CATTON SUBJECT In 1928, a young man by the name of Bruce Catton, who was later to become one of the nation's most successful writer of books about the Civil War here in America, was interviewing a worn, tired, little man who was perched on a rickety stool behind a counter top bearing a hand-drawn sign:"Information Desk" in the foyer of the "Detroit School of Trades". The irony of such a situation set in those glorious days just a year ahead of the Stock Market crash which was to create paupers aplenty held a cruel irony. The name of the older man was known world-wide and the fame of the newspaperman yet to be discovered.
The young man was there to find out how and why that menial desk job was being done by a man whom he had found not afford a telephone where he lived. He had already written the man name on his notebook page- "David Dunbar Buick."
He had come to America from Scotland at the age of two brought here by his father Alexander Buick who was actively engaged from the start in a plumbing fixtures which was going to bring him him wealth and satisfaction. He was inventive by nature and had found a process whereby he could, and did, heat-blend porcelain to iron to make, for instance, white bathtubs, sinks and other bathroom fixtures. His future seemed assured but he died within three years and young David's mother, from that time on, worked in a nearby candy store. The boy grew to be a plumber and worked at the Alexander Manufacturing Company making plumbing fixtures. He and a schooldays friend,William Sherwood took over the company in 1882. Some biographers credit David with the invention of the porcelain-coating process but most attribute that to his father. David, did, however, make a number of improvements on products and he invented a workable lawn sprinkler system. It is said that. had he stayed with plumbing business he and his and his friend might have done very well, but David, like so many young men of his era. Many seem to think "Buick & Sherwood", had they stayed with it, might well have earned a good living, but David was fascinated, as were so many young men of his era, by the combustion engine.
That began a series of events in his life which would bring him success and failure again and again. Sherwood told him to get with it or get out of the plumbing business, so David sold his half of the business to his partner. He put the one hundred thousand dollars into a new company to manufacture combustion engines. He planned to built marine and stationary combustion engines at his new "Buick Auti-Vim Company". He hired a gifted machinist by the name of Walter Lorenzo Marr. By August 1901 they had built their first automobile, and Buick, strapped for cash, sold the car to Marr for $225.
The following year the company - now the Buick Manufacturing Company - developed the "valve-in-head" engine which would become standard in the industry for power and efficiency and the Buick Motor Company was organized under terms he would regret for the rest of his life. His partner in the firm - Benjamin Briscoe - put up $99,700 of the $100,000 needed and David $300. David Buick was named as "President". Very shortly, Briscoe, decided he wanted "out". All he required was his money back. The Flint Wagon Works - the largest manufacturer of horse drawn vehicles in the country bought the firm with Buick as the firm's Secretary. He was alloted 1500 shares but would not receive the dividend until he paid his personal debts. Buick cars were in production in 1904 when carriage-maker William Durant took over as Manager. Buick sold his stock for mere hundred thousand when he, too, was squeezed out. He tried to design a new car in 1923 in California but produced only a single prototype model. He never held any bitterness against William Durant but witnessed him being squeezed out when General Motors took over. In the interview with writer Bruce Catton, Buick showed no bitterness or regret over his strange career which, despite mis-adventures, put his family crest on millions of the nations finest cars.
A.L.M. March 18, 2005 [c730wds]
