From what I have gathered- FRONTENAC Championship Race Team and then FRONTY (Frontenac) Speed Equipment. For those that really want to know. It gets a bit confusing but they are two separate entities. Louis Chevrolet founded in 1914 the FRONTENAC Motor Company and also ran the FRONTENAC race team composed of FRONTENAC designed cars and engines, including the 1920 Indy 500 winner (driven by his brother Gaston) and 1921 Tommy Milton Indy 500 Winner. Soon after the Company went bankrupt. At this point the Frontenac name was revived -headed up by Arthur- and began producing cylinder heads for souped up Model Ts (Fronty Fords). Heres a brief synopsis of this Frontenac and Fronty Ford history- Louis Chevrolet -"Chevrolet became a successful independent designer of racecars. He founded the Frontenac Motor Company in 1914 and built four racecars. All three Chevrolet brothers entered the 1916 Indiana 500 classic, but none of his Frontenacs finished the race. In 1915, Chevrolet constructed a new car, the Cornelian, for the Blood Brothers Machine Company. He had begun to work with alloys instead of steel. He emphasized the importance of better power-to-weight ratios, with a small four-cylinder vehicle, weighing less than 1,000 pounds. From 1916 to 1919 most industrial countries were involved with the production of materials to support the war in Europe. Chevrolet began to experiment with airplane engines. He also served as vice president and chief engineer for American Motors. After the war ended, Chevrolet returned to the racing business. He nearly caused a disaster for himself and his racers when he picked up his new vanadium steel steering arms before they had been heat-treated. All of the steering arms failed except the one on the car driven by his brother, Gaston. His 1920 straight eight-cylinder Frontenac won the Indianapolis race with Gaston at the wheel. This was the first American-built car to win a race at the Indianapolis Derby since 1912. American racing fans went wild. Chevrolet continued to race until his younger brother, Gaston, was killed in a Los Angeles race in November 1920. Another Chevrolet-designed car, a Monroe-Frontenac, driven by Tommy Milton, won the Indianapolis race in 1921. Soon after this, the Frontenac Motor Company failed and C. W. VanRanst, a former Duesenberg engineer, convinced the Chevrolet brothers to build and sell special cylinder heads for souped-up Model-T Fords, called Fronty-Fords. At their peak, they turned out sixty heads a day. When the Model A came out, the Chevrolet brothers were put out of business. Chevrolet was not an astute businessman. In addition to being unable to benefit from the impressive growth of the Chevrolet Motor Company and its subsequent integration with General Motors, he also lost a large amount of money in his attempt to produce a line of Frontenac passenger cars. Allan A. Ryan and the Stutz Motorcar Company invested one million dollars to produce a new line of Frontenac passenger cars as part of the Stutz line. The depression of 1922 cut short production and Chevrolet had to assume all the debt acquired by Ryans Frontenanc Corporation of Delaware. However, he held the U.S. patent for inventing the flexible steering wheel and was the first manufacturer to install four-wheel brakes on a car. He also had a brief involvement with Albert Champion, who founded the Champion and AC spark plug empires. Instead of making a fortune with Champion, the two men had a monumental argument over a personal matter which led to a physical altercation. Although automobiles were his enduring passion, Chevrolet had other interests as well. He experimented with speedboat racing in 1925, and won a regatta in Miami, Florida. He also enjoyed trapshooting and golf, at which he won many amateur tournaments. Read more: answers/topic/louis-chevrolet#ixzz314fCFRfg"
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 19:43:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015