twice
as long as the other let's put a
10-pound weight on this end and now
we'll put half as much weight on this
end five pounds balanced ten if we have
25 pounds to lift we just use a longer
lever the five pounds will now balance
five times as much let's raise the lever
in the air change its shape a little and
we have a crank or we can add a second
lever and have a double crank now the
short arm moves 1/4 the distance but we
get four times the force if we want
continuous motion
we need more arms now we have levers
that turn the larger paddle wheel makes
fewer turns but it delivers more force a
paddle wheel is nothing but a
never-ending series of levers we can
make the wheel stronger and lessen
friction where the wheels touch each
other by rounding off the edges and
shaping them into teeth that will slide
in and out smoothly now the power flows
smoothly and continuously
through spinning leverage of gear wheels
gears are made in many kinds and many
sizes little gears big gears worm gears
bevel gears and even lopsided gears over
a hundred million gears are spinning
over the roads and the transmissions of
our automobiles the transmission is
located right at the bottom of the gear
shift lever let's start from scratch and
put together a model of the gears that
we shift in our motor car the shaft on
the Left comes from the engine the shaft
on the right carries the power back to
the rear wheels to connect these two
with gears we'll need another shaft
known as a counter shaft these two gears
carry the power from the engine shaft to
the counter shaft and are always
connected or in mesh this gear on the
drive shaft going to the wheels is free
to turn around the shaft we'll put it in
mesh with another gear on the counter
shaft these gears are always in May and
keep turning while the engine is running
to switch from one set of gears to
another our transmission needs a short
shaft like this known as a clutch sleeve
it cannot turn on the drive shaft but it
is free to slide back and forth on the
sleeve will not a large gear which we
can shift back and forth to mesh with
the small gear in the middle of the
counter shaft
we are now in neutral the gears that are
always in mesh are turning over with the
engine but the shaft to the rear wheels
is standing still a three thousand pound
automobile takes a lot of force to start
so in low speed we get the greatest
leverage by letting the smallest gear on
the counter shaft turn the largest gear
on the drive shaft the engine on this
model is running at a constant speed of
90 revolutions a minute with low gears
in mesh the rear wheel is turning at 30
revolutions a minute about a third the
speed of the engine but with three times
the force the power is going through
these gears in the transmission
after we've started the car rolling we
want fast pickup so we shift into second
by sliding the sleeve backward to mesh
with this gear on the shaft to the rear
wheels the wheel is now turning at 60
revolutions a minute and the power flows
through these gears for higher speeds we
let the power go directly to the rear
wheels we shift the sleeve forward so
that it meshes with the shaft from the
engine the power travels straight from
the engine to the drive shaft now the
shaft to the wheels is turning at 90
revolutions a minute the same speed as
the engine but here's a problem an
automobile must be able to go backward
as well as forward so we add one more
set of gears to reverse the shaft to the
rear wheels with the gears shifted into
reverse the power travels through the
transmission in a path like this we now
have three sets of spinning levers for
going forward at one for Reverse with a
gear shift lever we can shift to any set
of gears we wish but with all these
spinning levers in the transmission came
noise and where experts could shift
gears quietly by careful timing of the
gear shift and the engine speeds but
most of us made plenty of noise until
new engineering developments made
possible a long series of improvements
that followed when we shifted gears we
got a clash because the gears were not
running at the same speed in other words
not synchronized so engineers set to
work to develop a synchronizer the
synchronizer works like a cork twisted
into the top of a bottle the cork will
turn until it is so tight that the
bottle turns with it synchro mesh
works the same way when we shift into
second or hi the synchronizer brings the
gears to the same speed before they come
together the drums won't let the gear
shift unless they are turning at the
same speed when the gears come together
there is no clash and the shift is made
quietly and easily in the transmission
of the up-to-date automobile we have a
powerful low gear to give us a strong
spinning leverage in starting a fast
turning motor must set the weight of the
car in motion in second speed we can
change leverage to get going fast at the
same engine speed with the leverage of
third gear power goes directly to the
rear wheels and we can go as fast as we
want now every driver can shift gears at
any time regardless of speed here is a
hill that will give us a real chance to
see how smoothly and reliably our
spinning levers work in our automobile
transmission this driver is going to let
her car gain a speed of 60 miles an hour
down the hill
then she will shift into second speed
and bring her card easily and safely
under control before it reaches the
bottom of the hill
When Dodge Bought Ford | WheelHouse
Donut Media:
Ferrari vs. Lamborghini, Mitsubishi vs Subaru,
BMW vs. Mercedes… the list goes on.
