Buick:
The Buick Motor Company of Detroit was purchased and production moved to Flint Michigan, by James Whiting, president of the Flint Wagon Works, in the fall of 1903. Buick, at that time was an engine only manufacturing concern. Founder David Dunbar Buick remained in charge of day-to-day operations. Buick had a strong overhead-valve engine but not much else. When Walter Marr (former Buick engine manager) returned in April 1904, he persuaded Whiting to build automobiles. The first Flint Buick car was built in June of 1904, but by September, the company was almost bankrupt. Whiting, knew he needed help, so he turned to Durant. In 1904, Durant, only 42, was semi-retired from the carriage industry and playing the stock market in New York. Like most carriage leaders, he was said to be no fan of automobiles. There have been many stories about how Whiting and Durant’s friends convinced Durant to take interest in the ailing Buick Motor Car Company, but are to numerous to cover here. Suffice to say, it was accomplished. Now that Durant was enthusiastic about the product, he needed to find out how serious the stockholders were about placing the business on a sound financial footing. There was money in Flint, but it now needed to be invested in the new business in town. Buick was important to the city’s economy and it could not survive under-capitalized and heavily in debt. Under Durant’s prodding, Buick’s stockholders agreed to increase the capital stock to $300,000 on November 1, 1904, and to raise it again to $500,000 on Nov. 19. With the financial details agreed upon, finally the decision was made. On November 1, 1904, Durant was elected to the Buick board. He was now in charge. Buick produced only 37 cars in 1904. With fewer than 40 Buicks under the company’s belt, Durant shipped a car and a chassis to the New York Auto Show of January 1905 and within a few days had accepted orders for 1,100 Buicks. To Durant, the Buick, like his first road cart, was a “self seller” – a product so good it could sell itself. David Buick and Walter Marr had produced an automobile that was not only mechanically and cosmetically pleasing, but could navigate mud and steep hills like no other automobile he had ever seen. Durant had backed a vehicle with a unique attribute, a strong valve-in-head engine. Durant immediately focused on engine performance as Buick’s claim to fame. General Motors celebrates its birth date as September 16, 1908, when the company was incorporated – but the real beginning of GM was November 1, 1904, when Billy Durant agreed to take control of Buick. This was the spark. Once Durant held control of Buick, the great success story was launched.
General Motors is born:
In 1908, after just four years of making Buicks, he had the best-selling car in the business. The carriage king had become the auto genius. However, Durant from his years in the carriage business, knew that if he were to prevail as the auto leader he needed many different types of vehicles to cater to different incomes and tastes. Thus, in 1908, he approached J. P. Morgan for financing to create a huge International Motors Company. Durant’s sought a loan to purchase the small but growing Ford Motor Company. A timid Morgan was willing to provide only limited financing, so Durant changed the name to the more humble General Motors. General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908 and acquired both Buick and Oldsmobile that year. In 1909, GM acquired Cadillac, Oakland, Rainer, Cartercar, Elmore, Welch, Reliance Truck, Rapid Truck, and Randolph Truck, along with 19 other automobile parts suppliers. Reliance, Rapid, and Randolph would be merged shortly to form the GMC Truck Division. By 1911, however, General Motors was losing money, prompting a group of Boston stockholders to oust Durant from leadership at General Motors. Thinking that the losses were due to Durant’s risk-taking brashness, they tried to run the company more cautiously.
Chevrolet:
Durant, was not done, not done by far. On November 3rd, 1911 Chevrolet was born, with capital and expertise he mustered from friends. When Chevrolet came into existence, it was a complex and convoluted landscape of small enterprises. Much work had began, even before the actual and official date mentioned above. Mr. Durant was busy during the month of August 1911 asking old Flint friend and business acquaintances for money to invest in the new Chevrolet company. The Flint Wagon Works, was offered to Durant in exchange for stock. The formal proposition was made to Durant September 13, 1911, the wagon works would be used to produce the “Little Four” car, a Detroit modified proto type, most likely of a Whiting Runabout, it would eventually become a Chevrolet. August 1911 the Mason Motor Co. was established to build Chevrolet engines, in the same Flint Michigan plant that had been building the Whiting engines. In the meanwhile in Detroit, Durant was busy forming some type of relationship with his former racing acquaintance from Buick, Louis Chevrolet, the company’s namesake. The exact relationship of Chevrolet and Durant, is open to speculation, from either partner to employee. However, what we do know is from that relationship, the Chevrolet Classic Six was born. Actual production of the Classic Six did not began until 1913, and by then Durant had also created the “Little Six“, in Flint. The solution would be a compromise design, of the two cars, best features keeping selling price in mind. This car would become the 1914 Chevrolet Light Six, Series L for 1914, when the Little Four would become the Chevrolet Four Series H. Chevy was off and running. Louis Chevrolet, unhappy with the demise of his dream car the Classic Six, soon departed the company.
The company soon became very profitable. Durant then used the Chevrolet profits and his own GM stock, along with a DuPont loan to leverage controlling interest in General Motors. Durant’s second controlling stint at GM (1916 to 1920), resulted in still another dismissal, forced out by Pierre DuPont in 1920. Rumor indicates that Durant had become more interested in the stock market plays then in managing GM. Chevrolet had been rolled into GM in a stock swap in 1918.
Durant Motors:
Was Durant done? Not so quickly. Durant Motors Inc. was established in 1921 in an attempted to become a full-line automobile producer of cars and fielded the Flint, Durant, and Star brands which were designed to meet Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland and Chevrolet price points. Durant also acquired luxury car maker Locomobile at its liquidation sale in 1922, to compete against Rolls Royce and Pierce-Arrow. From 1928 to 1931 Durant also marketed trucks in the US and Canadian under the badge Rugby Trucks. The Princeton, aimed at the Packard and Cadillac price point was planned, but never realized. Durant Motors was a rising concern for several years, but lost much of its financing in the Wall Street collapse of 1929 and closed in 1933. One of the primary problems Durant Motors faced, was caused by Billy. Durant, along with the Rockefeller’s and other industrialists believed that if enough buy orders were placed, it would offset the sell orders and stop the slide of 1929. The plan failed and Durant went broke.