Americans Owe A Debt Of Gratitude To One Of America's Auto Pioneers

Kenneth Cobbler
SubmitYOURArticle.com
September 5, 2011

It was in the 19th of May in the year 1903 when Buick Motor Company was born. This was made possible by the natural Scottish David Dunbar Buick. This company is presently considered as the second oldest car maker in the United States. Towards the end of 1903, the company encountered a big problem that has caused it to struggle. During this time the company decided to change administrators. So Buick was replaced by a Flint, Michigan native, James H. Whiting that eventually came to a decision to change the location of the company from Detroit to its home land Flint. Eventually in 1904, Whiting employed William C. Durrant as the manager of the company.

Yet all was not smooth sailing for Buick. Early on in late 1903, economic conditions of the time caused a financial crisis for Buick. Yet the company was proactive and reacted well. An officer and administrator at the helm of Buick James H. Whiting took charge and to bring costs and labor availability in order moves the companies control and command center back to Flint Michigan from Detroit. In addition Whiting took on a person who became Buick's and later General Motor's marketing genius of record - Mr. William C. Durant. Durant has had the greatest of positive impacts on not only Buick product development, sales and marketing. Yet later on as both Buick and its now parent company prospered with a number of different car lines - Durant can be said to have the most major of positive impact not on Buick itself, the later Buick division of G.M. ,General Motors as a whole and indeed the whole American if not global automotive industry and industries.

During an earlier time period - previous to the incorporation of the Buick Motor Company itself, Buick was able to construct two separate prototypes of vehicles that it could well produce. This occurred in the time periods between 1899 and 1902 under the direction and supervision of Mr. Walter Lorenzo Marr, who serves as the company's chief engineer. Yet even in spite of all this invention and inventive energies an additional automobile prototype product was worked up -similar to the two previous but with an engine with tremendously greater endurance overall. Whiting, the mechanical engineer, was convinced by the great merits of this product and convinced management that this automobile had a great potential for sales to Americans. He was correct. The basis of this prototype auto became the basis of the first ever classic Buick product offered for sale to the public - being known as "Buick Model B". During 1904 37 Buick Model B units were constructed and sold. Unfortunately none of this original Buicks Model B's survived them. Yet two replicas for museum and American auto industry historical record were recreated and rebuilt - one of which actually used an actual genuine 1904 original Buick engine.

Buicks next model in its development lineup was the Buick Model "F". Essentially the Buick Model F retained and built upon the Buick initial Model B's engine, transmission and chassis. The cornerstone of both Buick and eventually General Motors was that wonderfully reliable and enduring Buick B. valve-in-line engine which was developed and patented by the American inventor Walter Lorenzo Marr. As time went on this engine was further developed, upgraded and improved. Amazingly this single power plant model - which was a Buick invention prior to its purchase by General Motors went on to be the very bedrock and cornerstone of General Motors and its vast stable of product lines of automobiles and automotive transportation products.

Buick may have provided the advanced engineering that provided General Motors products with a most reliable power plant. Yet the other sides of auto making are the functions of sales and marketing. William Durant can be credited as being the marketing and auto management genius who both coordinated economies of scale of automotive product development with a number of distinct divisions of G.M. all working as a unit , yet separate in their own merits. Whether it was a basic Chevrolet that you started your working life with, a somewhat upscale Pontiac, moved up as you prospered in life to an Oldsmobile or Buick or finally reached the pinnacle of wealth and status with the highest and luxurious product level from the Cadillac division of G.M., they were all General Motors products. What set Mr. Durant apart as a marketer was his creation of brand loyalty to General Motors to entirely different and distinct market niches and segments in the automotive industry. As the American worker or manager prospered in life he or she would move upscale through the G.M. product line itself. Yet one must always remember that no matter what General Motors product the customer drove, in the end he or she was driving along with an engine of a design that was a gift to G.M. from Buick.

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Kenneth Cobbler
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