“Wait, wait.
How ‘bout we settle this on the blacktop
huh?”
There’s about as many automotive rivalries
as there are cars… and they all had to start
somewhere.
In fact, the first rivalry in American automotive
history- a rivalry that’s still alive today-
dates back to detroit as early as 1900.
Today on Wheelhouse we’re talking about
the strange origins of Dodge vs Ford.
John and Horace Dodge were born in Niles,
Michigan about 200 miles west of Detroit,
a city they would help turn into an automotive
Mecca.
Much like my own dad, their father was teaching
them to be machinists.
Horace invented a dirt proof ball bearing
and shared the patent credit with his brother.
The red-headed Dodge bros were super tight,
and a had a twin-like bond despite the 4 year
age difference.
They started their own shop building bikes
and automotive components, until they got
so much business building car parts that they
ditched the bikes and just focused completely
on cars.
A guy named Ransom Olds employed the Dodge
brothers to build engines and transmissions
for his new automobile company: Oldsmobile.
Ransom needed some good machinists to get
that done, and the Dodge brothers were really,
really good machinists.
The partnership between Olds and the Dodge
brothers made them pretty wealthy, but the
Dodge brothers were just getting started.
They wanted to grow their newfound money by
investing in more companies.
Meanwhile, a 33 year old Henry Ford was also
pursuing his passion of engineering and fabrication.
Like the Dodge brothers, Ford was born in
Michigan and worked as a machinist.
And like the Dodge brothers, Ford quit his
day job at the Edison Illuminating Company.
In 1896 Ford completed work of his first vehicle,
the Quadricycle.
Ford opened his first business, the Detroit
Automobile Company in 1899, it was the first
automaker with headquarters in Detroit.
Unfortunately, it only lasted two years.
Today, we think of Henry Ford as a marketing
genius who brought cars to the masses...
But the Ford of 1899?
Not so much.
Back then Henry was an engineer, a brilliant
one, the kind of engineer who forgot to tell
people to buy his cars.
The Detroit Automobile Company went belly
up in a matter of months.
But Henry didn’t give up.
Two years later in 1901, He built a racecar
to prove his worth as a car designer.The two
cylinder racer he built set a speed record
at a horse track, a feat for which Henry was
awarded $1000 cash, fame and for some reason-
a punch bowl.
With his renewed street cred, Henry Ford founded
the Henry Ford Company, with big investors
backing him up.
The investors wanted Henry to design a lightweight
passenger car they could sell for cheap.
But Henry had caught the speed bug and got
to work on a four cylinder race car to break
his old record.
The investors were like “no, that won’t
make us any money you weirdo,” so Henry
Ford left the Henry Ford Company in 1902.
With Henry gone, the investors restructured
and renamed the company to honor the founder
of Detroit: Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.
Cadillac.
So by 1903, Ford starts another company.
Despite the fact that he builds great race
cars, nobody wants to give him any money,
because they think he might just blow it on
race cars again.
He’s going around town, looking for cash,
but Detroit back then was a small place…
people talked, and the word was that if you
invest in Henry Ford, you’re going to lose
money.
But there were two young rich guys who didn’t
care what people said… and those guys were
the Dodge brothers.
They’ve got that Oldsmobile money burning
a hole in their pocket and they want to expand...
The Dodge boys knew that Ford had his back
against the wall- he was in debt, he lost
all his money leaving what was now called
Cadillac, and couldn’t get anybody else
to give him money for his new car company.
So the Dodge Brothers worked out a deal to
give Ford $10,000 worth of cash and materials
for his new Ford Motor Company.
And in return, the Dodge brothers demanded
a ten percent share of the company, AND the
rights to all of Ford’s assets in case of
another bankruptcy.
Effectively, the Dodge Brothers owned Ford,
both the company and the man.
Work began on Henry’s new cars.
