Frontenac

The Frontenac was designed by noted engineer Cornelius Van Ranst (whose talents would later contribute greatly to the Cord L 29) and equally noted Engineer/driver Louis Chevrolet- who had been building race cars under the Frontenac name since 1916. It was a remarkably advance 4 cylinder motorcar with single overhead cam, thermosyphon cooling, 4 wheel brakes, and front and rear bumpers constructed as an integral part of the frame. The wheelbase was 120 inches and developed horsepower was 60, According to Chevrolet the prototype reached speeds of 75 MPH in track testing in the late fall of 1921. The Frontenac Motor Company was incorporated soon after for $1 Million, and the former Empire factory was secured for manufacture.  Initially the Frontenac venture had represented an alliance of Allan A Ryan, who was manipulating Stutz stock in New York City, William M Thompson who was President of Stutz, and Louis Chevrolet.  But Ryan was in the midst of engineering his infamous corner on Stutz stock, and within 8 months he was broke.

The Indianapolis end of the alliance quickly reorganized with Thompson making pointed mention that the new plans did not include any “New York men” in the financial scheme. Louis Chevrolet was the companies new President.  The Frontenac made its official debut at the Indianapolis 500 in May of 1922. Unfortunately the economic climate at the time resulted in this advanced motorcar never reaching the production phase, with the company filing for bankruptcy one year later. There was another Frontenac motorcar that emerged shortly thereafter, this one designed entirely by Louis Chevrolet, on an 140” chassis with an 80 HP single sleeve valve 8 cylinder engine (based on Argyll principles) to which Chevrolet had acquired the option to build.  Unfortunately Chevrolet was unable to acquire financing for the venture prior to his option expiring, so this car too was built only as a prototype. Interestingly at the same time Frontenac also produced and export version called the Anahuac. Of which 4 examples are known to have been produced.