Automobiles
The Little first was available as a two-seater with a four-cylinder 20-hp engine, and had a wheelbase of 7 ft 7 in (2,310 mm).
Engines for the two automobiles were built by Sterling Motor Company, a Durant-owned company. [3]
| Industry | Automobile |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1911 |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 1913 |
| Fate | Incorporated into Chevrolet in 1913 |
| Headquarters | Flint, Michigan , United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | cars |
| Owner |
|
| Parent | Republic Motors (1912-1913) |
Little Motor Car Company was an automobile manufacturing company founded primarily by William H. Little and William C. Durant that operated from 1911 to 1913. Built in Flint, Michigan, the company was eventually incorporated into the current Chevrolet Motor Company. [1]
After the Panic of 1910–11 and lack of cash from over expansion that led to General Motors' board to oust Durant, Durant began forming other car companies including Chevrolet and Mason Motors. [2] [3] Durant purchased the failing Flint Wagon Works and used the assets to set up the Little Motor Car Company and Mason. [2] The Little Motor Car Company was incorporated on October 19, 1911, by Charles Begole, William Ballenger, William H. Little, and Durant. A.B.C. Hardy (1869-1948) was appointed to manage the Little plant. The Little company was charged with building a small car to fill the void left by Buick Motor's discontinuing the Model 10 and compete with the Ford Motor Company. [4]
The first Little was a four-cylinder released in 1911, and was considered a better auto than Chevrolet. Durant ordered another model, the Little Six, to be produced by the company. The company purchased engines from Sterling, another Durant company. [3]
In 1912, Durant set up Republic Motors to distribute and market both Little and Chevrolet autos. To help Republic, Durant had Littles rebadged as Chevrolets, which increased sales for the vehicle. [5] In July 1912, Republic was incorporated and became the holding corporation for Little, Chevrolet, and Mason companies. [6]
Little also worked at Chevrolet and recommended that Chevrolet construction be moved to Flint to solve pricing issues with the first Chevrolet and keep quality high. The Little plant thus started to build Chevrolets in 1913. However, this made the Little somewhat a duplicate of Chevrolet with a less marketable name. Chevrolet bought the Little Company at the end of 1913. [3]
The Little first was available as a two-seater with a four-cylinder 20-hp engine, and had a wheelbase of 7 ft 7 in (2,310 mm).
Engines for the two automobiles were built by Sterling Motor Company, a Durant-owned company. [3]
William H. "Big Bill" Little was an early automotive manager and namesake of the company and automobiles. He was born in 1876 in Westboro, Massachusetts. Before 1906, he was a manager at Locomobile Company of America in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Little moved to Flint, Michigan, in 1906 to become general manager and plant supervisor for Buick Motor Company under David Dunbar Buick. [3]
With Durant's ousting in 1911, Little joined Durant in his new auto businesses, Chevrolet Motor Company and Little Motor Car Company. [3] Little was an incorporator of both companies and was appointed president of Chevrolet. [4] Later, Little managed Sterling Motor Company, another Durant-owned company, and Scripps-Booth, a major Sterling customer. [3]
By 1920, Little's health was failing, and he died in 1922 at age 46. [3]
Chevrolet, colloquially referred to as Chevy, is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM).
Buick is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobile brands and was the company that established General Motors in 1908. Before the establishment of General Motors, GM founder William C. Durant had served as Buick's general manager and major investor. With the demise of Oldsmobile in 2004, Buick became the oldest surviving American carmaker.
McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited was a Canadian manufacturer of automobiles headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario. Founded by Robert McLaughlin, it once was the largest carriage manufacturing factory in the British Empire.
Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was an American racing driver, mechanic and entrepreneur who co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911.
William Crapo Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, founder of General Motors and co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. Durant founded General Motors and co-founded Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. He also founded Frigidaire.
Durant Motors Inc. was established in 1921 by former General Motors CEO William "Billy" Durant following his termination by the GM board of directors and the New York bankers who financed GM.