Dodge supplied the chassis complete with engine
and transmission, and the rest of the car
would be finished at Ford’s plant.
As the Ford Motor Company grew, Henry slowly
became increasingly more eccentric.
He began to think of his own body as an automobile.
He Reasoned that if his cars were designed
to run off the best fuel, the same should
true for himself.
He adopted a nearly vegetarian diet, eating
veggies from his garden and “roadside greens”-
roadside greens are weeds.
People thought this was kind of weird, I mean
can you imagine, seeing your boss pull weeds
out from behind your building, and throw them
into his salad?
I’ve seen Pumphrey do some weird stuff but
nothing like that.
In fact…
I’ve never seen pumphrey eat ANY vegetable.
Except pickles of course, but are pickles
vegetables?
Anyway, the Dodge brothers didn’t seem to
mind Ford’s weird eating habits because
he was making them buttloads of money.
Plus, they were too focused on climbing Detroit’s
exclusive social ladder to care.
But polite detroit society didn’t want them.
John and Horace were known for hanging out
with their employees after hours, hitting
the bars and getting crunk next to the same
people who built their engines.
This made them unsuitable for Detroit high
society.
“Oh those Dodge brothers, do display most
contemptible of behavior.”
“Oh I agree, I agree wholeheartedly.Shall
we hit the brothel down the street then?”
“Absolutely.”
“Splendid.”
So what do you do if you want to be high society,
but they won’t even let you go to the symphony?
You buy the symphony.
John and Horace Dodge assumed the financial
liability of the Detroit symphony, effectively
buying their way into the Detroit elite.
Oh, you won’t let us into your club?
How ‘bout we just buy your club?
How you like them apples?
How ‘bout you lick my apples dude!
America!
That’s how we do it.
Capitalism.
Both Ford and the Dodge brothers were aspiring
industrial titans, with their own strange
eccentricities: Ford with his dandelion eating
ways, and the Dodge’s chips on their shoulders.
Naturally, a partnership between the two would
not last.
For years, the Dodge brothers had been giving
Ford suggestions on how to improve the Model
T; but Henry’s pride and stubborn nature
got in the way of listening.
He just thought they were trying to screw
him for more money.
It started to become clear that Ford was a
little paranoid.
They also soon realized that Ford was prejudiced…
against redheads.
Yeah… the Ginger-haired Dodge Brothers were
10% partners with a man who thought they were
evil because of their hair color.
Tired of being ignored by Henry, Dodge completed
construction on a massive new facility in
1910.
Their plant featured a floor to floor assembly
line, medical wing, and a machine shop called
“the Playpen” for workers to invent stuff
in their spare time.
The Dodge Brothers even served beer on the
assembly floor when it was hot.
Honestly, doesn’t sound like a bad place
to work.
By contrast, Ford had a “Sociology Department”
within his company that was almost like a
secret police.
They’d show up to your house to make sure
it was clean, they’d ask you about your
marriage, and made sure you weren’t drinking.
Safe to say there wasn’t any beer being
served at the Ford Motor Company.
Ford was suspicious.
Why were those Dodge brothers building a factory
to rival his own?
“Henry they’re not even Irish they just
have red hair.”
“I don’t care, I could smell them for
miles.”
Initially, the plant was cranking out Model
T components, as the Dodge Brothers had been
doing all along.
But Henry suspected the Dodge Bros were planning
to do something against him, so he preempted
their preemptive strike with a new factory
for himself.
The River Rouge plant allowed Ford to rely
solely on his own employees, and would be
cheaper than outsourcing his work to Dodge.
Ford might have been a weirdo, but his suspicions
were correct.
The Dodge Brothers were finished with being
ignored and decided they were gonna make their
own damn automobile.
In 1913 John Dodge resigned from his position
of Vice President at Ford, and announced the
Dodge Brothers would stop building cars and
parts for the Ford Motor Company so they could
make their own.
The Dodge Model 30 made more power than the
Model T, it had an electric starter, and a
steel body.
By almost every measure it was a better car
than the Model T, but about twice as expensive.
True to form, when asked about the price difference,
John Dodge proclaimed, “Just think of all
those Ford owners who will someday want an
automobile”.
That’s talking shit, 1900s style
But remember, the Dodge brothers still owned
10% of the Ford Motor Company… while they’re
building, and making money selling Dodges.
