Evening star., 1947-03-18
VIC. Durant, IS, Dies,
WAS Twice Ruler
|0f General Motors
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IUt General Motors
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ruptcy, listing assets of $3.50 against
liabilities of $914,231.
In the late 1930s he started q
bowling alley and restaurant ir
Flint, Mich, the first of what he
hoped would be a chain of bowling
alleys in the United States for clear
sports" These ventures brought
him some income in his declining
years.
Alternately commanding the en-
thusiastic cooperation and colo
distrust of Americas greatest bank
ing interests, Mr.. Durant alway.
had the loyal backing Of persona
friends.
To thousands he brought wealth
or gave employment. But to thou
sands of others he personifled the
age-old hope to get rich quick"
Formed Chevrolet Company.
To offset his first loss of Genera
Motors in 1910 he formed the Chew
rolet company, and in 1918 brought
it into the big combination. Bereft
of control a second time in 1920
he launched Durant Motors, Inc.
retired from it gracefully in jan
uary, 1929, and less than a year
later saw virtually all his immense
holdings in industrial stocks wiped
out in the Wall Street crash.
Always an optimist, he rode to
financial heights with successive
boom" eras, refused to sell his
enterprises short and when crashes
came poured his money into the
market in vain attempts to halt
declines. Thus his "croppers" came
in depression years, 1910, 1920 and
1880. He picked up quickly from
the effects of the first two, but the
prolonged depression that followed
the 1929-30 crash baked him.
In September, 1888, in an effort
to raise cash he auctioned of his
37-room residence and its furnish.
ings at Deal, N. j. The sale brought
Sill, ,776.90 including $4,000 for the
house. Mr.. Durant said the fur.
nishings alone had been appraised
at almost s3O0,000 year earlier.
Was Foe of Liquor.
He disliked tobacco intensely, anC
was an open foe of liquor. In July
1923, he offered a prize of $25 900 fol
"the most practicable plan to make
the 18th amendment effective" The
contest drew 23,108 entries. 1t was
won by Maj. Chester P. Mills, former
federal prohibition administrator for
New York.
Mr.. Durant was born in Boston
December 8, 1861. His father was
William Clark Durant and his moth
er the former Rebecca Folger Crapo
daughter of H. H. Crapo, Governor OF
Michigan from 1864 to 1853. The
family moved to Flint and the son
was educated in the public schools
there.
The Durants were moderately
we'll off, but at II William quit school
to work for his grandfather. who
owned a general store and mill. The
pay was rs cents a day.
From the mill he went ION the
road" selling first patent medicines
made by a Flint druggist, and ther
cigars. His sales mounted but he
disliked the tobacco shops he had tc
visit and turned to real estate and
insurance in Flint.
In 1886, when Is, he formed part
nership with j. Dallas bort, clerk in
a hardware store, to buy for $4,000
a carriage factory in Coldwater
Mich Mr. bort had $1,000, MIR
Durant a few hundreds. He Dor.
rowed enough to make up his share
The Durant-Dort Carriage Co
took over a plant" housed in g
small building in which a patented
two-wheel road cart was being made
by hand. MI. Durant handled sales
and financing, Mr.. bort looked after
production. Floods of orders came
in, the factory expanded and ulti-
mately had IA plants scattered
throughout the United States, pro-
ducing a full line of 10000 horse
drawn vehicles yearly. 1t faded
out Of existence in 1910 when the
coming of the automobile had virtu-
ally Cancelled its market. From
1900 on, it's headquarters were in
New York.
Meanwhile, in 1904, Mr.. Durant
had taken over the Flint Wagon
Works, then in financial difficulties
This company had acquired patents
and manufacturing rights to an
automobile designed by David Buick
and Mr.. Durant organized the Buick
Motors Co. with a capital Of $10,-
0O0, 900, a gargantuan sum for those
days.
Gave Designer s10,000,0o0.
In working out this deal, the in
terests of Buick were said. to have
been shelved and he left without
conversation. But a few years
later, Durant sent for the designer
and handed him check said to
have been for $4,000, 900, his equ-
table return on a reported initial
investment of few thousand
dollars.
Dazzled by the growth of the
automobile business, Mr.. Durant, in