1.
Automotive
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The automotive industry is a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles, some of them are called automakers. It is one of the worlds most important economic sectors by revenue, the term automotive was created from Greek autos, and Latin motivus to represent any form of self-powered vehicle. This term was proposed by Elmer Sperry, the automotive industry began in the 1890s with hundreds of manufacturers that pioneered the horseless carriage. For many decades, the United States led the world in automobile production. In 1929, before the Great Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, at that time the U. S. had one car per 4.87 persons. After World War II, the U. S. produced about 75 percent of auto production. In 1980, the U. S. was overtaken by Japan, in 2006, Japan narrowly passed the U. S. in production and held this rank until 2009, when China took the top spot with 13.8 million units. With 19.3 million units manufactured in 2012, China almost doubled the U. S. production, with 10.3 million units, from 1970 over 1998 to 2012, the number of automobile models in the U. S. has grown exponentially. Safety is a state that implies to be protected from any risk, danger, in the automotive industry, safety means that users, operators or manufacturers do not face any risk or danger coming from the motor vehicle or its spare parts. Safety for the automobiles themselves, implies there is no risk of damage. Safety in the industry is particularly important and therefore highly regulated. Automobiles and other vehicles have to comply with a certain number of norms and regulations, whether local or international. The standard ISO26262, is considered as one of the best practice framework for achieving automotive functional safety. In case of safety issues, danger, product defect or faulty procedure during the manufacturing of the motor vehicle and this procedure is called product recall. Product recalls happen in every industry and can be production-related or stem from the raw material, however, the automotive industry is still particularly concerned about product recalls, which cause considerable financial consequences. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007, consuming over 980 billion litres of gasoline, the automobile is a primary mode of transportation for many developed economies. The Detroit branch of Boston Consulting Group predicts that, by 2014, meanwhile, in the developed countries, the automotive industry has slowed down. It is also expected that this trend will continue, especially as the generations of people no longer want to own a car anymore
2.
David Dunbar Buick
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David Dunbar Buick was a Scottish-born American Detroit-based inventor, best known for founding the Buick Motor Company. He headed this company and its predecessor from 1899 until 1906, Buick was born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland and moved to Detroit at the age of two with his family. He left school in 1869 and worked for a company which made plumbing goods, when the company ran into trouble in 1882, he and a partner took it over. Although cast iron baths are uncommon nowadays, the method is still in use for enameling them, with the combination of Buicks innovation and his partners sound business management the company became quite successful. During the 1890s, Buick developed an interest in internal combustion engines and he was spending little time on the plumbing business, and his business partner became impatient with him. The partnership was dissolved and the company was sold, Buick now had the time and capital to work on engines full-time, and he set up a new company, the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company, in 1899 to do so. The stated aim of the company was to market engines for agricultural use, Buick soon turned to the development of a complete car, rather than just an engine. He also concentrated on research and development at the expense of manufacturing, the result was that he consumed his capital by early 1902 without generating any significant return, other than a single car. In early 1902, he established the Buick Manufacturing Company, with the objectives of marketing engines to other car companies, Manufacturing and development problems at the end of 1902, Buick was out of money with only one car to show for his work. The concentration on development had produced the revolutionary Valve-in-Head overhead valve engine and this method of engine construction produces a much more powerful engine than the rival side valve engine design used by all other manufacturers at the time. Overhead valve engines are used by most car manufacturers but now only GM, since overhead cam engines are design variants of OHV engines, it is fair to classify virtually all modern engines as derivatives of Buicks invention. The money ran out again and in 1903 Buick was forced to more money via a $5,000 loan from a friend and fellow car enthusiast. With this financial help from Briscoe, Buick formed the Buick Motor Company which would become the cornerstone of the General Motors empire. In 1906, Buick accepted a severance package and left the company that he had founded, then president of Buick, William C. Durant, bought this share from him for $100,000, in an interview with historian Bruce Catton in 1928, Buick admitted that he was almost completely broke, unable to even afford a telephone, and an instructor at the Detroit School of Trades. The following year, he died from cancer on March 5,1929 at the age of 74. Commentator, Theodore F. McManus, noted that Fame beckoned to David Buick and he sipped from the cup of greatness, and then spilled what it held. In 2000, automotive historian Vincent Curcio observed that To date, over 35,000,000 motor cars have been built in his name and he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1974
3.