They were using the dividends from Ford to
run Dodge.
Henry Ford was directly paying for the operations
of a competing company.
And he really hated that.
What’s a Ford to do?
He just stopped paying them, even though the
Dodge bros were rightfully entitled to their
dividends.
Ford was like, “I don’t care.
I’m not Paying.”
So John and Horace sued for their missing
money, and Ford lost.
He ended up paying them 19 million in back
dividends, AND had to resume paying them quarterly.
“Well that sucks.”
Ford needed the Dodge Brothers to disappear…
from his company.
To coax them into selling their stake in Ford,
Henry leaked a story to the Los Angeles Examiner
that he was going to leave Ford and start
a new company, that would sell an even cheaper
car.
If this was true, Ford undercutting himself
would tank the Ford Motor Company value.
But nobody believed it, because it was stupid,
so the company DIDN’T lose value.
THEN the Dodge brothers got a mysterious phone
call from an anonymous party, offering to
take the stock off their hands for a good
price.
“Hey I don’t know you, but I’d be willing
to take that stock off your hands for a nice
price because I know, and you know, that it’s
going down.
It’s going way down.
That’s what the newspapers say.
Uh my name?
It’s uhh, Fenry..uh Kenry Dord uh Henry
gah”
Again, they still didn’t believe it, and
weren’t going to sell for anything less
than what they thought their 10% stake was
worth.
It wasn’t long however, before the Dodge
boys got tired of getting weird phone calls
late at night from “Schmenry Schmord,”
or Fenry Hord, so they just auctioned off
the stock themselves for what it was worth,
making 25 million dollars in the process.
And Ford was finally free from Dodge.
The Dodge Brothers had turned an initial investment
worth about 250 thousand dollars today, into
the equivalent of 760 million dollars.
Not bad for a couple of boys from Niles.
If you’re from Niles, that’s cool.
Without the Dodge Brothers, Henry Ford might
never have built the Model T. But without
the Model T, the Dodge brothers might not
have built the first Dodge.
And the craziest part of all is that the rivalry
that started between Ford- a conservative
teetotaller and Dodge- the Maverick outsiders
is still raging over a century later.
You better hit that m************ subscribe
button!
The more subscribers we get, the more cool
stuff we get to make for you.
Are you a Dodge guy, are you a Mopar or No
Car kind of person?
Or are you a Ford guy, are you a sensitive
boy, do you drive a Mustang?
Let me know in the comments.
Yo are you watching Formula One?
Check out this episode of WheelHouse it’s
all about Fernando Alonso and why he’s the
best driver on the grid.
Check out this episode of Up to Speed on the
Mitsubishi Eclipse, because I told you to.
If you want a Donut shirt go to SHOP.DONUT.MEDIA
follow Donut Media on instagram at donutmedia
follow me on instagram at nolanjsykes.
Wear a seatbelt, see ya later :)
Chevrolet
Audiopedia:
Which automaker company owns your favorite car brand? You'd be surprised
Vehicle Virals:
Not to disappoint you but most badges you see on your favorite cars are not as transparent as you think they are today
I'll be showing you which automakers own your favorite car brands
My name is Christian, and this is vehicle Virals make sure to subscribe for weekly out of motive content
Let's begin when you think of James Bond, which car brand comes to mind
That's right Aston, Martin today Aston, Martin isn't owned by a larger automaker
But don't think it was always that way it was once under Ford and then sold to a group of investors in
2007 one key investor was Mercedes Benz parent company named leur the tie-in with
Mercedes now gives Aston Martin access to AMG engines for its latest sports cars a sweet deal moving on
BMW for you guys that didn't know it stands for Bay or ish
Motorin work
It's German for barbarian motor works BMW owns two automobile brands
many
Which was relaunched in 2001 and rolls-royce which was acquired in?
