Durant history
William C. “Billy” Durant
Carriage maker, founder of General Motors, co-founder of Chevrolet, and creator of Durant Motors.
In 1886 William C. (Billy) Durant and his business partner, J. Dallas Dort, started the Flint Road Cart Company in Flint, Michigan. It became the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, and together they grew it into the largest carriage and buggy manufacturer in the United States.
In 1904 Durant jumped over to the automobile manufacturing business by taking control of David Dunbar Buick’s company to manufacture the Buick automobile, which saw great success. In 1908 Durant formed General Motors, which eventually produced Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland, and later Chevrolet, as well as other companies supporting the automotive industry.
General Motors became the second-largest automobile company in the United States, after Ford Motor Company. In late 1920 Durant was forced out of General Motors for the second time, and in January 1921 he started Durant Motors, Inc. It built automobiles under the names Durant, Star, and Flint, as well as Mason trucks, and acquired the Locomobile company in 1922.
Durant Motors, Inc. continued in business until 1931, when the effects of the Great Depression in the United States contributed to the decline of the company. It ended production in the United States that year and was liquidated in 1933. Associates of Durant Motors used the factories and many leftover parts to build their own automobiles, such as DeVaux, Frontenac, and Continental. These too were short lived, all out of business by 1934.
Later years
Later years and legacy
Durant never stopped building. He lost control of General Motors in 1910, started Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet in 1911, and used it to win back GM in 1916, only to be forced out again in 1920. Weeks later, at 59, he started Durant Motors.
The stock market crash of 1929 cost him dearly; he was buying shares on Black Tuesday in an attempt to stop the slide. Durant Motors ended production in the United States in 1931 and was liquidated in 1933, and in 1936 Durant declared personal bankruptcy. Back in Flint, he opened a bowling alley, the North Flint Recreation Center, and planned to build a national chain. A stroke in 1942 ended his working life, and he died in New York City in 1947, aged 85.
His name lives on in Flint. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office, where much of General Motors was planned, is a National Historic Landmark. The factory where Durant and Dort began, Durant-Dort Factory One, was restored by General Motors and reopened in 2017; it houses Kettering University’s archives, built around Durant’s own papers. The Hotel Durant, which opened in 1920 with his support, is now The Durant apartments. In 1968 he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.
Yet no museum tells his whole story, from road carts to Durant Motors. That is the museum we are building.
Timeline
From road carts to Durant Motors
Where the sources disagree on a date, the note under the entry says so.
- 1861Born in Boston on December 8. His grandfather Henry H. Crapo was governor of Michigan from 1865 to 1869.
- 1886With J. Dallas Dort, starts the Flint Road Cart Company in a rented woolen mill in Flint, today’s Durant-Dort Factory One. One source says 1885.
- 1895The company becomes the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. It was already the country’s largest carriage maker by 1890, building about 50,000 vehicles a year. Some sources say 1896.
- 1904Takes control of the struggling Buick Motor Company on November 1, and makes Buick the country’s leading car maker by 1908.
- 1908Founds General Motors on September 16, buying Oldsmobile that November and Cadillac and Oakland in 1909. The Detroit Historical Society gives September 8.
- 1910Overextended, he loses control of General Motors to the bankers.
- 1911Starts Chevrolet with the racing driver Louis Chevrolet, and buys him out in 1914.
- 1916Uses Chevrolet to win back control of General Motors and becomes its president again.
- 1920Forced out of General Motors a second time, in a deal in which Pierre du Pont paid off his debts.
- 1921Incorporates Durant Motors, Inc. on January 12. The Durant A-22 is shown in New York in August; reports say more than 30,000 cars were ordered within days.
- 1922Launches the low-priced Star, forms the Flint Motor Car Company, adds Mason trucks, and buys Locomobile at its receivership sale.
- 1923At its peak, Durant Motors has about 50,000 employees, 10 factories, and 4,000 dealers.
- 1929Buys stock on Black Tuesday trying to stop the crash, and loses heavily.
- 1931Durant Motors ends production in the United States. In Canada, Dominion Motors carries on with the Frontenac.
- 1933Durant Motors, Inc., in receivership since 1932, is liquidated.
- 1936Durant declares personal bankruptcy. One source says 1937.
- 1940Opens the North Flint Recreation Center, a bowling alley, and plans a national chain.
- 1942A stroke ends his working life. Walter Chrysler and Alfred Sloan help support him.
- 1947Dies in New York City on March 18, aged 85. Some sources give March 19.
- 1968Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.
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William C. Durant
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Further reading
- Lawrence R. Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008).
- Bernard A. Weisberger, The Dream Maker: William C. Durant, Founder of General Motors (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979).
- William C. Durant, Automotive Hall of Fame.
- Durant, William C., Encyclopedia of Detroit, Detroit Historical Society.
- Kettering University Archives, Flint, Michigan, home of Durant’s papers.
- A Brief History of Durant Vehicles, Durant Cars, a year-by-year timeline of Durant Motors and its makes.
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