The content of the article:
- Plumbing genius
- Woe entrepreneur
- Failure or lucky chance
- Merger or acquisition
- Oblivion or immortality
- Production leader
- The fastest
- Buick emblem
- Charismatic car
- The first concept car
The oldest American automobile company. An automaker that has not experienced a single setback, fall, or bankruptcy. Cars that have been iconic for Americans for more than a century, both in appearance and in reliability and unpretentiousness. It's all about the legendary Buick brand.
1. Plumbing genius
Young Scotsman David Buick began making money as a teenager: he went to seasonal work to collect crops, sold newspapers, and shined shoes. At the age of 15, he was lucky to get a job as a mechanic in a plumbing company, where the young man's engineering talents began to appear.
Contemporaries, without suspecting it, are now using the "inventions" of the founding father of the eminent automobile brand: an automatic lawn irrigation system, a drain mechanism in the toilet cistern, enameled baths, which he replaced with cast iron ones.
When the firm had problems, Buick took responsibility for resolving them and soon became the head of the enterprise. Together with his high school buddy William Sherwood, he quickly got the plumbing business back on its feet, transforming it into a thriving company providing the latest, quality products and state-of-the-art technology.
And an unknown Scottish boy could have ensured a comfortable existence for the rest of his life, but the principle of "woe from wits" is also valid in America.
2. Grief-entrepreneur
David Buick is not the only talented engineer and automaker who had absolutely no interest in fame or profit. His inquisitive mind demanded discoveries, and technological progress provided more and more opportunities for various kinds of development, experimentation and testing.
Having improved the plumbing industry enough, Buick got bored and turned his attention to the latest fashion - the study of internal combustion engines... Only the lazy did not try to develop them, and David did not want to lag behind them. Without hesitation, he went into conflict with a partner and sold his share in the business and the patent for the technology of enamel bathtubs in order to work on motors.
After creating the prototype, Buick's first thought was its practical application, for example, for technology in agriculture. But it would be too easy for such a captivating nature and such a genius mind, while the first cars that appeared on the roads excited the imagination.
Having created his own company, he first took up the production of ICE units, then, without really establishing mass production, he switched to designing a car. According to scattered information, the model as a whole turned out to be quite good, reliable and powerful enough, but in the process of its creation it "ate" all the capital of the company.
3. Failure or lucky chance
In search of an investor, Buick turned to a businessman from Detroit, with whose funds he planned to reach the stage of mass production. And again, he was so carried away by the process itself that he quickly spent the money he received, without bringing the investor any profit. Detroit entrepreneur withdrew from further cooperation, and Buick's company again suffered a reorganization, and again had to start looking for funds.
The next business partner - a manufacturer of railway cars - also lost patience after a year and only 37 cars produced, and would not have known the world of Buick's creation, if not for a lucky chance.
4. Merger or acquisition
Before breaking off relations with Buick, his companion showed the cars produced to his friend. Ironically, he turned out to be a man whose name has forever entered the annals of automotive history.
William Durant at that time had a very indirect relationship with cars - he traded in carts. But the "self-propelled crew" he saw influenced him so much that he made him who the whole world knows him. Durant became the owner of two auto giants - General Motors and Chevrolet.
He immediately poured "new blood" into the company: financial investments, the latest equipment, an expanded staff of specialists and workers. Compared with 37 copies of Buick, under Durant, the enterprise began to produce 750, and then even up to one and a half thousand cars a year.
And what about the ideological inspirer of the company? David Buick, although he was officially listed as the director of the enterprise, was actually removed from business. He found himself in an unfamiliar environment for himself, when it was necessary not to create, but to work for mass production. Each of his ideas, all attempts to modernize the models came across a misunderstanding of the new owner.
Durant was making excellent profits and increasing popularity, and any improvements would have entailed a waste of time, labor, and questionable bottom line.
We must pay tribute to William Durant - he in no way oppressed or tried to get rid of Buick. He himself realized that he could not give anything more to this enterprise, which began to live its own life.
5. Oblivion or immortality
A talented engineer, enthusiast, entrepreneur David Buick simply had to channel his free time and energy into a new business. But luck turned away from him. The carburetor case lasted only a couple of years. He lost even more money on the stock exchange, where he clumsily tried to play with stocks.
Determined to radically change the scope of activity, Buick took up real estate in Florida, but this investment did not pay off.
Finally, the designer, founder of a successful automobile plant that has become an American classic, went to work ... as a watchman. As David Buick walked to his new job, with no extra dollar to get on the subway, he was driven by cars that bear his name.
He died of intestinal cancer, in poverty and oblivion - the only automaker not earning wealth or fame.
6. Production leader
Nowadays, motorists know little about the Buick brand, and they were once America's most innovative cars. It was these cars that were the first to be produced with fully closed bodies. It was the Buick team who pioneered the ultra-fast body paint technology, reducing it from 4 weeks to just 6 hours.