2002 you can even see some BMW influences in the rolls-royce
Ghost sedan next one on the list there's a automaker Daimler AG
Ring a bell it probably doesn't but at the same time it probably does because I just mentioned it when I talked about Aston Martin
I know for sure it didn't ring a bell for me when I first did my research its original name was damned ler bends before
transitioned over to the new name damn ler AG in
1998 they own all of Mercedes divisions such as the Benz the AMG and a Maybach
They also homesmart you remember seeing those tiny cars in the road
They could basically pop a u-turn in one lane Daimler. Also owns a truck companies such as Freightliner alright
Let's move on to Fiat that was founded in 1899 it is Italy's largest auto
Manufacturer and also one of the oldest auto makers in the world
They mainly produce railroad engines tractors and airplane engines until
1950 where they then offered a full lineup of cars
Enough with the Boring stuff, which car companies do they control well here
They are a breath Alfa Romeo Maserati and Chrysler which was apart after filing bankruptcy
In 2011 with Chrysler comes all of their brands as well such as Dodge Jeep and Ram
That's right that means the ultra powerful Hellcat is also under Fiat you think that's impressive wait till you see the last
Automaker on this list make sure to watch the whole video the next automaker was actually under Fiat back in the day
That is before ended up separated from its parent company in
2016 ladies and gentlemen Ferrari once known as Fiat crown jewel is now independent and known as a symbol of speed
Luxury and wealth yep
The next car company revolutionized the use of assembly lines for cars its iconic car the Model T
Is widely considered the first massively available automobile any guesses if you guess forward then you're correct?
Ford Onan had major stakes in Land Rover Mazda mercury Aston
Martin just like stated before
Volvo and Jaguar all those brands were either sold or shut down and the only brand they currently own is
Lincoln the next automaker company downsized
Quite a bit after filing for bankruptcy back in 2009 you might have heard a bottom in the news
I mean I couldn't miss them. They were all over the web at the time that is General Motors
Have known as GM the car brands. They currently own are Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GMC
and Holden a brand only
Distributed in Australia this next automaker was known as a new kid on the block back when it was founded in
1948 Honda named after one of the company's founder Soichiro Honda
Sorry about pronounced it wrong
I remember during my teenage years encounter in Honda owners
making fun of Acura owners and vice versa but all it took was to pop open the hood of an Acura Integra to expose the
Honda branding under the hood their reactions
Priceless moving on to Hyundai or Honda whatever you want to call it based in South Korea
I launched his first car in cooperation with Ford in
1968 today hyundai owns a good chunk of kia, it's key competitor
You know what they say if you can't beat them join them the two share many parts among their production such as engine and trans
One interesting move that on the recently did was to branch out its Genesis model to a sub brand of its own
Genesis motors next on the list is Mazda the name originates from our hua
Mazda and Iranian god. That's a cool fact. Isn't it once known as a company that manufactured tools
eventually expanded to automobiles in
1930 the only time I ever had with any other automaker was but Ford owned one third of the company
Later on went on to sell its shares
Which means Mazda is independently owned moving on to one of my favorite automakers of all time?
McLaren a British firm known for building fast sexy sports cars, but hey
That's not all they also run a Formula One team and a division named applied technologies
Which make a unique selection of a product such as bicycles medicine and even solar panels and yes McLaren is?
Independently owned now. Let's talk about Mitsubishi men you might not know but Mitsubishi Corporation
It actually depends largest general trader market. What does general trader marking you ask I'm glad you asked according to Wikipedia
Businesses working with some different type of products which are sold for consumer business or government purposes Mitsubishi became a car maker in
1970 and remain independent for a long time, but now it's controlled by brand not Nissan Alliance talking about right now, Nissan
They actually only 43% of Nissan as many of you guys probably already know Nissan runs his luxury focus division
Infinity before I confirm that this was true
I already had a hunch that they were closely related the same hunch I get when I see
CVS and Walgreens and in Advance Auto Parts in an
Autozone Nissan recently revived Datsun in order to sell economy cars to emerging markets they also own the Romanian car market
Dacia and hold controller stakes in Mitsubishi
Like mentioned previously not really much to say about the following
Automaker company and that is Saab one unique thing is that they specialize in
Aerospace and defense manufacturing as far as automobiles
They're not doing too hot sap isn't quite dead, but it's not doing too
Well the following car maker is a Subaru they doing quite well for themselves
By setting a new annual sales record for ten consecutive years
And if you consider that they are for the most part independent you have to admit. That's quite impressive
I say most part because Toyota owns
16% of Subaru have you ever heard of Tata or Teta?
