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William C. Durant
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William C. Durant
William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was an American businessman. A leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, he was the founder of General Motors and co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple brands – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. He also founded Frigidaire.
Durant was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 8, 1861. He was the second child of William Clark Durant and Rebecca Folger Durant (née Crapo), who was born to a wealthy Massachusetts family of French descent. His mother, Rebecca, was the daughter of Michigan governor Henry H. Crapo, who was also of French descent. Durant's family moved to Flint, Michigan after his father abandoned the family in 1869. They lived with Rebecca's sister, Rhoda, and her husband James Wilson. William dropped out of high school to work in his grandfather's lumberyard. He started out as a cigar salesman in and eventually founded his own carriage company.
In 1886, Durant partnered with Josiah Dallas Dort and founded Flint Road Cart Company, eventually transforming $2,000 ($69,993 in 2024 dollars ) in start-up capital into a $2-million company with worldwide sales ($69,992,593 in 2024 dollars ). By 1890, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, based in Flint, had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles and by the start of the 20th century, was the largest in the US.
Durant was highly skeptical of automobiles, feeling that the bad smell of burnt fuel, along with the engines' loud sounds, made them inherently dangerous to the point where he would not let his daughter ride in one. By 1900, public outcry over weak government regulation of gasoline-powered horseless carriages was significant. Durant noticed the general public's anger at this situation, and rather than relying on government regulations to improve their safety, he saw it as an opportunity to create a company which could improve the safety of this new class of transportation.
To begin this massive endeavor, Durant first set out to purchase Buick, then a local car company with few sales and large debts.
Durant conceived the modern system of automobile dealer franchises.
From his holdings in Durant-Dort Carriage Company, Durant was a millionaire. On November 1, 1904, he assumed control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and used the financial and manufacturing resources of Durant-Dort to correct Buick's course. With Durant pushing and marketing the Buick name, the company was able to become the best-selling automobile in America, outperforming earlier leaders Ford Motor Company, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile, and despite having no manufacturing line and only a few extant cars, orders tallied over 1100 - all of this by the time of the 1905 New York Automobile Show. Durant and Samuel McLaughlin (McLaughlin's being the largest carriage manufacturer in Canada) signed a 15-year contract to build Buick power trains at cost-plus pricing.
With Buick as a base, Durant envisioned creating a large automobile company that would manufacture several makes and control subsidiary component-making companies, much as Durant-Dort had done in the carriage-making world. Durant founded General Motors Holding Company on September 16, 1908, and exchanged a large parcel of Buick stock for a matching parcel of McLaughlin stock making McLaughlin one of General Motors' biggest shareholders. On November 12, 1908, Durant purchased Olds Motor Works (Oldsmobile).
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William C. Durant
William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was an American businessman. A leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, he was the founder of General Motors and co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple brands – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. He also founded Frigidaire.
Durant was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 8, 1861. He was the second child of William Clark Durant and Rebecca Folger Durant (née Crapo), who was born to a wealthy Massachusetts family of French descent. His mother, Rebecca, was the daughter of Michigan governor Henry H. Crapo, who was also of French descent. Durant's family moved to Flint, Michigan after his father abandoned the family in 1869. They lived with Rebecca's sister, Rhoda, and her husband James Wilson. William dropped out of high school to work in his grandfather's lumberyard. He started out as a cigar salesman in and eventually founded his own carriage company.
In 1886, Durant partnered with Josiah Dallas Dort and founded Flint Road Cart Company, eventually transforming $2,000 ($69,993 in 2024 dollars ) in start-up capital into a $2-million company with worldwide sales ($69,992,593 in 2024 dollars ). By 1890, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, based in Flint, had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles and by the start of the 20th century, was the largest in the US.
Durant was highly skeptical of automobiles, feeling that the bad smell of burnt fuel, along with the engines' loud sounds, made them inherently dangerous to the point where he would not let his daughter ride in one. By 1900, public outcry over weak government regulation of gasoline-powered horseless carriages was significant. Durant noticed the general public's anger at this situation, and rather than relying on government regulations to improve their safety, he saw it as an opportunity to create a company which could improve the safety of this new class of transportation.
To begin this massive endeavor, Durant first set out to purchase Buick, then a local car company with few sales and large debts.
Durant conceived the modern system of automobile dealer franchises.
From his holdings in Durant-Dort Carriage Company, Durant was a millionaire. On November 1, 1904, he assumed control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and used the financial and manufacturing resources of Durant-Dort to correct Buick's course. With Durant pushing and marketing the Buick name, the company was able to become the best-selling automobile in America, outperforming earlier leaders Ford Motor Company, Cadillac, and Oldsmobile, and despite having no manufacturing line and only a few extant cars, orders tallied over 1100 - all of this by the time of the 1905 New York Automobile Show. Durant and Samuel McLaughlin (McLaughlin's being the largest carriage manufacturer in Canada) signed a 15-year contract to build Buick power trains at cost-plus pricing.
With Buick as a base, Durant envisioned creating a large automobile company that would manufacture several makes and control subsidiary component-making companies, much as Durant-Dort had done in the carriage-making world. Durant founded General Motors Holding Company on September 16, 1908, and exchanged a large parcel of Buick stock for a matching parcel of McLaughlin stock making McLaughlin one of General Motors' biggest shareholders. On November 12, 1908, Durant purchased Olds Motor Works (Oldsmobile).
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