Detroit
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Detroit is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Michigan, the fourth-largest city in the Midwest and the largest city on the United States–Canada border. It is the seat of Wayne County, the most populous county in the state, the municipality of Detroit had a 2015 estimated population of 677,116, making it the 21st-most populous city in the United States. Roughly one-half of Michigans population lives in Metro Detroit alone, the Detroit–Windsor area, a commercial link straddling the Canada–U. S. Border, has a population of about 5.7 million. Detroit is a port on the Detroit River, a strait that connects the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Detroit Metropolitan Airport is among the most important hubs in the United States, the City of Detroit anchors the second-largest economic region in the Midwest, behind Chicago, and the thirteenth-largest in the United States. Detroit and its neighboring Canadian city Windsor are connected through a tunnel and various bridges, Detroit was founded on July 24,1701 by the French explorer and adventurer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and a party of settlers. During the 19th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of the Great Lakes region, with expansion of the American automobile industry in the early 20th century, the Detroit area emerged as a significant metropolitan region within the United States. The city became the fourth-largest in the country for a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, suburban expansion continued with construction of a regional freeway system. A great portion of Detroits public transport was abandoned in favour of becoming a city in the post-war period. Due to industrial restructuring and loss of jobs in the auto industry, between 2000 and 2010 the citys population fell by 25 percent, changing its ranking from the nations 10th-largest city to 18th. In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and this resulted from suburbanization, corruption, industrial restructuring and the decline of Detroits auto industry. In 2013, the state of Michigan declared an emergency for the city. Detroit has experienced urban decay as its population and jobs have shifted to its suburbs or elsewhere, conservation efforts managed to save many architectural pieces since the 2000s and allowed several large-scale revitalisations. More recently, the population of Downtown Detroit, Midtown Detroit, paleo-Indian people inhabited areas near Detroit as early as 11,000 years ago. In the 17th century, the region was inhabited by Huron, Odawa, Potawatomi, for the next hundred years, virtually no British, colonist, or French action was contemplated without consultation with, or consideration of the Iroquois likely response. When the French and Indian War evicted the Kingdom of France from Canada, the 1798 raids and resultant 1799 decisive Sullivan Expedition reopened the Ohio Country to westward emigration, which began almost immediately, and by 1800 white settlers were pouring westwards. By 1773, the population of Detroit was 1,400, by 1778, its population was up to 2,144 and it was the third-largest city in the Province of Quebec
4.
Car
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A car is a wheeled, self-powered motor vehicle used for transportation and a product of the automotive industry. The year 1886 is regarded as the year of the modern car. In that year, German inventor Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, cars did not become widely available until the early 20th century. One of the first cars that was accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the United States of America, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, cars are equipped with controls used for driving, parking, passenger comfort and safety, and controlling a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, examples include rear reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in car entertainment. Most cars in use in the 2010s are propelled by a combustion engine. Both fuels cause air pollution and are blamed for contributing to climate change. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries, electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, began to become commercially available in 2008. There are costs and benefits to car use, the costs of car usage include the cost of, acquiring the vehicle, interest payments, repairs and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance. The costs to society of car use include, maintaining roads, land use, road congestion, air pollution, public health, health care, road traffic accidents are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide. The benefits may include transportation, mobility, independence. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of societies and it was estimated in 2010 that the number of cars had risen to over 1 billion vehicles, up from the 500 million of 1986. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, the word car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum, or the Middle English word carre. In turn, these originated from the Gaulish word karros, the Gaulish language was a branch of the Brythoic language which also used the word Karr, the Brythonig language evolved into Welsh where Car llusg and car rhyfel still survive. It originally referred to any wheeled vehicle, such as a cart, carriage. Motor car is attested from 1895, and is the formal name for cars in British English. Autocar is a variant that is attested from 1895
5.
General Motors
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With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, United States, GM manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2008,8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under various brands, current auto brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, and Wuling. Former GM automotive brands include McLaughlin, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall, the company was founded by William C. Durant on September 16,1908 as a holding company. The company was the largest automobile manufacturer from 1931 through 2007, in addition to brands selling assembled vehicles, GM also has had various automotive-component and non-automotive brands, many of which it divested in the 1980s through 2000s. General Motors produces vehicles in 37 countries under twelve brands, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, HSV, Opel, Vauxhall, Wuling, Baojun, Jie Fang, and Ravon. The current company, General Motors Company LLC, was formed in 2009 following the bankruptcy of General Motors Corporation, the new company purchased the majority of the assets of the old GM, including the brand General Motors. In addition to its twelve brands, General Motors also holds a 20% stake in IMM, General Motors employs 212,000 people and does business in more than 140 countries. General Motors is divided into five segments, GM North America, Opel Group, GM International Operations, GM South America. General Motors led global vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years from 1931 through 2007, longer any other automaker. General Motors acts in most countries outside the U. S. via wholly owned subsidiaries, GMs OnStar subsidiary provides vehicle safety, security and information services. In 2009, General Motors shed several brands, closing Saturn, Pontiac, and Hummer, in 2010, the reorganized GM made an initial public offering that was one of the worlds top five largest IPOs to date, and returned to profitability later that year. General Motors Corporation was formed on September 16,1908, in Flint, Michigan, GMs co-founder was Charles Stewart Mott, whose carriage company was merged into Buick prior to GMs creation. Over the years, Mott became the largest single stockholder in GM, and spent his life with his Mott Foundation, GM acquired Oldsmobile later that year. In 1909, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland, also in 1909, GM acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. Durant, along with R. S. McLaughlin, lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust, because of the amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions. The next year, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in the U. S. and in Canada in 1915, Durant took back control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history. Durant then reorganized General Motors Company into General Motors Corporation in 1916, merging Chevrolet with GM, shortly thereafter, he again lost control, this time for good, after the new vehicle market collapsed. These facilities were added to the factories that were exclusive to Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland
6.