Not sure which way to say it well
It's a company that currently owns Jaguar and Land Rover that they purchased from Ford back in 2008
according to most haters fame came when it released its Nano vehicle for
$2,500 I mean look at it
What is that banana was originally created to lead India's and middle class away from motorcycles?
Sadly the Nano had many issues and a filter his target by a long shot now. Let's talk about Tesla
There's not really much to say other than it was founded by a group of engineers back in
2003 their cars are currently manufacturing in Fremont
California everybody main independent from any other larger automaker the company recently outlines plans for a new semi truck a super-fast
roadster and a new crossover called numata why moving on to Toyota one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world
They own
lexus
Dot 2 and Hino Motors, you might also remember the sign brand that was also under the Toyota umbrella
I remember the boxy car the xB and a scion tc sign cars were targeted towards the youth
but after slow sales Toyota ultimately decided to close the blinds for the sign in
2016 the following Swedish automaker was founded back in
1927 known as Volvo it was purchased by a Chinese firm from Ford
Following a huge time investment and money to update the Volvo lineup and for the most part it paid off
Now Bulbul stands as an independent automaker company
I might have just saved the best for last
And this next automaker has to have one of the best lineup some brands under their belt it blows me away
Just thinking about it the automaker is Volkswagen and for those that didn't know it means people's car in German
They quickly rose to the top. Thanks to its beetle selling well worldwide
It is also one of the biggest auto makers in the world ready to be blown away
Let's go they own howdy
Bentley Porsche Bugatti, Lamborghini
C skids man trucks Scania and Ducati
Impressive all guys that will say
I hope you guys found that entertaining and informative at the same time if you liked the video make sure and hit that like button
And I want to know
Comment below, what's your favorite car and don't forget to subscribe? I have new automotive content every single week
Hope you all have a good day. I'll see you guys next time
William C. Durant
Audiopedia:
Tanya Sam | Season 1 Founded Atlanta
Women Techmakers:
THE TRUTH ABOUT CRAGAR WHEELS
Fitment Industries:
- [Narrator] Busch, Busch, Busch
Busch, Busch, Busch, Busch.
- I need more Busch
Light, more Copenhagen,
more walls next to other
countries, more V8s,
more not paying our
taxes, more American guns
to talk about this next company.
(rap music)
Welcome to Cragar.
The man, the myth, the legend
of Cragar wheels.
Did any of you guys actually ask for this?
No, then why are we doing it?
Well because Klassen actually
won't respond to our emails.
So we though we'd talk about the brand
that our mechanic wanted us to talk about.
So that makes about two people
that have ever asked for
Cragar wheel history.
Founded in 1930 by Crane Gartz,
Cragar wheels was founded
with wild, bald eagle juice
and American facial hair.
This company was pretty
much breed and born
at the difficult times of the recession.
Cragar wheels was a company, that actually
wasn't even involved in making
wheels until the late '50s.
Cragar was ultimately making
Ford Model A manifolds
and anything that had to do with airplanes
because back in the day,
they just really didn't know
what else to do.
Crane teamed up with Harlan Fengler,
to actually partner the
company to get involved
in the after market automotive scene.
But because of how everything worked out,
Crane really just wanted to get involved
in whatever they could.
What does Cragar stand for?
Well that's pretty
simple if you break down
the first three letters of
both his first and last name.
You get Cragar.
Because Cragar had a
small fortune behind him,
which if you didn't know,
was founded on a publishing company.
Cragar was able to buy the
tools, patterns, and machinery
that they needed to get involved
in making any sort of, well
technical, automotive,
or aerospace products
you can possibly imagine.
Cragar was doing well
but they weren't doing that well.
They actually weren't doing well enough
to survive The Great Depression.
And in 1932, the Cragar
name ultimately collapsed
and there was no light
in sight for the company.
But it didn't take long because in 1933,
George Wight from Bell Auto Parts
decided to purchase the Cragar name.
Wight was a grizzly,
little man that made parts
and flipped parts out of junk yards
to sell them to fuel his
racing pedigree and--
(clears through)
I got beer stuck in my throat.
There's just nothing quite like
12 flowing ounces of America
in every sip or it's my acid reflux.
