All you need to know about Chevrolet...
Born: 1911
Nationality: American
To get back into the auto business, ousted General Motors founder William Durant set up a new company with Swiss-born racing driver Louis Chevrolet, previously his chauffeur. Chevrolet designed a highly-specified (electric lights and windscreen) 6-cylinder car which went on sale in 1912 as the Classic Six.
But Durant wanted a car to compete against Henry Ford's Model T. In 1914 he produced the smaller Series H, followed by the 490, its price being $490. By 1917 Chevrolet achieved sales of 100,000.
In 1925 Chevrolet introduced a new model that effectively killed the Model T, and in 1927 outsold Ford for the first time, exceeding one million units. So started a 55-year reign as top-selling US marque in every year except four.
Chevrolet has always "given more for the money" and in 1929 came up with its first 6-cylinder car, sold at the same price as competitors' 4-cylinder models. Through the 1930s the brand pioneered the first articulated brake shoes, the first independent front suspension, and the first station wagon - the Suburban Carryall of 1935.
In the second World War Chevrolet diversified into anti-aircraft guns and aircraft engines. Car production restarted in 1946. It wasn't until 1949 that two new styles were launched - Fleetline, which in the 1960s would have been termed a "fastback", and the Styleline sedan.
Chevrolet entered the 1950s offering a automatic transmission in a low-priced car. The Bel Air name was introduced in 1950, as a two-door hardtop. The first US production car with a fibreglass body - the Corvette, an icon in the making - was introduced in 1953. The arrival of the Chevy small-block V8 in 1955 was a milestone, as was the Bel Air Nomad station wagon.
The 1957 Bel Air, with fins and a fuel-injected V8 with the macho name of Ramjet, is a collector's most prized American car.
In 1958 a new large model, the Impala, was introduced. Until the arrival of the Caprice six years later, it was one of the nation's favourite cars, offering a "Cadillac look for a Chevrolet price". The pickup line was restyled in 1959, with the El Camino which gave an agricultural genre the looks, comfort and power of a car.
Through the 1960s Chevrolet provided cars that became famous or notorious, the latter exemplified by the 1960 Corvair, a rear-engined car that proved to have handling problems and led to the rise of consumer attorney Ralph Nader. His 1965 book, Unsafe At Any Speed, and his class-action lawsuits on behalf of Corvair owners who had driven in unplanned directions, almost brought GM to its knees.
In line with the prevailing ethos, Chevy also went the "compact" route with the 1963 Chevy II Nova. At the other end of the spectrum, the Corvette Sting Ray of 1963 made that model a really desirable sporty car. The company's answer to the Ford Mustang "pony" car was the Camaro, responsible for 10 per cent of the 2.2 million Chevys sold in 1967. Chevrolet went through the 1970s as the quintessential "all-American" carmaker, shifting with the times by downsizing some vehicles and introducing "European-sized" cars like the Chevette. At the end of the decade, the 100 millionth Chevy was built, a Monza.
America's best-seller through the mid-1980s was the Cavalier, again European-sized, with the Blazer SUV the best-selling model of its segment. The 1990s began with the Corvette breaking three world speed and endurance records, the Camaro celebrating its 25th anniversary, and a new generation V8 engine. The Corvette reached its fifth generation, and the marque opened the new millennium by reviving the Malibu.
Chevrolet was never the hit in Europe that it was in the US, but the cachet of a brand that means reliability and value for money is being exported to eastern Europe where GM Daewoos are badged as Chevrolets, as they are also in a revival of the marque in South Africa.
Best Car: Depending on where you're coming from, the 1957 Bel Air (pictured), or the 1982 Camaro Z28.
Worst Car: A 1923 model with a revolutionary copper-finned air-cooled engine, which caused the first total recall in automotive history.
Weirdest Car: Maybe the 1955 L'Universelle concept delivery van, which inspired the brand's first passenger "minivan" five years later. ... - Brian Byrne