Archive for category Car History
History of Hummer
Posted by in Car History, Hummer on October 14, 2011
All the Hummer cars originate from a military vehicle – the M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). Since HMMWV is quite of a hassle to pronounce, the soldiers began to call their vehicles Humvee’s. When AM General began to produce similar cars for the civilian market, they used the name Hummer. Today, Hummer is a protected name owned by General Motors. AM General sold the name to General Motors in 1999, but continued to manufacture the Hummer, while General Motors became responsible for selling the vehicles on the market.
The military M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles were developed to replace jeeps and lighter trucks. As early as the 1970′s, the jeeps and lighter trucks had begun to show signs of inadequacy during military missions in rough terrain and a new and improved type of vehicle was much sought after. In 1979, the U.S. Military lay out the requirements for a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, and in 1980 the first prototype was finished. The prototype was called M998 and had been produced by AM General. The U.S. Military liked the prototype and AM General begun to produce a series of different High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle prototypes. Eventually, the U.S. Military ordered 55,000 HMMWV’s from AM General. Today, you will find more than 15 different types of Humvees’ in the United States armed forces. They are used a cargo carriers, troop carriers, ambulances, automatic weapons platforms, missile carriers, surface-to-air missile platforms and much more. Fording 0.762 meters is possible with a standard Humvee, and with a deep-water fording kit you can ford up to 1.5 meters.
The first civilian High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, the Hummer, entered the market in 1991 and soon grew immensely popular. It was initially promoted by a race in 1990 where two Hummers traversed the rough terrain between London, UK and Beijing, China. A majority of the trip took place on the coarse roads of central Soviet Union. The drive was broadcasted in the United States, and the Hummer received a lot of publicity before even being launched. One of the first civilian owners of a Hummer was Arnold Schwarzenegger, which naturally also gave the vehicle additional publicity. What made the Humvee’s really famous was however the 1991 Operation: Desert Storm in the Middle East. During this war, soldiers driving the various Humvee’s were frequently seen on the news in America. Read the rest of this entry »
The History of Chevrolet, An American Product
Posted by in Car History, Chevrolet on July 13, 2011
Few products have come to symbolize the American lifestyle like the Chevrolet automobile. In the 1950s, singer Dina Shore urged us to “See the USA, in your Chevrolet”, while Don McLean’s despondent teenager drove his “Chevy to the levy” in McLean’s 1971 classic hit, “American Pie”. While Americans’ love affair with Chevrolet vehicles cannot be denied, it should be noted that Chevrolet cars and trucks are manufactured throughout the world, and have been since 1923. In that year, Chevrolet’s parent company, General Motors, opened its first European assembly plant in Copenhagen, Denmark. Americans should know that Chevrolets are just as popular on the streets of Manila and Sao Paulo, as they are on the freeways of Los Angeles or the byways of Albuquerque.
LOUIS CHEVROLET
Any discussion of Chevrolet history must begin with the vehicle’s founder and namesake, Louis Chevrolet. Chevrolet, of French descent, was born the son of a watchmaker in Switzerland in 1878. Young Chevrolet cared little for school, preferring to tinker with all things mechanical. As a young man, Chevrolet repaired and raced bicycles, developing a local reputation as a competitive racer. As Chevrolet honed his mechanical skills, his interest in bicycle racing waned in favor of automobile racing, a sport then in its infancy. After working as a mechanic in Paris, and then in Montreal, Chevrolet arrived in New York City in 1900. Chevrolet was eventually hired as a race car driver by Fiat, and he began to achieve an impressive number of victories on the racing circuit. Chevrolet’s reputation as a race car driver continued to grow, and for a short time he held the world’s land speed record of 119 miles per hour.
BIRTH OF AN ICON
A series of victories with the Fiat racing team catapulted Louis Chevrolet to celebrity status in America, capturing the attention of William C. “Billy” Durant, a successful horse drawn carriage manufacturer and founder of General Motors. Durant hired Chevrolet as lead race car driver to promote a new line of motor cars called Buicks, and Chevrolet, although often injured in crashes, continued to win races.
Automobile manufacturing was considered a risky investment in the early years of the twentieth century, and in 1910, Durant, over extended and unable to obtain credit, was ousted from his management position at General Motors. Free to pursue other endeavors, he teamed with Louis Chevrolet, William Little, and his son-in-law, Edwin Campbell to form the Chevrolet Motor Company, in November of 1911. The company was so named in order to capitalize upon the well known name of Louis Chevrolet. The Chevrolet automobile they designed and built was an expensive 6-cylinder luxury vehicle, intended to reflect the speed and European elegance associated with the name Chevrolet. The Chevrolet Series C Classic Six automobile was capable of speeds of up to 65 mph – a dizzying speed in those days. Louis Chevrolet was pleased with the sleek, fast, but expensive vehicle built on European design. Billy Durant, however, had different plans for the Chevrolet. Read the rest of this entry »