I can't decide what it is.
Might be both.
Now this was all happening
in Southern California
which is where a lot of the
original racing pedigree
was founded on.
But George Wight had
something that Cragar didn't.
Finding absolutely amazing talent.
You see because Cragar just
tried to make products,
Wight went out there
and tried to find people
that could explode this brand
into something completely different.
And before you knew it,
they were the hot new kids on the block.
They had famous actors, famous musicians,
favorite fabricators and mechanics,
and race car drivers,
all coming to Bell Auto Parts
because of the talent
that Wight was finding
to produce all of these high end parts.
And the Bell Auto Parts
name began to grow.
Because of how everything
worked back in the day,
it was all word of mouth.
If you have all the famous
people and all the rich people
and all the people that know
how to drive, in one place,
you're gonna do pretty good for yourself.
And for the most part, the
Cragar name sat on the sidelines.
They continued to be
influenced by Bell Auto Parts
but for the most part,
the purchase was originally
for the patterns and machinery.
It really had nothing to do with the name
or why, you know, they
were doing anything.
Just like anything else,
you don't know that you need something
until you don't have it anymore.
And until George Wight
ultimately passed away in 1943,
the Cragar name didn't
see a whole lot of light.
In fact, it wasn't until 1945,
that the Cragar name really
started to get back involved
with a man named Roy Richter.
Now Roy was, when he was young,
a scrawny redhead that
just wanted to get involved
in everything racing oriented.
But this was something
that Roy was very good at.
He was good at being a perfectionist.
In fact, he was considered
one of the best fabricators at the time.
When Bell Auto Parts picked
him up for fabricating parts
and machinery from the Cragar partnership,
Roy just began to take
off and he was synonymous
with some of the best work
you could possibly get
in Southern California.
And to a lot of people,
Roy is the reason that Bell and Cragar
continued to be a name
throughout the difficult times
of the '40s and into the '50s.
It wasn't until, ultimately
passing of Wight,
that Roy decided that he
wanted to take on a lease
of the Cragar name and
the Bell Auto Parts name,
which had gone through ups and downs
and everything in between.
And then something
interesting happened in 1945.
We won the war
which is weird.
You didn't know winning the war
would create some sort of
internal growth of business
and prideful nationwide excitement,
and being American,
and drinking Busch Light.
Talking about V8s and
racing cars in circles
and not stopping and (mumbles)
Talking about other things, like
having fast cars and pretty women
because America.
(metal banging)
Who's even hitting out
there if it's not you?
(metal banging)
- [Man] Really inconsistent.
Oh, god.
(laughs)
So you see, the automotive community
had grown exponentially
after the World War II.
Americans wanted something to do
with all of their pastime
and being freedom.
- Yeah.
- Being freedom and Americanized
and all that sort of good stuff,
and they thought, what else to do besides
make fast cars that go in a straight line.
You had infamous names
like Vic Edelbrock, Sr.
Phil Weiand, Ed Iskenderian,
Stu Hilborn, Phil Remington
come out of the social
work and start pushing
everything that had to
do with after market,
well, car stuff.
You see, back in the day,
when you wanted after market wheels,
there was like two
options and both of them
really weren't that fun
or good at the time.
A lot of people preferred to
just cut their steel wheels,
flip the face, and then
weld them back together
before putting them back on the car
so you can get a deep lip.
But then these people would paint them,
they'd pinstripe them,
they'd plate them in chrome
and that's how you got a
lot of after market wheels
back in the day.
Back in the time, Roy wanted
to have something cooler
and they thought, "Well if
anybody can do it, it's them."
and they decided involved
using the Cragar wheel name.
I hate to say it but sorry tuner guys.
Muscle car guys came out with
chrome lips before you did.
In fact, they liked lipped
wheels before, pretty much,
any tuner even thought of it.
In 1964, the most infamous
wheels to ever hit
the domestic market
officially came out, the S/S.
Now if you didn't know what the S/S is,
or you've been living under a rock.
The S/S is realistically,
probably the most infamous
wheel ever, like ever.
Like domestic, internationally,
everything in between
whether you live in Europe,
whether you live in America,
whether you live in Australia, or Canada
which is like 90% of our viewers,
it was the most popular thing
you could buy for wheels.
