David Dunbar Buick (1854 - 1929)

Born 17 Sep 1854 in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Mar 1929 at age 74 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA

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Biography

David Buick is Notable.

David Buick was a Scottish-American inventor and automotive pioneer, best known for starting the car company that became the Buick Motor Division of General Motors Corporation (GM).

David Dunbar Buick was born on 17 Sep 1854 at 26 Green Street in the fishing village of Arbroath, Scotland and baptized on 15 Oct 1854. ^[1] His father, Alexander Buick, was a joiner and carpenter. His mother Jean or Jane "Jenny" Rogers was a servant at a nearby inn. ^[1]

When he was two years old, the family emigrated to America and settled in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA which was a busy lumber town at the time. His father died 3 years later and his mother went to work for a candy butcher to support the family. She remarried in 1865 to Daniel Wilson. By the end of 1865, David had thrown an inkwell at a teacher, quit school and left Detroit, Michigan, USA to work on a farm.

Four years later, he returned to Detroit, Michigan, USA and at 15 years old, he got a job with the Alexander Manufacturing Company, making plumbing fixtures. When the business failed in 1882, he and an old school friend, William Sherwood took it over with Buick as president of the new enterprise.

David had poor business skills but he was an inveterate tinker and developed a number of improvements to the company's products. His most lasting contribution to the plumbing industry was the invention of a method of bonding porcelain enamel to cast iron bathroom fixtures. This was a huge improvement and a much sought-after status symbol in those days, which is still in use today. The partners prospered modestly.

Had he stayed with his plumbing company, it's quite possible he would have been a very wealthy man. But, like so many tinkers and inventors of the time, he was captivated by the new internal combustion engine and the automobile. His experience with cast iron bathtubs would put him in an excellent position to start manufacturing cast iron engine components.

In 1899 he established the Auto Vim and Power Company to produce gasoline engines for farm and stationary use.

His newfound obsession with engines was the final straw for an already strained partnership. His old friend and partner finally laid down the law, telling David to either get on with their real business or get out of it.

In 1900 he decided to concentrate on gas engines and cars and sold his share of the plumbing business for $100,000 (a large sum of money at that time) to raise capital for his new venture.

In 1902 he organized the Buick Manufacturing Company to make engines for various car makers and to make cars himself. Although there is some controversy over this, David Buick is credited with developing the modern overhead valve internal combustion engine design that made Buick Motor Division famous and is still widely used in car engines today.

His mastery of automotive design was unfortunately not matched by his financial acumen or management skills. By the end of 1902, he had built his first car, but he had already burned through his original investment, and strapped for cash, he sold the car.

His company was bankrupt. To keep the struggling company afloat, he borrowed $5,000 from a friend, Benjamin Briscoe, who didn't doubt David's mechanical skills, but was wary of his business abilities. When Briscoe heard that a firm at Flint, Michigan, 115 miles from Detroit, was thinking of starting car production, he persuaded David to team up with them. Briscoe succeeded in selling the Buick company to James Whiting of the Flint Wagon Works company.

A year later, with Whiting as General Manager and Buick as President, the Buick Manufacturing Company turned out its second car ... designated Model B. However, as before, the company was deep in debt and unprofitable. At that time, the Whitings began looking for a buyer for the company. At this point, William C. Durant came onto the scene. A brilliant business man, he'd already made a fortune in the carriage industry. He took over the Buick company and recapitalized it, substantially diluting the equity interests of Buick, the Briscoes and the Whitings.

On 01 Nov 1904, Durant became general manager of the Buick Motor Company with David Buick as president.

Durant, who would later create General Motors, was a go-getter. Like Ford, he knew the industry's future lay in speeding up production and cutting assembly costs. But Buick was a craftsman who regarded each car as a unique invention. One of the two had to go. It was David Buick. In 1906, aged 52, David severed his last link with the firm he founded and returned to Detroit, Michigan, with his wife and son.

Under Durant, the Buick company went on from strength to strength. In 1908, Durant acquired Oakland (later renamed Pontiac), Oldsmobile and Cadillac to form General Motors. Chevrolet joined in 1915. Britain's Vauxhall was acquired in 1926, and Germany's Opel some years later.

