The Bow Tie Brothers
Louis, Gaston and Arthur Chevrolet
Louis teamed up with William Crapo Durant to form the Chevrolet Company in 1911. Louis and Willy had a falling out in 1915 and Durant sold his shares in the company. With some interesting money machinations, Durant used his funds to eventually buy the controlling shares of General Motors, the company he had lost a few years before. Then in 1917 Durant bought out Chevrolet and folded the name into his General Motors company. Louis took his money and got into the auto racing business, but went broke by the time of the 1929 stock market crash. Needing a job, Louis ended up as a line mechanic in a Chevrolet factory. Although he was a mechanic first, it must have been a humiliating experience.
What became of the other two brothers whose name became a cultural icon? Gaston Chevrolet first raced in the 1919 Indy 500 and came in 10th place. But it turned out that 1920 was Gaston’s year – sort of. He won the 1920 Indy 500 with an average speed of 86.63-mph – a very fast speed for the day. Later that year, Gaston was killed in a race at the very dangerous, one-mile board track in Beverly Hills, California. Ironically, because of the points structure at the time, Gaston posthumously won the AAA National Championship. He was only 28-years old.
Arthur Chevrolet didn’t fare too well either. You could say that “racing” was definitely in the family. Arthur raced at the first Indy 500 in 1911 and again in 1916. Louis, Gaston, and Arthur got into the race car business in 1916 when they formed the Frontenac Motor Corporation. The enterprise had some initial success but lost its edge after WW I and was never able to be competitive again because of a lack of funding. Arthur had one more shot at the Indy 500 in 1920 and was seriously injured in a crash, ending his racing career.
But Arthur was no dummy. In 1928 he filed for a U.S. Patent for his “Overhead Valve Engine” and was awarded the patent on January 21, 1930. In 1929 Louis and Arthur started the Chevrolet Brothers Aircraft Company with their own, “Chevrolair” engine design. The company never took off and was taken over by their investors. Arthur and Louis took one more shot in the racing world by helping to develop the Sprit car. That was pretty much it for Arthur, but you can’t say they were quitters! In 1946, with Louis and Gaston gone, and broke at the age of 61, he committed suicide.
Previously, the grave of Arthur Chevrolet, who died in 1946, lacked a headstone. Louis Chevrolet died in 1941 and their brother, Gaston Chevrolet, died in 1920 in a race in California just months after winning the Indianapolis 500. The Chevrolet brothers, all of whom raced, were responsible for a combined eight Indy 500 starts between 1911 and 1920.
In honor of the 100th birthday of Chevrolet, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Chevrolet and Indianapolis businessman David Ring have arranged to properly mark the grave of Arthur Chevrolet, brother of Chevrolet co-founder Louis Chevrolet.
The Chevrolet brothers are buried in neighboring plots in Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery near downtown Indianapolis.
To claim this virtual cache you have two choices.
- Post a picture of you standing behind the graves of the Chevrolet Brothers. Or
- Give me the name of the person buried directly behind the Chevrolet Brother and the person buried to the right of the Chevrolet brother if you are facing the brothers grave stones.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.