In fact, going under the Cragar name,
Roy Richter, all he wanted to do was
to make good wheels that were
affordable and looked nice.
Because of the market
that they were hitting in the price point,
they were hitting at the same time,
they hit a goldmine.
They continued to be, probably,
the most successful wheel to date.
The S/S is considered one of
the most duplicated wheels
of all time.
It's been considered one of the most
successful wheels of all time
and probably, the single, biggest reason
that anybody knows of domestic wheels
back in the '60s, '70s, and '80s
of the United States of America.
Back in the day, if you
didn't have Cragars,
you were just lame.
Now what made this wheel different
from other people making
after market wheels
was the fact that they lasted a long time.
The five spokes, were
actually, clipped together
to the barrel in a different
way then anybody else
had ever done. You see, back in the day,
they used screws and bolts
and things like that,
that were heavy and
completely inconsistent
with keeping strength rigidity
in an after market wheel.
What the Cragar S/S managed to do
was to make the clip-based
system, essentially,
a really easy way to
shave a lot of weight,
maintain rotational mass,
and to be a safe wheel.
There were times where
the first set of wheels
that went out, had very
small imperfections
that he wanted to take
back from his friends
so that he could fix it,
so it was a perfect wheel.
We're talking about aesthetic scratches
that this guy didn't wanna have.
That's how particular Roy was
with the Cragar S/S wheel.
In fact, he got mad at his
own team for using them
for high speed drag racing
because, ultimately, what Roy says,
that was not their intended purpose.
For a long time, Roy
continued to battle and fight
and essentially, continue to be successful
but push away from what the
wheels weren't meant to do
for a long time.
It became clear that Cragar
needed to come out with a wheel
that was meant for high speed racing.
It wasn't until they got
into the Mag division
of their U.S. wheels, that
they really started to do that.
But Cragar wheels is pretty much known,
for the one and only, infamous S/S.
From there, Cragar develops
the wheels that would go on
one of the fastest vehicles to
hit almost 666 miles an hour,
the Blue Thunderbolt, the Blue Flame.
Who comes up with these names?
Cragar founded the Five-Second club
and created a second Five-Second club
because Cragar decided
that if there's gonna be
anybody at the forefront
of making fast cars,
they wanted their wheels to be on it.
In 1971, Cragar was purchased
by Wynn Oil Company.
By 1972, they were already
being awarded one of the
manufacturer award of the year
for making some of the best products
you could buy at the time.
It wasn't until 1983, that
Roy Richter, ultimately,
passed away, which left the company in,
somewhat of a disarray.
Cragar continued to make wheels
and continued to try and push
the name as much as possible.
But between the '80s and now,
not a whole lot has happened
with the Cragar name.
They were ultimately
purchased By Carlstar in 2014
and rebranded shortly after.
In terms of new design, they
really don't have a whole lot
and they realistically,
won't have a whole lot
because the Cragar name isn't
associated with anything new.
It's associated with
the time that has passed
and a company that no longer exists.
And while there are people that
run the Cragar wheel brand,
they do it for nostalgia and
probably not to push the style
and what makes new wheels cool.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There are gonna be people that are gonna
continue to run the Cragar wheel
because it is a cool wheel.
But it's unfortunate, that there probably
won't be a company like
Cragar to come across
for quite a long time.
That's everything that we have
on the Crager wheel history.
We hope you guys enjoyed.
Be sure to subscribe and of course,
we're doing another giveaway.
We're gonna be giving away a t-shirt
and a banner on top of the
one we gave away last week.
All you have to do is drop
a comment on your dream car.
You have to drop a comment
on what your dream car is
and if you wanna tell us
what to talk about next week,
be happy to do so.
Our last weeks winner, Mario's
gonna get me right now,
is gonna be going out to, let's see here.
I'm just gonna go, I don't like iPhones.
Its kinda weird.
The next winner of this
weeks giveaway, goes out to
Tito Lopez.
Tito Lopez, congratulations on winning.
You wanna email us at
shop@fitmentindustries.com
let us know, what you like
to get for a shirt size.
We'll be sure to hook you up.
I would throw this phone
but it would probably break.
I'm Alan from Fitment Industries.
We'll see you later.
Peace.
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