Great Cars: BUICK

buicks history spends the birth of the automobile and takes it into the 21st century it's an enterprise that was built by carriage makers and laid the foundation for the world's largest car company General Motors Buicks story chronicles the growth of the American automobile business and points the way to its future [Music] buuck celebrated its centennial in 2003 it threw itself a party in downtown Flint Michigan thousands of people and hundreds of classic cars filled a park near the location where the company got its start in May 1903 these loyal Buick owners Buick Club members former employees and car enthusiasts soaked in all the Buick law on display the grounds in front of the Alfred P Sloan museum were reserved for a special collection of rare Buicks later that week Buick was the honored mark at a car show at the Cranbrook Academy everywhere you looked there were cars dating from the time the first Buicks rolled out of the factory it was a feast for auto lovers who got an up-close look at history great luxury cars from the 1930s reminded visitors of bygone elegance while dream cars from the 50s took visitors back to the optimistic post-war world a time that could also be somewhat impractical and even a bit silly [Music] both events made it clear how important Buick had been for the growth of the automobile industry 100 years ago when Buick was just a dream there were over a thousand two car companies vying for the public's attention it was a time of experiment and growth similar to the tech boom at the end of the 20th century like companies founded in most booms the majority went bust there was no guarantee of a Buick when it was launched by an expatriate Scotsman David Dunbar Buick he loved to tinker and by the mid 1890s he was building engines for farm machinery one of his employees water ma shared his passion for engines marble to prototype car in 1900 Furyk and ma then raised the money to build a second car the car had problems and their Becker wanted to unload the company and recoup his three and a half thousand dollar investment by that summer Buick found a group of wagon makers in Flint Michigan who would take the risk and finance his company by September of 1903 the new investors had moved David Buick and his company from Detroit to Flint they formed the Buick Motor Car Company while these were the formative boom years for the auto industry the average person wasn't convinced that cars were here to stay Racing was a great way to convince a skeptical public that these were reliable machines and to whip up some excitement auto fever started to spread [Music] in 1904 David Buick convinced water ma to once again help him build a car the first Buick built in Flint ma and Buicks son tested the primitive car on a drive to Detroit and back they rolled out on July 9th 1904 and returned three days later [Music] [Music] unfortunately Buicks investors were losing patience they wanted to see more cars built not just tested they all agreed that only one man could help Billy Durant Flint's leading character builder Durant had succeeded by buying and combining component companies and placing them under his umbrella he'd bought wheel axle varnish paint and carriage top companies and had moved them to Flint he wasn't that enamored with automobiles but he saw that these contraptions might be the future Durant went for a test drive and was so impressed with the capable vehicle he decided to plunge into the automobile business he took his cars to New York for the Auto Show in January 1905 he sold more than 1,000 the company had produced barely 40 the remarkable demand helped Durant convinced Flynt bankers to finance the building of a new factory to establish a Buick dealer network Durant relied on his existing carriage company dealers located all over the United States his energy pushed production to over 700 cars in 1905 one year later Buick was producing two models and building nearly 1300 cars by 1907 the factory was turning out six models and 4,600 cars but the real competition was coming Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 and helped put America on wheels Durant wasn't ready to cede the race to be number one Buick also introduced a new model that year the model ten over 4000 model 10 runabouts and more than 4,800 others rolled out of his factory that year this made Buick the number one seller of automobiles in the United States [Music] Durant outgunned the combined sales of his closest competitors fought in Cadillac he'd been transformed from the king of the carriage builders to supreme builder of automobiles to pump up interest in his cars he organized a racing team the lead drivers Louis Chevrolet and Wilder barber Berman were colorful characters who won races in trunks the public and the reporters covering their exploits [Music] the racing effort rested on two buick 60 specials or buick bugs Chevrolet and Berman each drove one of the sleek and speedy cars their 105 miles per hour top speed was phenomenal people wanted to buy a Buick after witnessing the Boggs race while