Brand
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A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising, however, the term has been extended to mean a strategic personality for a product or company, so that ‘brand’ now suggests the values and promises that a consumer may perceive and buy into. Branding is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors, the key components that form a brands toolbox include a brand’s identity, brand communication, brand awareness, brand loyalty, and various branding strategies. Brand equity is the totality of a brands worth and is validated by assessing the effectiveness of these branding components. To reach such an invaluable brand prestige requires a commitment to a way of doing business. A corporation who exhibits a strong brand culture is dedicated on producing intangible outputs such as customer satisfaction, reduced price sensitivity and customer loyalty. A brand is in essence a promise to its customers that they can expect long-term security, when a customer is familiar with a brand or favours it incomparably to its competitors, this is when a corporation has reached a high level of brand equity. Many companies are beginning to understand there is often little to differentiate between products in the 21st century. Branding remains the last bastion for differentiation, in accounting, a brand defined as an intangible asset is often the most valuable asset on a corporation’s balance sheet. The word ‘brand’ is often used as a referring to the company that is strongly identified with a brand. Marque or make are often used to denote a brand of motor vehicle, a concept brand is a brand that is associated with an abstract concept, like breast cancer awareness or environmentalism, rather than a specific product, service, or business. A commodity brand is a associated with a commodity. The word, brand, derives from Dutch brand meaning to burn and this product was developed at Dhosi Hill, an extinct volcano in northern India. Roman glassmakers branded their works, with Ennion being the most prominent, the Italians used brands in the form of watermarks on paper in the 13th century. Blind Stamps, hallmarks, and silver-makers marks are all types of brand, industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red-triangle brand as the worlds first trademark. Another example comes from Antiche Fornaci Giorgi in Italy, which has stamped or carved its bricks with the same proto-logo since 1731, cattle-branding has been used since Ancient Egypt. The term, maverick, originally meaning an un-branded calf, came from a Texas pioneer rancher, Sam Maverick, use of the word maverick spread among cowboys and came to apply to unbranded calves found wandering alone
7.
William C. Durant
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William dropped out of high school to work in his grandfathers lumberyard, but by 1885, he had partnered with Josiah Dort to create the Coldwater Road Cart Company. He started out as a salesman in Flint, Michigan. He founded the Flint Road Cart Company in 1886, eventually transforming $2,000 in start-up capital into a business with sales around the world. By 1890, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, based in Flint, had become a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles. Durant also conceived the modern system of automobile dealer franchises, when approached to become general manager of Buick in 1904, he made a similar success and was soon president of this horseless-vehicle company. In 1908, he arranged the incorporation by proxies of General Motors and quickly thereafter sold stock, the acquisitions of Oakland, Cadillac, and parts companies followed in a short order. Originally, Durant was highly skeptical of cars, thinking that they were stinky, loud, by 1900, public outcry for government regulation of gasoline-powered horseless carriages was significant. Durant heard this outcry, and rather than relying on government regulations to improve their safety, to accomplish this, he sought out the purchase of Buick, a local car company with few sales and large debts. In 1904, Durant began realizing his vision of building the car industry and he used his sales skills to enter Buick into a New York auto show, returning with orders for 1,108 cars. Durant and Samuel McLaughlin of Canada signed a 15-year contract to build Buick powertrains at cost plus and that same year, GM bought Buick and Oldsmobile, and started an automobile conglomeration on a major scale. In 1909 Durant bought Cadillac and Oakland, later called Pontiac, on October 26,1909, General Motors Holding acquired the Cartercar Company, founded four years earlier in Jackson, Michigan, by Byron J. Carter. In explaining the reason he purchased Cartercar, Durant said, They say I shouldnt have bought Cartercar, well, how was anyone to know that Carter wasnt to be the thing. It had the drive and no other car had it. How could I tell what these engineers would say next, the GM board decided to use the factory instead to produce the Oakland. Durant had arranged a deal to buy Ford in 1909, but the bankers turned him down. Both Durant and rival Henry Ford foresaw the automobile becoming a mass-market item, Ford followed the course of the basic Model T, and had said Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black. Durant, however, drawing on his experience in the carriage business and this brought about his plans to merge Buick with various other companies to serve this purpose. He purchased Cadillac, and in 1908 formed General Motors by consolidating 13 car companies and 10 parts-and-accessories manufacturers, in 1910, Durant became financially overextended and banking interests assumed control, forcing him from management of GM Holding
8.
