Durant Motors Inc.was established in 1921 by formerGeneral MotorsCEOWilliam "Billy" Durantfollowing his termination by the GM board of directors and the New York bankers who financed GM.[1]
 | |
| Industry | Automobile |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1921 |
| Defunct | 1931 |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | Lansing,Michigan,United States |
Key people | William C. Durant |
| Products | Vehicles |
| Divisions | Durant Flint Star/Rugby Mason Truck |
| Subsidiaries | Locomobile Company of America |
Corporate relationships
editDurant Motors attempted to be a full-line automobile producer of cars and fielded theFlint,Durant,andStarbrands, which were designed to meetBuick,Oldsmobile,Oakland,andChevroletprice points. Billy Durant also acquired luxury-car makerLocomobileofBridgeport, Connecticut,[2]at its liquidation sale in 1922;[3]in theory, Locomobile gave him a product that would compete againstCadillac,Rolls-Royce,andPierce-Arrow.Durant Motors had a relationship with theDort,Frontenac,andDeVauxautomobile name badges. The Rugby line was the export name for Durant's Star car line. However, from 1928 to 1931, Durant marketed trucks in the US and Canadian markets under the badge Rugby Trucks. The Princeton, a model aimed at thePackardandCadillacprice points, was planned but never realized; also planned was the Eagle car line, but it never made it off the drafting tables.
Production
editDurant co-founded a truck-making subsidiary,Mason Truck,and also acquired numerous ancillary companies to support Durant Motors. In 1927, the Durant line was shut down to retool for a brand-new, modernized car for 1928, re-emerging in 1928 with Durant, Locomobile, and Rugby lines in place, and dropping the Mason Truck and Flint automobile lines and the top-selling Star car in April 1928. In 1929, Locomobile went out of production.
Initially, Durant Motors enjoyed success based upon Billy Durant's track record at General Motors, where he assembled independent makes Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. However, when sales failed to meet volumes sufficient to sustain Durant Motors holdings, the firm's financial footing began to slip. As a result, Durant Motors began losing market share and dealers. The final Durant-branded models rolled off the US assembly line in August 1931 at Lansing, but continued in Canada into 1932 under Dominion Motors, which also built the Frontenac.[4]
Subsequent history
editTheLansing, Michigan,Durant plant on Verlinden Avenue opened in 1920. After the demise of Durant, it remained closed until GM purchased it in 1935. It restarted production for GM'sFisher BodyDivision, later becoming the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac factory. It was finally combined with another Lansing plant to becomeLansing Car Assembly.That factory was closed on May 6, 2005.
Durant'sFlint, Michigan,factory was bought by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors, and built mostly Buick bodies until its 1987 closure.[1][5]
Durant'sOakland, California,plant, located at the northeast corner of East 14th Street (now International Blvd.) and Durant Avenue (also the boundary between Oakland and San Leandro), later became a General Motors parts warehouse. Part of the plant survives as loft apartments and the Durant Square shopping center.[6]
The company's CanadianLeaside, Ontario,plant later became a factory for the Canadian Wire and Cable Company, though it was later demolished and is now a neighborhood shopping center.
Durant's former plant inElizabeth, New Jersey,housed one of the first supermarkets in the 1930s, and then was used as a cookie bakery byBurry Biscuitsfor many years. It was in use as a warehouse when it was destroyed by fire in December 2011.[7]
Billy Durant died nearly broke at age 85 in 1947, the same year asHenry Ford,aged 83.[8]
Production model specifications
editSee also
edit
References
edit- ^abLevin, Doron P. (December 9, 1988)."FLINT JOURNAL; Tribute to a 1908 Durant in the Auto's Future".The New York Times.RetrievedApril 29,2018.
- ^Evans, Steve."Impeccably refined Locomobile".The ClassicCars.com Journal.Retrieved7 November2018.
- ^Naldrett, Alan (2016).Lost Car Companies of Detroit p. 26.Arcadia Publishing.ISBN978-1-6258-5649-4.
- ^Bradburn, Jamie (April 30, 2007)."Vintage Toronto Ads: Sound Policies and Quality Products from Leaside".Torontoist.RetrievedApril 29,2018.
- ^"GM's Famed, Old Fisher Body Plant Is Slowly Fading Into Auto History".Los Angeles Times.June 9, 1987.RetrievedApril 29,2018.
- ^"Durant Motors - Oakland".Retrieved21 October2021.
- ^Nutt, Amy Ellis (December 25, 2011)."Elizabeth fire claims a storied building".NJ.com.RetrievedApril 29,2018.
- ^Niemeyer, Glenn A. & Flink, James J. (August 1, 1973)."The General Of General Motors".American Heritage.RetrievedApril 29,2018.
{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Further reading
edit- Tad Burness,1920–1939 Car Spotters Guide,Motorbooks International