Mason Motors, founded by A. C. Mason in cooperation with William C. Durant, was a U.S. truck manufacturer based in Flint, Michigan. As a subsidiary of Durant Motors, Mason Truck built Road King Speed Trucks in the early 1920s. Mason Motors also built automobile engines in 1911, who first led Buick's engine works in Flint. That company was absorbed by Chevrolet in 1915, but remained under the Chevrolet umbrella until January 1, 1918, when it became known as the Motor and Axle Division of Chevrolet.
In the late 1920s, American automotive company General Motors (GM) launched four companion makes to supplement its existing lineup of five-passenger car brands, or makes. The companion makes were LaSalle, introduced for the 1927 model year to supplement Cadillac; Marquette, introduced in 1929 for 1930 to supplement Buick; Pontiac, introduced for 1926 to supplement Oakland; and Viking, introduced for 1929 to supplement Oldsmobile. GM's fifth existing brand, Chevrolet, did not receive a companion make. With the exception of Viking, each of the companion makes were slotted below their "parent make" in GM's pricing hierarchy.
Robert R. Burman was an American racing driver. He was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compete in the first edition of the Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
Marquette was an American automobile manufacturer established by General Motors in 1909 after the purchase of the Rainier Motor Car Company. The Marquette Company did not last long and in 1912 GM announced the company would be closed.
Flint, Michigan is a city which previously relied on its automotive industry, and still does to an extent. Over the past several decades, General Motors plants in Genesee County have experienced re-namings, management shifts, openings, closures, reopenings, and spinoffs.
Scripps-Booth was a United States automobile marque based in Detroit, Michigan. Established by James Scripps Booth in 1913, Scripps-Booth Company produced motor vehicles and was later acquired by General Motors, becoming a division of it, until the brand was discontinued in 1923.
The Monroe was a Brass Era and vintage car built in Flint, Michigan (1914–1916), Pontiac, Michigan (1916–1918), and Indianapolis, Indiana (1918-1923).
The Chevrolet Series C Classic Six is the first automobile produced by American car manufacturer Chevrolet, from 1911 to 1914. It is one of the few Chevrolets made while record-setting Buick race car driver Louis Chevrolet was with the company. This Brass Era Chevy was much larger, more powerful, more stylized and therefore more expensive than the cars that would ultimately replace it. Louis Chevrolet loved it, but William Durant had a cheaper car in mind.
Durant-Dort Carriage Company was a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, Michigan. Founded in 1886, by 1900 it was the largest carriage manufacturer in the country.
Josiah Dallas Dort was an American engineer and automobile pioneer of the United States automobile industry. He was born in Inkster, Michigan on February 27, 1861. His father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was 10. Dort left school at age 15 to help his mother in business and to work at a crockery firm. He moved to Flint, Michigan in 1879. In 1881, he began working at a Flint hardware store, and within a few years opened his own hardware store.
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Durant-Dort Factory One is a former cotton textile, carriage, and automobile factory in Flint, Michigan, that is now an archive and a center for research, meetings, and the community. The building was constructed in 1880 as a cotton textile factory. It produced carriages for the Durant-Dort Carriage Company from 1886 to 1917 and then produced cars for the Dort Motor Car Company from 1917 to 1924. It is often considered the birthplace of General Motors (GM).
The Buick 60 Special is an early American racing car, two of which were built by Buick in 1910. It is one of the first US-built cars with just a single seat for the driver that was centrally located. The car is nicknamed the Buick Bug.
James H. Whiting was an American industrialist and automobile pioneer. Without any engineering experience and a clear conception of the manufacture, sale, and marketing of automobiles, he produced and sold buggies, carts, and farm wagons. He was a co-founder of Flint Wagon Works, which later became Chevrolet Flint Manufacturing. He was the competitor of William C. Durant in the manufacture of carriages.