Then the engine was modernized - an in-line 8-cylinder instead of the outdated 6-cylinder, all wheels received brakes, and the gearbox was equipped with a synchronizer.
After the Great Depression, Buick struck the automotive world with automatic ignition, and then the first models with direction indicators, which other brands did not even have, but decades later.
In the 50s, Buick decides to radically change the rear optics, replacing small bulbs with full-size headlamps.
It should be noted that for more than 100 years of its existence, Buick, although it kept up with the times and even often outstripped it, but never "sagged" under fashion trends... Taking into account the wishes of motorists, he, nevertheless, retained his bright personality, maintaining a unique balance of modernity, manufacturability and good old classics.
7. Fastest
Separately, it is worth highlighting the model GNX of 1987, which became the fastest American car. With a power of 300 horsepower, it covered a hundred kilometers in 4.7 seconds, which is a normal indicator even for modern cars, but simply phenomenal for the 80s.
Immediately after its birth, experts ranked it as collectible. One of these copies, produced in a limited number of 547 cars, in 2017 in perfect condition with a minimum mileage of 362 miles, was auctioned for $ 165,000.
8. Buick emblem
During its long history of existence, the automaker has changed many logos, guided partly by the period of the company's formation, and partly by the owner's egocentrism.
So, for the first 2 years, Buick made it clear that his enterprise would be the most advanced in the country and in the world. Therefore, the emblem adorned Uncle Sam, who walked across the globe, pulling a cart with an engine.
From 1905 to 1930, the logo underwent several variations of the founder's name.: "Buick" stood out in white italics on a black background, then one big "B" contained the rest of the letters, then the background was changed to blue, and the name was made larger and clearer. After the produced models received 8-cylinder power units, the number 8 joined Buick's word.
Drastic changes took place in 1937, when the company was already owned by the giant GM. Designer Ralph Pugh respected Buick's merits and studied its history. It turned out that David Buick belonged to an ancient Scottish family that has its own coat of arms. It contained all the elements of the traditional knightly era: a scarlet background, a diagonal line, like a sling on the shoulder, antlers in one corner and a golden cross in the other.
There were no illustrations of that coat of arms in the literature studied by the designer, so he reproduced it the way he read and felt.
Subsequently, the coat of arms was modified several times, until by 1959 it was divided into 3 separate shields - red, white and blue. They symbolized the models that the company was producing at that time.
The year 1975 was marked by the development of a new line called the Skyhawk - a hawk, which appeared on the updated emblem. He lasted only 5 years, until the usual shields returned to their place.
Even though now they are not painted in any color, they got rid of heroic symbolism and are inscribed in a simple metal circle, they still allow us not to forget the story of a simple Scottish youth who dreamed of cars.
9. Charismatic car
Typically American "big" car could not fail to attract the attention of filmmakers and writers. So, a 1949 convertible with an 8-cylinder engine and a 2-speed automatic transmission became almost the main characters of the dramatic tape "Rain Man"... It was on it that the brothers traveled around America, reflecting on the normalcy and abnormality of human nature.
The equally colorful Regal Grand National or GNX has become world famous for its resemblance to Darth Vader from Star Wars. Thanks to this, the car not only became the unofficial transport of the main antagonist of the heroic epic, but also received the title of "the coolest American car of the 80s."
Let the episodic, but rather vivid role be remembered for the luxurious Grand National, in which Dominic Toretto steals fuel in the Dominican Republic.
Finally, even if GM management denies any analogies and coincidences, the evil Chico from the cartoon Cars very well resembles the Regal model produced in the early 80s.
The most noticeable trace in the literature should be called a book dedicated to the eminent brand by the master of horror Stephen King "Almost like a Buick"... This is not the first time the writer uses cars for his stories - it is worth remembering Christina or Uncle Otto's Truck. The inspiration for this novel came from the musical realm, from cult singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his song "From a Buick 6".
10. First concept car
The Y-Job model did not make a splash in any car dealership, did not go into mass production, did not become a rarity. But at the time of its creation in 1938, it was the first concept car in the world. The black body, with a soft folding roof, futuristic streamlined shapes, a horizontal radiator grille in their style were ahead of the time of years that way by 15, and therefore were not understood by motorists. Therefore, first the car went to the personal use of GM designer Harley Earl, and then to the museum as an honorary exhibit.
After the success of Buick's cars, William Durant's ambitions skyrocketed and he was seized by "gigantomania". He began building his global corporation by buying Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland, an auto parts company, then a paint shop and a wheel rim plant.
He wanted to satisfy the needs of each client, to provide the widest possible choice of brands of any configuration and price category. But against the backdrop of all these additional divisions, it was Buick that has always remained General Motors' flagship, the best-selling brand for many years, a whole cult milestone in American history.
Buick
