 In
1899, Scottish-born David Buick turned from plumbing to
making engines and went into business as an automobile
manufacturer. By 1903, though, his Buick Motor Company
was in financial trouble. In an effort to locate new investors,
he dispatched Buick engineer Walter Marr to the little
town of Flint, Michigan, to see if he could persuade the
partners of a prosperous carriage and wagon maker there
to take a stake in the company.
 While one of the carriage makers went for a ride with
Marr in his car and immediately learned to drive it himself
the other partner, Billy Durant, wouldn’t so much
as look at it. Undaunted, Marr drove the car back and
forth in front of Durant’s house that evening, and
the next morning he returned. Impressed by Marr’s
persistence, Durant this time agreed to go for a ride.
Only then did Durant realize that Marr wasn’t trying
to sell him the car –he was trying to sell him the
company.
Durant
was never one to pass up a business opportunity –he
collected companies the way somebody’s pack-rat
uncle might collect broken lawn mowers and obscure gadgets.
He borrowed a Buick for three months, tested it exhaustively,
and then took over the company and set it back on its
feet. Although he had no engineering experience, within
three years Durant had raised annual production from
37 cars to 8,000.
 Part of the explosion in production came from the McLaughlin
Motor Car Company in Ontario, which began designing
and building cars with Buick engines in 1907.
 
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