News and Events: Victor M. Gauvreau

Antique Automobile Club of America
Antique Automobile
March-April 1972

Victor M. Gauvreau passed away recently at the age of 83 at the Tuscon Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona. He helped design the first Chevrolet and Dodge automobiles in 1911 and 1913.

Born in France, he came to the United States in 1908 after graduating from the French National School of Arts and Crafts. With his good friend Louis Chevrolet, famed racing driver in his day, Gauvreau designed the first Chevrolet automobile. In 1913, after becoming assistant chief engineer, he helped design the first Dodge. He also worked for Buick in Flint, Michigan. Sometime later, he introduced and taught automotive engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Gauvreau opened a consulting and design engineering firm in 1923 and during World War II he built the prototype of the fuel injector used in B 29 aircraft.

He retired to Tucson in 1950 and pursued his hobby of oil painting—creating more than 300 paintings. He is survived by a son, Col. David G. Gauvreau, Colorado Springs, Colorado; a daughter, Mrs. Laura Aronson, Grosse Point, Michigan; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.