Overhead valve engine
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An overhead valve engine is an engine in which the valves are placed in the cylinder head. This was an improvement over the flathead engine, where the valves were placed in the block next to the piston. Overhead camshaft engines, while overhead valve by definition, are usually categorized apart from other OHV engines. Lifters or tappets are located in the block between the camshaft and pushrods. By contrast, overhead camshaft design avoids the use of pushrods by putting the camshaft directly above the valves in the cylinder head, in 1900, Marr was hired as chief engineer at the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in Detroit, where he worked until 1902. Marr said he got the idea of overhead valves when making the small tricycle engine, marrs engine employed pushrod-actuated rocker arms, which in turn pushed valves parallel to the pistons, and this is still in use today. This contrasts with previous designs which use of side valves. Marr left Buick briefly to start his own company in 1902, the Marr Auto-Car. The OHV engine was patented in 1902 by Buicks second chief engineer Eugene Richard, at the Buick Manufacturing Company, precursor to the Buick Motor Company. The worlds first production overhead valve engine was put into the first production Buick automobile, the 1904 Model B, the engine was designed by Marr and David Buick. Eugene Richard of the Buick Manufacturing Company was awarded US Patent #771,095 in 1904 for the valve in head engine. Arthur Chevrolet was awarded US Patent #1,744,526 for an adapter that could be applied to an existing engine, in 1949, Oldsmobile introduced the Rocket V8. It was the first high-compression I-head design, and is the archetype for most modern pushrod engines, general Motors is the worlds largest pushrod engine producer, producing both I4, V6 and V8 pushrod engines. Nowadays, automotive use of side-valves has virtually disappeared, and valves are almost all overhead, however, most are now driven more directly by the overhead camshaft system. Few pushrod-type engines remain in production outside of the United States market and this is in part a result of some countries passing laws to tax engines based on displacement, because displacement is somewhat related to the emissions and fuel efficiency of an automobile. This has given OHC engines a regulatory advantage in those countries, however, in 2002, Chrysler introduced a new pushrod engine, a 5. 7-litre Hemi engine. The new Chrysler Hemi engine presents advanced features such as variable displacement technology and has been an option with buyers. The Hemi was on the Wards 10 Best Engines list for 2003 through 2007, Chrysler also produced the worlds first production variable-valve OHV engine with independent intake and exhaust phasing
9.
Luxury vehicle
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Luxury vehicle is a marketing term for a vehicle that provides luxury — pleasant or desirable features beyond strict necessity — at increased expense. The term is also broad, highly variable and relative and it is a perceptual, conditional and subjective attribute that may be comprehended differently by different people, What is a luxury car to some. Therefore, automakers differentiate among their product lines in collusion with the car-buying public, while a high price is the most frequent factor, it is styling, engineering, and even public opinion which cars had the highest and lowest status associated with them. Every era in history has had a group of car marques and models that have been expensive to purchase, due to their alleged superiority of their design. Aimed at wealthy buyers, such automobiles might be generically termed luxury cars and this term is also used for unique vehicles produced during an era when luxury was individualistic consideration, and coachwork could be tailored to an owner like a bespoke suit. Although there is literature about specific marques, there is a lack of systematic. Luxury vehicle makers may either be stand-alone companies in their own right, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, badge engineering is often used for cost savings, for example, the Lincoln vehicles that are based on Ford platforms or Acura models derived from Honda. Though widely used, the term luxury is broad and highly variable and it is a perceptual, conditional and subjective attribute and may be understood differently by different people, What is a luxury car to some. According to the European Commission, the luxury segment is classified as F-segment. However, the boundaries between the segments are increasingly becoming blurred and diluted as features once exclusive to luxury vehicles become standard equipment on even small cars. ACRISS is a system used by many car rental companies in the US for classifying vehicles. The system includes Luxury and Premium categories, Australia, In Australia, for taxation purposes a luxury car is defined as a passenger car whose value exceeds a certain threshold. France, In France the term voiture de luxe is used, Germany, In Germany the term Upper class is used. Russia, Russian markets use the term representative class vehicle, the classification varies, for instance Consumer Guide Automotive in the U. S. The premium compact segment is targeted at a market of consumers who found the existing entry-level luxury offerings to be too expensive. By offering a smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient, and less expensive vehicle, premium compacts introduces younger buyers to the luxury marque, in hopes of retaining the coveted customer loyalty. This includes the Acura CSX, Audi A3, Buick Verano, BMW2 Series, BMW i3, Cadillac ELR, Chrysler 200, Lexus CT, Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class, Mercedes-Benz B-Class, Saab 9-2X, and the Volvo V40. Premium compacts compete with well-equipped midsize cars, and with options they overlap much with compact executive cars, Premium compacts may share components with mass market cars from the marques parent company, and/or have less sophisticated platforms compared to upmarket vehicles in the lineup
10.