In 1921 Ben Briscoe wrote sadly that had David been able to keep his shares in the firm, they would have been worth more than $10,000,000 at that time. Their value today would be almost incalculable.

David Dunbar Buick married secondly on 21 Aug 1923 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA to Margrart J. Harrington. ^[2]

In 1923 Buick production reached 100,000 cars a year. Today there is a 300-acre complex employing 20,000 people and producing 350,000 cars a year.

In February 1929 at 74 years old, he was still working as an inspector at Detroit's trade school. Though he had faded into obscurity and impoverished, he was not bitter. ^[3] He died of colon cancer on 05 Mar 1929 at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA. ^[4] He was buried at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA. ^[5]

His wife died some years later and his son Thomas died in 1943.

The Buick company turned one hundred on 19 May 2003. It was the company upon which the world's largest auto company, General Motors, was built.

The house where David Buick was born no longer stands. It was demolished years ago to make way for new council houses. But as the birthplace of a man who greatly influenced transport, its setting is appropriately close to the burgh's new four-lane throughway, Burnside Drive. Arbroath could do worse than rename it Buick Way, as a tribute to Scotland's most remarkable forgotten son.

Children

1. Thomas David Buick (1878-1943)
2. Frances "Fanny" Jane Buick (1879-1961)
3. Maybelle "Mabel" Lucille Buick (1883-1961)
4. Wynton Rodger Buick (1898-1966) m: Ethyl L. Francis.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Birth record for David Buik, b: 17 Sep 1854; bapt: 15 Oct 1854 (mother: Jane Rogers & father: Alexander Buick, occ: joiner) with several witnesses (image attached here)
2. ↑ Michigan, Marriage Records 1867-1952 on ancestry.com citing Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics in Lansing, MI, USA; film#172; desc: 1923 Wayne County, Michigan; record#253826; for Margrart J. Harrington & David D. Buick @58yrs, b: c1865 Scotland (father: Alick Buick & mother: Jane Rogers) res: Detroit, Michigan; m: 21 Aug 1923 Detroit, Michigan, USA
3. ↑ "The Real Ghost in Buick's Past" by Bill Cawthon on 2003/07/01
4. ↑ [1] at the Archives of Michigan
5. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #145 for David Dunbar Buick, b: 17 Sep 1854; d: 05 Mar 1929; buried: Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dunbar_Buick

• "United States Census 1870" database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHCT-MDS : 12 Apr 2016) citing NARA#M593; FHL#552,212; p3, family#26; for David Wilson in household of remarried mother, Jenny Wilson, res: Michigan, USA (believe he is supposed to be Buick instead of Wilson)

• 1880 USA Census of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; on ancestry.com citing roll#613; ed#305; p324B; on Montcalm Street; house#207; dwelling#306; which included ...

25 Buick David B., b: c1855 Scotland Scotland/Scotland; occ: brass finisher

25 Buick Carrie (wife#1)

02 Buick Thomas J.

6m Buick Fanny J.

• "United States Census 1900" database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M91W-5VJ : accessed 5 Mar 2019) citing FHL#1,240,753; NARA#T623; ed#160; sheet#17B; family#349; for David Buick, res: Ward#15, Detroit City, Wayne County, Michigan, USA

• "United States Census 1910" database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MV2P-27H : accessed 05 Mar 2019) citing ed#219, sheet#17A; family 449, FHL#1,374,093; NARA#T624; roll#80; for David D. Buick, res: Assembly District#70, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA

• 1920 USA Census of Grosse Pointe, Wayne County, Michigan; on ancestry.com citing NARA# T625_820; ed#725; p2B; at East River; which included ...

41 Brieck Thomas D., b: c1879 Michigan Scotland/Scotland; occ: manufacturer - carburetor company

38 Brieck Georgiana (wife)

11 Brieck David D. (son)

65 Brieck David D., b: Scotland Scotland/Scotland (naturalized) occ: inventor in automobile company (widowed father).