Buick Motor Division
General Motors Corporation
1051 E. Hamilton Avenue
Flint, Michigan 48550
Website: www.Buick.con
The Buick Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan was the automobile company on which William Durant built the General Motors Corporation.
David Dunbar Buick built a small plumbing business in Detriot, Michigan, and developed a method of annealing porcelain to iron, making white bathtubs possible. In 1900 he started experimenting with gasoline engines and developed the valve-in-head engine that became a Buick hallmark
Buick formed the Buick Motor Car Company and began automobile manufacturing in 1903. A year later Buick was joined by William C. Durant. In 1907, Buick left the Buick Motor Car Company due to differences with Durant.
In 1908, Durant formed General Motors Corp , making the Buick Motor Company a division of the new company, and by buying the Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland car companies.
The original Buick cars built in 1903 had a flat-twin engine mounted amidship under the floor, a common design in early cars. What made the Buick engines different were that they were mechanically operated by full overhead valves, a feature of all cars bearing the Buick name. The transmission was two-speed planetary with final drive by chain.
Four-cylinder engines were introduced in 1907. In 1909 Bob Burman drove a Buick to victory in the first race ever held at the Indianapolis Speedway.
In 1915 the American Red Cross chose Buick for its ambulances.
1930 - The Buick Division of General Motors creates a new brand, "Marquette" to build a smaller, less expensive car. The brand lasted only one year even though over 35,000 were sold.
| Year | Production |
| 1909 | 14,606 |
| 1916 | 126,000 |
| 1929 | 196,104 |
| 1930 | 181,743 |
| 1940 | 311,000 |