Cadillac
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Cadillac /ˈkædᵻlæk/, formally the Cadillac Motor Car Division, is a division of the U. S. -based General Motors that markets luxury vehicles worldwide. Its primary markets are the United States, Canada, and China, historically, Cadillac automobiles have always held a place at the top of the luxury field within the United States. In 2016, Cadillacs U. S. sales were 170,006 vehicles, Cadillac is among the oldest automobile brands in the world, second in America only to fellow GM marque Buick. The firm was founded from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company in 1902 and it was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded Detroit, Michigan. The Cadillac crest is based on his coat of arms, by the time General Motors purchased the company in 1909, Cadillac had already established itself as one of Americas premier luxury carmakers. The complete interchangeability of its parts had allowed it to lay the foundation for the modern mass production of automobiles. It was at the forefront of advances, introducing full electrical systems, the clashless manual transmission. The brand developed three engines, with its V8 setting the standard for the American automotive industry and it won the trophy again in 1912 for incorporating electric starting and lighting in a production automobile. Cadillac was formed from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company, after a dispute between Henry Ford and his investors, Ford left the company along with several of his key partners in March 1902. Instead, Leland persuaded the pair to continue manufacturing automobiles using Lelands proven single-cylinder engine, a new company called the Cadillac Automobile Company was established on 22 August 1902, re-purposing the Henry Ford Company factory at Cass Street and Amsterdam Avenue. It was named after French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, Cadillacs first automobiles, the Runabout and Tonneau, were completed in October 1902. They were two-seat horseless carriages powered by a 10 hp single-cylinder engine and they were practically identical to the 1903 Ford Model A. Cadillac displayed the new vehicles at the New York Auto Show in January 1903, Cadillacs biggest selling point was precision manufacturing, and therefore, reliability, a Cadillac was simply a better-made vehicle than its competitors. Runabout Rear-entrance tonneau Special bodies The Cadillac Automobile Company merged with Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing, forming The Cadillac Motor Company in 1905. From its earliest years, Cadillac aimed for precision engineering and stylish luxury finishes, Cadillac was the first volume manufacturer of a fully enclosed car in 1906. Cadillac participated in the 1908 interchangeability test in the United Kingdom, in 1912, Cadillac was the first automobile manufacturer to incorporate an electrical system enabling starting, ignition, and lighting. Cadillac was purchased by the General Motors conglomerate in 1909, Cadillac became General Motors prestige division, devoted to the production of large luxury vehicles. It was positioned at the top of GMs vehicle hierarchy, above Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland, in 1915, Cadillac introduced a 90-degree flathead V8 engine with 70 horsepower at 2400 rpm and 180 pound force-feet of torque, allowing its cars to attain 65 miles per hour
11.
Consumer Reports
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Consumer Reports publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory and survey research center. The magazine accepts no advertising, pays for all the products it tests and it also publishes general and targeted product/service buying guides. As of April 2016 it had approximately 7 million subscribers and an annual testing budget of approximately US$25 million, Consumer Reports is well known for its policies on editorial independence, which it says are to maintain our independence and impartiality. CU has no other than the interests of consumers. CR has unusually strict requirements and sometimes has taken extraordinary steps, Consumer Reports does not allow outside advertising in the magazine but its website has retailers advertisements. Consumer Reports states that PriceGrabber places the ads and pays a percentage of fees to CR. Consumer Reports publishes reviews of its business partner and recommends it in at least one case, CR had a similar relationship with BizRate at one time and has had relationships with other companies including Amazon. com, Yahoo. The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BillShrink, CR also accepts grants from other organizations, and at least one high-ranking Consumer Reports employee has gone on to work for a company he evaluated. CR also forbids the use of its reviews for selling products, for example, CR has gone to court to enforce that rule. However, in order to review some products before they are publicly available CR does accept press samples from manufacturers, for most of CRs history it minimized contact with government and industry experts to avoid compromising the independence of its judgment. In 2007, in response to errors in infant car seat testing, it began accepting advice from a range of experts on designing tests. Also, at times CR allows manufacturers to review and respond to criticism before publication, some objective and comparative tests published by Consumer Reports are carried out under the umbrella of the international consumer organization International Consumer Research & Testing. Consumer Reports also uses outside labs for testing, including for 11 percent of tests in 2006, consumerReports. org, the related website is largely available only to paid subscribers. ConsumerReports. org provides updates on product availability, and adds new products to previously-published test results, in 1990, Consumers Union launched Consumer Reports Television. By March 2005 it was hosted by over 100 stations, on August 1,2006 Consumers Union launched ShopSmart, a magazine aimed at young women. In 2008, Consumers Union acquired The Consumerist blog from Gawker Media, WebWatch worked with the Stanford Web Credibility Project, Harvard Universitys Berkman Center, The Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, and others. WebWatch is a member of ICANN, the W3C and the Internet Society, as of July 31,2009, WebWatch has been shut down, though the site is still available. Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs is available free on Consumer Reports Health. org, also in 2005 Consumers Union launched the service Greener Choices, which is meant to inform, engage, and empower consumers about environmentally-friendly products and practices
12.
