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Walter Marr and Thomas Buick
Buick's chief engineer, Walter L. Man (left), and
Thomas D. Buick, son of founder~David Dunbar Buick,
drove thg f i s t Flin$:Buibk in a successful Flint-Detroit
round trkp in July iP04.
David Buick was building gasoline engines by 1899,
and Mak, his~engineer, apparently built the first auto to
be called& Buick in 1900. However, Buick traditionally
dates its 'beginnings to 1903. That was the year
the
company was reoiganized, refinanced and moved
from
Detroit to Flint. Buick has always been a product
innovator. Buick engineers developed the
"valve-in-head" engine, a light, powerful and reliable
engine which would eventually influence
the entire
automotive industry.
William C.
Durant was instrumental in promoting
Buicks across the country using, his Durant-Dort
Carriage Co. outlets and salespeople as the nucleus of a
giant distribution system. He knew the h i c k as a
','self-seller." If automobiles could be this good, he
thought, maybe it was time to switch from the horse and
buggy business to automobiles.
At the 1905 New York
Auto Show, Durant took
orders for 1,000 Buicks
before the company had
built 40. On Buick's
success, Dufmt created a
holding company,
.September 16, 1908. He
called it General Motors.
William C. (Billy) Durant
iv
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