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The image of a pioneering carmaker is often that of Henry Ford, someone whose main goal was to be a build cars. These 8 came to it in a more roundabout way.
Lamborghini, Strong Like Tractor
Ferruccio Lamborghini, an Italian farm tractor and equipment manufacturer, founded Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.p.A. in 1963 due to largely to his frustrations in getting his Ferrari GTO properly serviced by the Ferrari factory . The company gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the
Studebaker, Thomas Edison & An Electric Vehicle
The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company entered the automobile market with an electric car in 1902. Thomas Edison purchased the second electric car produced by Studebaker. Gasoline powered models arrived in 1904 as Studebaker offered a full line of horse drawn and self-propelled vehicles until 1920.
The Dodge Brothers and the Chrysler Buy Out
Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company by brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in 1900, Dodge was originally a supplier of parts and assemblies for Detroit-based automakers, including Ford, and began building complete automobiles in 1915, predating the founding of Chrysler Corporation. The Dodge brothers died during an influence epidemic in 1920 and the company was sold to Dillon, Read & Co. in 1925 before being sold to Chrysler in 1928.
After WWII, Japan was in ruins. Soichiro Honda and a staff of 12 men built and sold improvised motorized bicycles, using a supply of two-stroke 50 cc Tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines, out of a tiny shack. When the engines ran out, Honda began building their own copy of the Tohatsu engine, and supplying these to customers to attach their bicycles. This was the Honda Model A, nicknamed the Bata Bata for the sound the engine made.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
BMW, the Versailles Treaty, and a British Clone
BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG)
The car that launched BMW on the road to automobile production was the Dixi, a designed based on the small, reliable Austin 7, the design of which was which was licensed from the Austin Motor Company in England.
The Heartbeat of Switzerland? The European Roots of Chevrolet
His racing career continued as he drove for Buick, becoming a friend and associate of Buick owner William C. Durant, founder of General Motors. With little in the way of formal education, Chevrolet learned car design while working for Buick. In 1911, Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company
Volkswagen Before WWII and After
In 1937 Volkswagen
The building of the new factory started 26 May 1938 in the new town of KdF-Stadt (modern-day Wolfsburg), which had been purpose-built for the factory workers.[10] This factory had only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in 1939. None were actually delivered to any holder of the completed saving stamp books, though one Type 1 Cabriolet was presented to Hitler on his 50th birthday.
Volkswagen
Peugeot Grinder
car company and bike company parted ways in 1926.