Harley Earl
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Harley J. Earl was an American automotive designer and business executive. He was the designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president. He was a designer and a pioneer of modern transportation design. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and he subsequently introduced the concept car as both a tool for the design process and a clever marketing device. Earls Buick Y-Job was the first concept car and he started Project Opel, which eventually became the Chevrolet Corvette, and he authorized the introduction of the tailfin to automotive styling. During World War II, he was a contributor to the Allies research. Harley Earl was born in Hollywood, California and his father, J. W. Earl, began work as a coachbuilder in 1889. The senior Earl eventually changed his practice from horse-drawn vehicles to custom bodies and customized parts and accessories for automobiles, Earl began studies at Stanford University, but left prematurely to work with, and learn from, his father at Earl Automotive Works. By this time, the shop was building custom bodies for Hollywood movie stars, including Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, Earl Automotive Works was bought by Cadillac dealer Don Lee, who kept Harley Earl as director of its custom body shop. Lawrence P. Fisher, general manager of the Cadillac division, was visiting Cadillac dealers and distributors around the country, Fisher met Earl at Lees dealership and observed him at work. Fisher, whose career began with coachbuilder Fisher Body, was impressed with Earls designs and methods. Fisher commissioned Earl to design the 1927 LaSalle for Cadillacs companion marque, the success of the LaSalle convinced General Motors president Alfred P. Sloan to create the Art and Color Section of General Motors, and to name Earl as its first director. Prior to the establishment of the Art and Color Section, American automobile manufacturers did not assign any great importance to the appearance of automobile bodies, volume manufacturers built bodies designed by engineers, guided only by functionality and cost. Many luxury-car manufacturers, including GM, did not make bodies at all, the executives at General Motors at the time, including engineers, division heads, and sales executives, viewed Earls conceptual ideas as flamboyant and unfounded. Earl struggled to legitimize his design approach against the tradition- and production-oriented executives, as head of the newly formed Art and Color Section in 1927, he was initially referred to as one of the pretty picture boys, and his design studio as being the Beauty Parlor. In 1937, the Art and Color Section was renamed the Styling Section, Sloan eventually promoted Earl to vice president, making him, to Sloans knowledge, the first styling person to be a VP at a large corporation. Harley Earl and Sloan implemented Dynamic Obsolescence and the Annual Model Change, tying model identity to a specific year and these ideas are largely taken for granted today, but were unusual at the time. In 1939, the Styling Division, under Earls instruction, styled and built the Buick Y-Job, the motor industrys first concept car
13.
Autocar Company
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The Autocar Company is an American specialist manufacturer of severe-duty, Cab Over Engine vocational trucks, based in Hagerstown, Indiana. Started in 1897 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles, the last cars were produced in 1911 and the company continued as an innovative maker of severe-duty trucks. In 1953 Autocar was taken over by the White Motor Company which made Autocar their top-of-the-line brand, White was taken over in turn by Volvo Trucks in 1981 with Autocar continuing as a division. In 2001, it was sold to GVW Group, LLC, Autocar now builds three models of custom-engineered, heavy duty trucks and has regained leading positions in several vocational segments. One of the early cars was the Pittsburgher. By 1907, the company had decided to concentrate on commercial vehicles, Autocar is the oldest surviving motor vehicle brand in the Western Hemisphere. Both Louis Semple Clarke and his brother John S. Clarke were members of the fabled South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Johnstown Flood fame, Autocar founder Louis Semple Clarke was a successful mechanical engineer. Among Clarkes innovations were the spark plug for gasoline engines, a drive shaft system for automobiles. The patented porcelain-insulated spark plug process was sold to Champion and remains the industry standard, Clarke was also a talented photographer. His family were members of the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club above Johnstown, Pennsylvania, whose earthen dam at Lake Conemaugh burst on May 31,1889, Clarke sold his interest in Autocar in 1929 and retired from business. He died in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 6,1957, Autocar experimented with a series of vehicles from 1897, with a tricycle, Autocar No.1 now in the collection of the Smithsonian. In 1899 Autocar built the first motor truck ever produced for sale in North America, the first production Autocar automobile was a 1900 single cylinder chain drive runabout. In 1901 Autocar built the first car in North America to use shaft drive and this vehicle is also now in the Smithsonian collection. The 1904 Autocar was equipped with a tonneau, it could seat 4 passengers, the horizontal-mounted flat-2, situated at the front of the car, produced 11 hp. This was an unusual engine design for the time, with most companies producing inline designs. The steel and wood-framed car weighed 1675 lb, the early cars had tiller steering. In 1905 the company was selling the Type XII car for $2,250 and it discontinued the Type XI and sold the last of them in 1905. The cars now had wheel steering with left hand drive, the Type X was a runabout
14.
Oldsmobile
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Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobiles produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Olds Motor Vehicle Co. was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, in its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory. When it was phased out in 2004, Oldsmobile was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, though it was discontinued in 2004, it still remains an active trademark of the General Motors Company. The closing of the Oldsmobile division presaged a larger consolidation of GM brands, Oldsmobiles were first manufactured by the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In 1901, the company produced 425 cars, making it the first high-volume gasoline-powered automobile manufacturer, Oldsmobile became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years around 1903-4. Ransom Olds left the company in 1904 because of a dispute, the 1901 to 1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced car, made from the first automotive assembly line, an invention that is often miscredited to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. By March 1901, the company had a line of models ready for mass production. However, a mistake by a worker caused the factory to catch fire, the only car that survived the fire was a Curved Dash prototype, which was wheeled out of the factory by two workers while escaping the fire. A new factory was built in Lansing, and production of the Curved Dash commenced, officially, the cars were called Olds automobiles, but were colloquially referred to as Oldsmobiles. It was this moniker, as applied especially to the Curved Dash Olds, the last Oldsmobile Curved Dash was made in 1907. General Motors purchased the company in 1908, the 1910 Limited Touring was a high point for the company. Riding atop 42-inch wheels, and equipped with white tires. The Limited retailed for US$4,600, an amount greater than the purchase of a new, buyers received goatskin upholstery, a 60 hp 707 CID straight-six engine, Bosch Magneto starter, running boards and room for five. Options included a speedometer, clock, and a glass windshield. A limousine version was priced at $5,800, in 1926, the Oldsmobile Six came in five body styles, and ushered in a new GM bodystyle platform called the GM B platform, shared with Buick products. In 1929, as part of General Motors companion make program, Oldsmobile introduced the higher standard Viking brand, Viking was discontinued already at the end of the 1930 model year although an additional 353 cars were marketed as 1931 models. This transmission features a conventional clutch pedal, which the driver presses before selecting either low or high range, in low, the car shifts between first and second gears. In high, the car shifts among first, third and fourth gears, for the 1940 model, Oldsmobile was the first auto manufacturer to offer a fully automatic transmission, called the Hydramatic, which features four forward speeds
15.