these drivers were proving that the automobile was a viable means of transportation gerrant was creating an automotive Colossus unlike most people Durant recognized what Henry Ford's model-t mints he tried to buy Ford's company but he couldn't come up with Ford's eight million dollar asking price Durant kept looking for other opportunities he bought Oldsmobile and how stood with Buick under the roof of a brand new company General Motors Durant quickly added the luxury car builder Cadillac and a mid priced model Oakland later to be known as Pontiac durant was riding high as he assembled the pieces of a vertically integrated corporation as he'd done with his carriage company buick sales provided the majority of the cash he needed to keep his enterprise afloat but even buick couldn't bail him out when he fell fourteen million dollars in arrears a weekend durant was forced to turn over majority control of General Motors to the bankers they quickly ushered in a new president Charles Nash Nash hired another future auto baron Walter P Chrysler to turn things around while Durant nursed his wounds he forged ahead with a new company named after his racing star Louis Chevrolet Chevrolet Motors was born in 1911 he set up shop in his old Flint Wagon Works building and began to amass as much GM stock as he could Johnny raskov a key advisor to one of the world's wealthiest men Pierre DuPont was convinced Durant was a winner ruskov suggested DuPont purchase both Chevrolet and the General Motors shares Durant welcomed DuPont's help in his quest to regain control of General Motors by 1916 their combined holdings were large enough for him to march back in and throw the bankers out [Music] by 1917 the united states was embroiled in World War one and water Chrysler turned his attention to Buicks efforts to aid the war effort Buick turned out Liberty aircraft engines ambulances and tanks when the war ended the reports looked for ways to use the money they'd made selling gunpowder to the Allies investing in General Motors seemed like a good bet [Music] Durant broke ground on a new headquarters for General Motors it would be the largest office building in the world unfortunately a post-war recession struck and sales plummeted GM's stock fell with sales Durant stepped in and bought loads of stock on margin he couldn't stem the collapse and then his creditors stopped lending him money and demanded their 27 million dollars Durant didn't have it Pierre DuPont saw an opportunity and told your aunt he'd give him thirty five million dollars for his General Motors shares this rescue Durant but once again forced him out of General Motors there was nothing else he could do at the time Alfred P Sloan was named president and took over Buick and all of General Motors through various holdings the DuPont's became one of the largest suppliers to the corporation under Sloane's leadership Buick and the rest of GM prospered that is until the stock market took a turn on what became known as Black Friday October 29th 1929 Wall Street crashed wiping out an estimated 50 billion dollars millions lost their life savings Buick and the other car makers watched their sales tumble by 1933 Buick production has slipped to about 40,000 cars it's Flint Factory let go thousands of employees Sloan turned to Harlow red Curtis the 39 year old president of AC sparkplug to revive Buick like Durant he was a terrific salesman he set out to bring back power speed and sales to Buick Curtis challenged GM's chief designer Harley Earl to design a Buick he would like to own Earl was partial to Cadillacs but he turned his team loose they created an exceptional lineup of cars some of which have become timeless collector cars today Curtis L helped to send sales back up to almost 200,000 cars Buick was looking healthy again but Flint was headed for turmoil workers had suffered during the Depression and finally labor exploded in December of 1936 the Flint sit-down strike started auto production came to a stop the workers had a list of long-term grievances that management had ignored strike breaking tactics that had worked in the past didn't shake the resolve of the Flint workers President Franklin Roosevelt and the governor of Michigan stepped in and compelled the two sides to start bargaining finally an agreement was reached local $5.99 at Buick would become the United autoworkers largest GM Union brunch people were back to work and Buicks sales kept growing by 1940 Curtis would celebrate topping the sales record set in 1928 when over 250,000 Buicks left the showrooms Buicks customers loved the stylish cars that Harley Earl's designers were turning out bill used his own custom car called the why job as the inspiration for Buicks line up his personal dream car was a head-turning low slung sleek vehicle that was the envy of everyone who saw it Earl loved its aerodynamic lines that eliminated running boards and novel features like electric windows the wide job was the future personified Earl and Curtis were on top of the world while Earl helped America dream with his dream car there