Customer Reviews

The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors

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This is another good book on my hero Mr. William C. Durant the creator of GM. Mr. Durant defiantly affected the early automobile history more than any other one man ever. He was the worlds largest cart maker back in Flint Mi. & went on to save Buick from certain bankruptcy. Also creating GM with Buick as the cornerstone car & then adding Olds, Cadillac & Oakland (the forerunner to Pontiac) & many others that didn't pan out. He also started Chevrolet with his famous Buick race car driver Louis Chevrolet. Some other good reads are The Dream Maker 1979 by Bernard Weisberger and Billy Durant by Lawrence Gustin 1973. ... Sincerely Lance Haynes President Durant Motors Automobile Club

It's a story of a vibrant, fast acting dreamer named William Durant who had his start making horse carriages in Flint, Michigan with his partner Dort. He being the salesman, then pre-sold orders for their carriages at a fair, contracted the work out, then worked in a frenzy to fulfill all those orders. It wasn't long until those working on the carriages understood what Durant and Dort were doing, and wanted their own piece of the pie. With a little luck, they managed to survive intense start up competition the first few fragile years, then, in 1908, Durant alone established General Motors through the strategic acquisition (and even more luck) of several existing auto manufacturers (including Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac). He also actively pursued vertical and horizontal integration into the manufacturing process by acquiring rubber plantations, etc. at the closest level to the source. It's fascinating to listen to the "who" behind the names of today's leading auto lines (ie. Louie "Chevrolet" - was a race car driver), etc. and to imagine that Henry Ford and William Durant considered a viable merger that would have completely changed history! From a financial standpoint now, it's easy to see Durant's forecast for financial ruin. It was his tremendous speed and passion which he acted, but often lacked methodical planning or prudence. His pursuit of being "big" and acquiring at least one new company every month, led to a repeated pattern of over-extension and debt feeding his ego; which eventually ruined him, not once, but three times. He then became involved with Dupont, Morgan and the other "high powered" names of history in an effort to re-build his own auto "empire" with a different name - each failed. Each time, his persistence kept him going - and that's truly admirable. He never gave up after each failure! It's inspiring to read (or listen to if you get lucky and find an audio version.)

First class narrative about the guy who changed history and gave Sloan the chance to rationalize his existence. Well-written and concise. More human than Willie and Alfred. Good reading if you like the captains of industry.....er Wall Street!

Fascinating book not only about William Durant, but also about the birth of the auto industry in the United States. I highly recommend this book.

I was born, grew up and lived in Flint, MI. To say Michael Moore is wrong would be less than truthful. He's right, Flint isn't a pretty place, it wasn't GM's faught they left. GM built this town, they owe it nothing. It doesn't take more than 15 mins of driving or looking at crime stats to see that it's not GM causing Flint's current problems.

This book not only illustrated the life of William C. Durant and the creation of GM, but also the rise of Flint from a lumber town of a couple thousand to a leading industrial town of many tens of thousands. The story of Durant is littered with names people living in Flint would recognize, Sloan, Dort, Kettering, AC, Whiting, Whaley, Chevrolet, Dodge, Chrysler, Ford and the list goes on.

Durant was a 100% capitalist, almost the kind you would see as a bad character in a movie. He wasn't ruthless with his workers, just his competition. Instead of beating them head to head he would buy them out, those that didn't sell faced a shrinking market with increased difficulty buying goods. Ford became his strongest competitor, however, Ford stuck with the Model T which he said, "They can have any color they want, as long as it's black." Meanwhile GM threw every new innovation on every new product line. Causing Ford to retire the less loved T after 10,000,000 sold.

Durant at one point was one of the richest men in America lost his GM to the DuPont family. He started Durant motors and invested heavily into the stock market. As fellow heavy investor, Joe P. Kennedy had the common sense to get out in summer 1929, Durant stayed in, pumping million after million in to sure up his stocks (which had worked before) only to see his assets whipped out and him left in bankruptcy.

The great man he was he didn't flinch when his estate on the Jersey shore was sold off, he went back to Flint and built bowling alleys. Durant signed off on the first marketable fridge, the Frigidaire. The self starter, inflated tires, enclosed chassis and that list goes on.

Durant put Flint on the map by following the money, being a torn in the eye of Henry Ford, the DuPont brothers, and Wall Street, men as such don't come around often, but when they do, they need to be remembered.