Studebaker
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Studebaker /ˈstjuːdəbeɪkər/ STEW-də-bay-kər) was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the military. Studebaker entered the business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles. Until 1911, its automotive division operated in partnership with the Garford Company of Elyria, Ohio, the first gasoline automobiles to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912. Over the next 50 years, the established a reputation for quality and reliability. After years of problems, in 1954 the company merged with luxury carmaker Packard to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation. However, Studebakers financial problems were worse than the Packard executives thought, the Packard marque was phased out, and the company returned to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. The South Bend plant ceased production on December 20,1963, according to the official Studebaker history written by Albert R. The last part of the name, becker, was changed to baker. In Albert Russel Erskines official history, John Studebaker, father of the five brothers, born in Adams County, in any event, John Studebaker moved to Ashland, Ohio in 1835 with his wife Rebecca and taught his five sons to make wagons. They all went into business as it grew to gigantic proportions with the country. The five sons were, in order of birth, Henry, Clement, John Mohler, Peter Everst, Clement and Henry Studebaker, Jr. became blacksmiths and foundrymen in South Bend, Indiana, in February 1852. They first made metal parts for wagons and later expanded into the manufacture of complete wagons. At this time, John M. was making wheelbarrows in Placerville, the site of his business is California Historic Landmark #142. The first major expansion in Henry and Clems South Bend business came from their being in the place to meet the needs of the California Gold Rush that began in 1849. From his wheelbarrow enterprise at Placerville, John M. had amassed $8,000. In April 1858, he quit and moved out to apply this to financing the vehicle manufacturing of H & C Studebaker, which was already booming because of a big order to build wagons for the US Army. In 1857, they had built their first carriage—Fancy, hand-worked iron trim
16.
Ford Motor Company
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The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16,1903, the company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer, Troller, and Australian performance car manufacturer FPV, in the past, it has also produced tractors and automotive components. Ford owns an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom, and it also has a number of joint-ventures, one in China, one in Taiwan, one in Thailand, one in Turkey, and one in Russia. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family, Fords former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 respectively, were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010, in 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938. During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it was close to bankruptcy, Ford is the second-largest U. S. -based automaker and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe, Ford is the eighth-ranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2009 of $118.3 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants, the company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights. The Ford Motor Company was launched in a factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John. During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue and later its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on car, assembling it from parts made mostly by supplier companies contracting for Ford. Henry Ford was 39 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company and it has been in continuous family control for over 100 years and is one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world. The first gasoline powered automobile had been created in 1885 by the German inventor Carl Benz, between 1903 and 1908, Ford produced the Models A, B, C, F, K, N, R, and S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year, in 1908, Ford introduced the mass-produced Model T, which totalled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the Model A, Ford launched the first low-priced car with a V8 engine in 1932. In an attempt to compete with General Motors mid-priced Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Henry Ford purchased the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, in order to compete with such brands as Cadillac and Packard for the luxury segment of the automobile market. The creation of a laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951, doing unfettered basic research
17.
Maxwell automobile
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The Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the United States of America from about 1904 to 1925. The present-day successor to the Maxwell company is Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Maxwell automobile production began under the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York. In 1907, following a fire destroyed the Tarrytown, NY, factory, Maxwell-Briscoe constructed what was then the largest automobile factory in the world in New Castle. This factory continued as a Chrysler plant following its takeover of Maxwell until its demolition in 2004, Maxwell was the only profitable company of the combine named United States Motor Company, which was formed in 1910. Due to a conflict between two of its backers, the United States Motor Company collapsed in 1913 after the failure of its last supporting car manufacturer, in 1913, the Maxwell assets were purchased by Walter Flanders, who reorganized the company as the Maxwell Motor Company, Inc. The company moved to Highland Park, Michigan, some of the Maxwells were also manufactured at two plants in Dayton, Ohio. For a time, Maxwell was considered one of the three top automobile firms in America, along with General Motors and Ford, by 1914, Maxwell had sold 60,000 cars. At $695, this five-seat tourer had high-tension magneto ignition, electric horn and electric starter and headlights, Maxwell eventually over-extended and wound up deeply in debt, with over half of its production unsold in the post-World War I recession in 1920. Chrysler arranged to take a controlling interest in Maxwell Motors, subsequently re-incorporating it in West Virginia with himself as the chairman, one of his first tasks was to correct the faults in the Maxwell, whose quality had faltered. This improved version of the car was marketed as the Good Maxwell, around the time of Chryslers takeover Maxwell was also in the process of merging, awkwardly at best, with the ailing Chalmers Automobile Company. Chalmers ceased production in late 1923, in 1925, Chrysler formed his own company, the Chrysler Corporation. That same year, the Maxwell line was phased out and the Maxwell company assets were absorbed by Chrysler, and this former Maxwell would undergo yet another transformation in 1928, when a second reworking and renaming would bring about the creation of the first Plymouth. Maxwell was one of the first car companies to market to women. In 1909 it generated a great deal of publicity when it acted as the sponsor for the first woman to drive coast-to-coast across the United States and this achievement was accomplished by Alice Huyler Ramsey, who was an early advocate of women drivers. By 1914 the company had strongly aligned itself with the womens rights movement and that year it announced its plan to hire as many male sales personnel as female. In 1920 the Maxwell Company contracted with actor and producer Nell Shipman to create a promotional film featuring the Maxwell. She was able to stretch the money budgeted for the project into a feature entitled Something New. Maxwell dealers presented this motion picture at various venues to promote the car, the Maxwell Company had assisted in the films production by supplying a car and by deploying a mechanic to the filming location
18.
