Another Giant

The second big American motor company, General Motors – for long the largest and most powerful commercial organisation in the world -was founded in 1908, the result of the patient, tenacious work of another outstanding individual, William Crapo Durant. He, like Ford, had begun in the early years of the 20th century but the aims and methods of the two men were quite different. Ford was in essence a technician, with clear, precise commercial ideas stemming from a real passion for the motor car. Durant was a business man who, like others of the time, had seen the future possibilities of the car and who had decided to reach the highest levels of the boom whose advent he foresaw so clearly.

In the early 1900s Billy Durant, grandson of a Governor of Michigan, was already a millionaire, having founded a successful handcart factory with his partner, Josiah Dallas Dart, an exdealer in trinkets. These two decided to convert their factory in Flint to motor car production, Durant being particularly keen to do so. Their problem was to find a fairly well-known make, preferably in financial difficulties, which their assistance could turn into a financial success. Buick fitted the bill.

David Dunbar Buick was an ex-tinsmith, also from Michigan, who, having amassed a substantial fortune from his patents on the application of enamel to cast iron, decided to build motor cars. His prototype for a light car created interest; it had a well-balanced engine, a pleasing appearance, and certain good technical details, notably pushrod-operated overhead valves. The financial aspects of the company, however, were not equally good. The Buick Manufacturing Company, in fact, became the Buick Motor Car Company after only one year, when it accepted a contribution of new capital from the Briscoe brothers. The association with the Briscoes did not last long. When they saw the way the company's finances were going they withdrew, and Buick, in spite of his ingenious ideas and the success of the few vehicles built, found himself on the brink of bankruptcy. It was in this way that Durant, in November, 1904, was able to get his hands on the Buick business. He immediately increased the company's capital from $75,000 to $300,000, and later to $500,000. He transferred the works to Flint, not to his own factory but to that of the Flint Wagon Works, another company with which he had recently become associated.

The impulse that Durant gave to the Buick business is shown by the production figures; they passed from 28 machines, in 1904, through 626 in 1905, to 2,300 in 1906.

Commentaries

1 William Crapo Durant – Уильям Крапо Дюрант, основатель кор­порации «Дженерал Моторз».

2 Flint – г. Флинт, штат Мичиган, США.

3 Buick – американская автомобильная фирма, основанная Дэви­дом Бьюиком в 1903 г. и входящая в монополию «Дженерал Моторз».

Europe Takes Off Germany

In Germany, without any doubt, the most interesting car was the 60 hp 9,200 cc four-cylinder Mercedes, which had won the fourth Gordon Bennett Cup in Ireland. This race was won by the sheer efficiency of the firm's hastily modified touring cars and this, deservedly, had favourable repercussions on sales.

Great Britain

In 1903 the first car to be built by John Siddeley appeared. At a much later date to be honoured by knighthood, and later to become Lord Kenilworth, he was an engineer whose original ideas were to have considerable influence on the European motor industry. He had started with the Wolseley Company in 1899, where Lord Austin also worked to great effect, and in 1903 the first of his designs was produced. This was a car with a vertical single cylinder, water-cooled engine having a three-speed gearbox and rear transmission by chains.

Later Siddeley founded his own company, which was to win international fame in the period from 1919 onwards for producing cars with two outstanding characteristics – high quality and competitive price. They were some of the first examples in Europe to exploit the use of light alloys. The big Siddeley Special of the pre-second war era was a notable example of this technique.

Standard

In 1903 another English firm, Standard, launched a 6 hp single-cylinder with an inclined steering column and cardan shaft transmission. It had a three-speed gearbox, drum brakes acting on the rear wheels, and suspension by semi-elliptical springs front and rear. Only a limited number of this type was built, but many more of a newer model were produced, starting in 1905. This was the 16/20 hp, followed in 1911 by a 15 hp – the celebrated model 'K' which was modified in 1916 and then provided with a 20/24 hp engine.

Austin

The Austin firm was founded in 1905. Herbert Austin was born in 1866 at Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire, and at 18 emigrated to Australia, where he worked in a foundry. He managed to get experience in several engineering jobs and also found time to continue his technical studies. Back in England, Austin built several prototype cars, largely with his own hands, a light tricycle in 1895 and the following year a light car; the latter were both exhibited at Crystal, Palace.

Austin began his own production of motor cars at the Longbridge works, Birmingham, in 1906, with the founding of the Austin Motor Company. His first car was a 25/30 hp four-cylinder; then followed a variety of types, so much so that by 1908 there were no fewer than 17, ranging in hp from 17 to 50. In 1909 he introduced a single-cylinder 7 hp – one of the first utility cars – and in 1922 the famous Austin Seven.

Commentaries

1 the Gordon Bennett Cup in Ireland – кубок им. Гордона Беннетта в Ирландии.

2 the Wolseley Company – автомобильная компания «Уолсли».

3 Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire – г. Литл-Миссенден в граф­стве Бакингемшир (Великобритания).

4 Crystal Palace – Хрустальный дворец, сооружение из стекла и металла, спроектированное Джозефом Пакстоном для Всемирной вы­ставки 1851 г. Дворец был возведен в Гайд-Парке в Лондоне; в 1936 г. сгорел.