was a nightmare approaching on the horizon World War two erupted and transformed everything there were no more thoughts about building new cars it was time to turn out tanks planes guns and bombs [Music] finally the war was over that it was time to gear up the auto production again America was poised for unprecedented growth the economies of Europe and Asia were a shambles Detroit's car makers had an open field and responded with audacious humongous cars like Buicks Roadmaster that ruled the roads it was an era that screamed excess is best bigger newer bolder was better Buicks designers were at the forefront of the over-the-top but confident styling charge the public loved it and by the middle of the decade Buick was selling five hundred thousand cars a year Buicks designers were selling more than cars they'd embraced Harley Earl's styling dreams and created show cars that stirred America's imagination Earl traded in his white job for the jet age LeSabre this long and very low car looked like he was ready to take off once again Earl used his dream car as a daily driver he was the undisputed king of American auto design he created a companion car the XP 304 GM's head of engineering Charlie chain GM launched the motor Rama's that travelled the country to show off its dream cars and production vehicles it lured people in to fantasize about all the cars these theatrical events excited the crowds and gave the press plenty to write about [Music] buicks signature portals were first seen on a show car during this era on the show car there were lights under each one while the American public flocked to gaze at the dream cars they were also streaming into dealerships and buying cars Buicks sales kept climbing zooming from five hundred and fifty thousand in 1952 seven hundred and forty five thousand in 1955 Buick became number three in sales as the decade wore on what had seemed fresh began to look outdated it was time for a new styling direction in 1959 Buick at its sister divisions at GM launched a new slimmer and winged look Buick not only changed the shapes of his cars but adopted new names the century super and Roadmaster were out and in Victor Electra and LeSabre were in an economic slowdown in 1958 suddenly made smaller cars popular Buick responded with the special in 1961 its aluminum v8 engine made it more powerful than a Volkswagen it is also Rumia Buicks sales rebounded with the economy by 1962 it was again building more than 450,000 cars a year Buicks big news for the era came in 1963 the fastback Riviera rolled out and was instantly anointed and modern classic Buick sales continued their upward swing throughout the 1960s but peaked when they wrecked up more than eight hundred and twenty one thousand in 1973 no one believed that anything could go wrong unfortunately the bottom dropped out when OPEC the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries launched an oil embargo late in 1973 as gasoline prices soared sales of Buicks big gas guzzlers sank below 500,000 in both 1974 and 75 it was becoming clear that Buick was out of step with the times some American buyers began to desert Detroit and sample fuel-efficient imports they discovered that not only were they gas misers but better built than the old American cars Buick along with the rest of the American auto industry began to search for a new direction fuel economy safety quality reliability and durability more friendly dealerships salespeople that didn't belittle women buyers all of these demands began to pile up on the doorsteps of the automakers it was a time of tremendous change Buick struggled to remain the Builder of premium American motor cars it built new factories launched new products like its two-seater the Reata try to revive brands like the Roadmaster but it couldn't ignite public passion [Music] burek started to look for ways to attract younger buyers they turned to people like golfer Tiger Woods for advice always need to be a part of a process in which we're all actually Buick is is kidding to a younger consumer and it really needs to be a feel I should be a part of that I'm really not that old and it's really neat to be able to see a brand changing its image and I'm trying to help as best I possibly can as this really need to be a part of that relationship that is impressive arthur buick began to create concept cars that were sleek and sexy roadsters that could drive them into the future it had taken years for Buick to rebuild its identity finally as it approached its centennial the company started to show that it was turning around new products were on the way it looks like Buick had found the road to the new century [Music]

Channel: King Rose Archives

Views: 131,023

Rating: 4.861187 out of 5

Keywords: General Motors, Flint Michigan, Durant Dort Carriages, Billy Durant, Alfred P. Sloan, the DuPonts, Harley Earl, Harlow Curtice, Bunky Knudsen, Buick Century, Buick Roadmaster, Buick Riviera, David Dunbar Buick, Dream Cars

Id: d56zLZrgatA

Length: 25min 7sec (1507 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2017