Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chevrolet Founder Louis Chevrolet “Busted” in Switzerland

100th Anniversary Bust

To honor the legacy of one of its most celebrated sons, the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds is installing a giant, polished-steel bust of Chevrolet founder Louis-Joseph Chevrolet. Commissioned by the company bearing ol' Louis's name to commemorate the brand's centennial, the winning sculpture was selected from four entries by an international jury. The proposal, submitted by 37-year-old Geneva-based artist Christian Gonzenbach, is a 16.4-foot-high metallic rendering of Chevrolet's likeness that will remain on permanent display in the village's centrally located Parc de l'Ouest.

Hard as it may be to believe, the above image is not real; it's a "digitally altered" rendering of the intended installationLouis Chevrolet made possible through modern technology.

Gonzenbach says he is "thrilled to have the opportunity to artistically express the pioneering spirit of 100 years of Chevrolet and carry forward the dynamism that Louis Chevrolet embodied throughout his life."

Curiously, this is not the first time the likeness of Louis-Joseph Chevrolet has been cast in metal; motorsports fans will recall the bronze bust of Chevrolet's co-founder and namesake that sits at the entrance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Although Louis never won the celebrated race, he did play a key role in the engineering and construction of the car that his brother Gaston drove to a first-place finish in 1920.

Born in Switzerland in 1878, Chevrolet immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. While racing for Buick, he met William C. Durant, who would be instrumental in founding the Chevrolet Motor Company after Durant was ousted from GM.  Chevrolet died from complications caused by a leg amputation at the age of 62 on June 6, 1941, in Detroit, Michigan, and is buried in Indianapolis, Indiana.



from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com




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