Like so many, David Dunbar Buick came to America has an immigrant with big dreams. His family left home when he was a toddler, and in the coming years, Mr. Buick would come to love the internal combustion engine.
So, after leaving his career in plumbing manufacturing in 1899, Buick set out to chase a dream. He began Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in Detroit, Michigan, with hopes to revolutionize the agriculture industry, according to The Scotsman. In three years, Buick had built just one vehicle and drained all of his resources in the process.
Nevertheless, he persisted. In 1902, he founded Buick Motor Company and began work on his valve-in-head engine. His work paid off when a man by the name of William Durant purchased Buick Motor Company as the beginning of what would become General Motors. Buick’s one share in the company was purchased for $100,000 in 1906, equivalent to about $2.7 million today.
Buick should have stopped there, though. While his old company was finding its footing, he returned to the industry in the 1920s with Lorraine Motors. It never caught on, and by 1928, Buick was completely broke. One year later, he died of cancer at age 74.
Years later, his legacy lives on and his name is attached to millions of vehicles across the world. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1974 for his contribution to the blooming auto industry in the late 19th century.
Comments
I can understand why the Scotsman left Scotland. It is a dump with a terrible economy and high drug rate.
It isn’t really that bad. There’s no denying Scotland has it’s problems and it has certainly suffered from the decline of the British Empire as well a being plagued with decades of vicious socialism but if you go to the right places it can still be quite nice.
So what was the high drug rate in 1875?
Drugs are bad, mmmmkayy. Old and crusty horn, I hope you don’t soil your system with:
Caffeine
Alcohol
Naproxen
Acetaminophen
Dextromethorphan
Because if you do, you’re a hypocrite.
It was 1856, I think, not even 1875.
Buick, being a two year old toddler, it seems, actually left Scotland in 1856, since he was born in 1854.
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