Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Sepia Saturday 101

Alan picked a Vintage Chevrolet as this week's theme.  I think we all admire old cars, and some are more admired than others, but what, I thought, of the designers and the builders of these objects of desire - who were they.  Are they too to be considered as admired and wanted as what they gave the world.

As we started with the Chevrolet, why not start with the man who gave it his name.






















He was a Swiss, and later American, Driver and Designer for Buick, before collaborating with William Crapo Durant to found Chevrolet Motors  




Chevrolet in a Buick that he designed


Other big names in the infant car industry include, and they appear in no particular order, include;

 Armand Puegeot
 Benz Velo
 Carl Benz
Duryea Brothers of Springfield 
 Emil Jellinek-Mercedes
 Frederick Lanchester - English Engineer - one of the big three in British car design
 George B. Selden Patent lawyer and Inventor early patent for automobile
Gottlieb Daimler
Henry Ford
Panhard-Levasson
Duryea Patent

William Maybach
And, this one I include because I just love the graphics.


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15 comments:

  1. mary17 November 2011 at 22:04

    A very interesting approach here. I have never really thought about anyone other than Ford for some reason. Now I want to know more about these folks.

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  2. Tattered and Lost18 November 2011 at 08:38

    Fascinating post looking at some of the men who shaped the history of the world.

    Funny that my word verification is subru. One letter "a" thrown in there and we'd be needing a photo of the Subaru company.

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  3. Postcardy18 November 2011 at 11:58

    I love the graphics on the last one too. For some reason, I have a hard time thinking of Chevrolet as a man and not a car. I was surprised that he first designed Buicks.

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  4. Bob Scotney18 November 2011 at 15:46

    Mike, you've set me a task for Saturday night - I've heard of these fellows but want to know more.

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  5. Liz Stratton18 November 2011 at 16:04

    The men behind the machines - great story! One thing I was surprised by recently was the number of small automobile manufacturers in the early 1900s. Most of these start-ups failed and quite a few local ones ultimately became automobile dealers. Some of the dealers are still around today. You have inspired me to dig deeper - great post.

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  6. Unknown18 November 2011 at 16:41

    Bob,

    Start with Wikipedia - I do quite often

    Mike

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  7. North County Film Club18 November 2011 at 19:19

    wonderful approach to the subject. So funny to see Chevrolet in the Buick.
    Also - poor Crapo - what a name he had to contend with all his life.
    Nancy Javier
    http://ladiesofthegrove.blogspot.com/

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  8. Anonymous18 November 2011 at 20:35

    Imaginative interpretaion - I just had to go to
    Wikipedia and look up Peter
    Wheeler ;-) Jo

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  9. Christine H.18 November 2011 at 22:11

    It's so fun to see the pictures of all of these old inventors. Thanks for posting them.

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  10. Marilyn & Jeff19 November 2011 at 07:45

    Your post is so well done, great research here.

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  11. Unknown19 November 2011 at 15:38

    A good journey through the times....All the designers appear so serious except for Henry Ford who seems to be looking ahead...I don't know that I ever thought about Chvrolet being named for a person....we have owned lots of Chevy's over the years.

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  12. Alan Burnett19 November 2011 at 16:20

    A fascinating collection : one looks at the selection of faces, looking for some common feature, something that would mark them all out as innovators (I suppose the dot-com innovators of their day) but I see none. But the smell of petrol rises unmistakably from your post.

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  13. Anonymous20 November 2011 at 00:49

    Amazing, we have an ancestor named George Selden. Makes you wonder...

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  14. Sheila @ A Postcard a Day20 November 2011 at 10:14

    I hadn't realised how many cars were named after people: Monsieur Peugeot, Herr Daimler.

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  15. Bruno Laliberté22 November 2011 at 22:07

    nice to see the man behind the wheel.
    ;)~
    HUGZ

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