On September 16, 1908, William Crapo Durant, the head of Buick Motor Company founded General Motors in New Jersey.
William C. Durant, who also co-founded Chevrolet, revolutionized the automotive industry globally with his unique business models. He started offering vehicles at various price points to serve different income standards and lifestyles. In this article, we will discuss about Durant’s Journey from a humble beginning to ultimately become carriage-making royalty.
Durant was born on December 8, 1861 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Durant family had high expectations from him to become a lawyer. However, W. Durant dropped out of school at a very early age (17). He started his first job as lumber piling. Then, he started selling cigars with a high selling rate than other sales people. Within seven years of leaving school, he became a famous and successful businessman in the old lumber town of Flint, Michigan, before becoming 25.
Credit- @pmsdeadandalive X handle
While partnering with a thriving insurance company, Durant decided to embark on the vehicle business in 1886. With some borrowed money, he bought a tiny horse cart company. Durant’s masterstroke was completing two carts along with designing a patent, followed by participation in a fair where he won a blue ribbon. At a time when he was about to finish only one cart, he received orders of over 600 new overnight.
In next 15 years, the business started with $2,000 investment, transformed into a $2 million worth Durant-Dort Carriage Company. Tauted as the largest vehicle manufacturer in the U.S., William Durant became the ‘King of Carriage Makers’ at the beginning of 20th century. The school drop out Durant became a millionaire at age 40 and wanted to explore new adventures.
Yes, that's totally true as initially Durant doubted the sustainability of automobiles were noisy and dangerous for horses running on the road. However, destiny has a different plan for Durant. As Durant-Dort Carriage Company was running smoothly with high returns, Durant was gradually becoming bored as he always liked to create different organizations in various places.
Credit - @URDailyHistory X handle
Since the beginning of 20th century, different brands of horseless carriages entered the U.S. market. The city of Flint was desperate to maintain the prestigious title ‘Vehicle City’ in changing marketing scenario. James Whiting of Flint Wagon Works suddenly bought Buick, but he badly needed a sharp businessman to lead. Durant, initially hesitated but later took the offer and started roaming around the road. Surprisingly, he became so comfortable with the vehicle that he took over the Buick management in 1904.
The leadership of Durant helped Buick surpass the production of Ford and Cadillac combined within just 4 years. Durant demonstrated the successful transition from the biggest carriage maker to the largest automobile manufacturer.
Durant received a call for a large automobile merger by financier J.P. Morgan in 1907. The participants of the meet was Henry Ford, Ransom Olds of REO, and Ben Briscoe of Maxwell-Briscoe at the original Pontchartrain Hotel.
Credit - @kalenderbeda X handle
The merger was not successful as Ford was not interested in stocks. However, Durant had his ‘Plan B’ ready. He knew the plight of Oldsmobile in competitive market. Durant travelled to Lansing, Michigan, fixed meeting with Olds officials and founded a holding company called General Motors combining Buick and Oldsmobile on September 16, 1908.
Within 15 months after GM’s foundation, Durant had bought 22 different companies. Few were liabilities, but couple of them became gold - Cadillac, Oakland (Pontiac), McLaughlin (GM Canada) and GMC.
However, the market was never stable post-World War I. Durant had to resign completely from GM. At the age of 59, he was unemployed again.
#FeatureFriday: 1929 Durant Six 60 Deluxe
— LeMay - America's Car Museum (@LeMayACM) April 12, 2024
Among the more obscure cars at ACM is this Durant, named for William C. Durant who also GM and Chevrolet too. After losing the presidency of GM in 1920, he started Durant Motors the following year. The last ones were built in 1932. pic.twitter.com/Km3AZPc5q9
Credit - @LeMayACM X handle
He was again back in the automotive business with a brand new company named ‘Durant Motors’. However, the Great Depression in 1929 led to its closure. However, Durant was a visionary as he earned the nickname of ‘Bull of the Bulls’ on Wall Street by succesful venture in stock market. He also embarked on restaurant buisness at the age of 78. William Durant passed away on March 18, 1947, at the age of 85.
Durant's life depicts the unstable nature of businessman’s life where he kept on pushing barriers with visionary approaches.
Let me conclude this article with an exciting trivia. Durant almost bought Ford in 1909. After establishing GM, Durant was about to buy Ford for $8 million. However, lack of some cash didn't allow Durant to close the deal, otherwise, Ford would have become a division of General Motors.
