It’s not a case of rewriting history, but one of rewriting a previously published auto history – namely David Buick’s Marvelous Motor Car: The men and the automobile that launched General Motors by Lawrence Gustin.
It is Gustin’s contention that “Buick sets pattern for Chevrolet.” The award winning author discusses the reasons why Billy Durant created Chevrolet Motor and summarizes the complex set of events that led Durant to develop the Chevrolet automobile.
Besides former Buick race driver Louis Chevrolet, who was the namesake for the new company – though Gustin quips that he wasn’t around long, Durant teamed with men who had helped him build Buick and then start General Motors.
Durant also used some of the former Buick factories as he quickly moved production of Chevrolet from Detroit to Flint, where he had earlier built the Durant-Dort Carriage Co., Buick Motor Company and General Motors.
Durant of course formed General Motors in 1908, with Buick as the cornerstone, and soon brought Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland (Pontiac predecessor) and two dozen other companies under a GM holding company.
However, Durant lost control of the company to bankers in 1910 after his money supply was cut off. To get new financing, Durant, while remaining a GM vice president, relinquished control of the company to a new board comprised of bankers but without taxpayer subsidies.
Unhappy with that arrangement, Durant in 1911 began working with Louis Chevrolet, whom he had supported as a star of Buick’s racing team, to develop a new car company. He wanted it to grow to the point where he used profits from the stock to regain control of GM — his “baby” – from the banker dominated board.
Incredibly, in Gustin’s view, he did this. Durant got Chevrolet off to a fast start, traded Chevy stock for GM stock, and regained control of GM during 1915 to 1916.
The book quotes Durant’s widow Catherine in describing how her husband came up with the famous Chevy “bow-tie” logo. Discounting other stories, she told Gustin in 1972 that her husband got the idea for the logo from a design he saw in a newspaper ad.
While the Chevrolet chapter might be useful, given the Chevy centennial this year, most of the book’s new information deals with David Buick and the Buick automobile. Gustin claims it relates new details about David Buick’s previously untold work in designing and manufacturing automobile engines, his 19th century plumbing career, his life in Detroit after arriving from Scotland at age two and his later unsuccessful business ventures, including a land development in Florida. (Buick Motor Co. managers were unhappy David developed a twist on their famous slogan with this: “When better cities are built, Buick will build them.”)
The new edition, which I have not read, like the first one, is published by the Sloan Museum and its Buick Gallery and Research Center. The book is available in paperback for $17.95, plus handling and shipping, from Amazon.com. Deluxe hardcover and electronic editions, both with about 60 of the 200 photos in color, will be released soon.