Louis Chevrolet
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In 1886, Chevrolets family left Switzerland to live in Beaune, in the Côte-dOr département of France. There, as a man, Louis developed his mechanical skills. Chevrolet worked for the Roblin mechanics shop from 1895 to 1899 and he then went to Paris, where he worked for a short time before emigrating to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1900 to work as a mechanic. In 1905 he married Suzanne Treyvoux, the couple had two sons, in the same year, he was hired by FIAT as a racing car driver. In 1907, Chevrolet was hired by The Autocar Company in Philadelphia and his racing career continued as he drove for Buick, becoming a friend and associate of Buick owner William C. He raced at the Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1909, with little in the way of formal education, Chevrolet learned car design while working for Buick and started designing his own engine for a new car in 1909. He built an overhead valve engine in his own machine shop on Grand River Boulevard in Detroit. The company was established in Detroit, one story tells the choosing of the companys logo as a modified Swiss cross, to honor Chevrolets homeland. Another story tells of the Chevrolet logo as a design taken from the wallpaper of a Paris hotel room where Louis once stayed. Chevrolet had differences with Durant over the design, and in 1915 sold Durant his share in the company. In 1916, Louis Chevrolet and his brothers founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation to make racing parts for Ford Model Ts, also in 1916, an American Motors Corporation was formed in Newark, New Jersey, with Louis Chevrolet as vice president and chief engineer. By 1918 it was producing cars in a plant at Plainfield, the latter company apparently ceased soon after. By the mid-1910s, Louis Chevrolet had shifted into the car industry. Blood of Allegan, Michigan, to create the Cornelian racing car, in 1916, he and younger brothers Gaston and Arthur Chevrolet started Frontenac Motor Corporation, designing and producing a line of racing cars. They became well known for, among other things, their Fronty-Ford racers, Louis drove in the Indianapolis 500 four times, with a best finish of 7th in 1919. Both Louis and Gaston competed successfully with racing Sunbeams achieving a number of places in 1916. Arthur competed twice, and Gaston won the race in 1920 in one of their Frontenacs and he also raced for the Buick racing team. Chevrolet died on June 6,1941, in Detroit as a result of complications from a leg operation which led to its amputation and he is buried in the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana
19.
Vanderbilt Cup
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The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, New York. The announcement that the race was to be held caused considerable controversy in New York, the politicians soon jumped in, holding public hearings on the issue. Vanderbilt prevailed and the race was run over a 30.24 miles course of winding dirt roads through the Nassau County area. The race drew the top drivers and their vehicles from across the Atlantic Ocean, the first Long Island race featured seventeen vehicles and the newspaper and poster art promotion drew large crowds hoping to see an American car defeat the mighty European vehicles. However, George Heath won the race in a Panhard and another French vehicle, crowd control was a problem from the start and after a spectator, Curt Gruner, was killed in 1906, the race was cancelled. Meanwhile, in France, the first Grand Prix motor racing event had been run on June 26,1906, one of the competitors was American Elliot Shepard, the son of Margaret Vanderbilt-Shepard and a cousin of William Kissam Vanderbilt. Construction began in 1907 of the toll highway, to run from the Kissena Corridor in Queens County over numerous bridges and overpasses to Lake Ronkonkoma. The Vanderbilt Cup was held successfully on Long Island until 1911 when it was showcased at Savannah, the next year it moved to a racecourse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then for three years in California, Santa Monica in 1914 and 1916, San Francisco in 1915. The race was canceled after the United States joined the Allies in World War I in 1917, some of the drivers who participated in the Vanderbilt Cup became famous names, synonymous with automobiles and racing such as Louis Chevrolet, Vincenzo Lancia and Ralph DePalma. Once again, the Europeans were enticed by the prize money. A lack of American competition and a less-than-exciting course layout saw the race run for two years, both won by Europeans. The Vanderbilt Cup would not return to the United States motor racing scene for more than twenty years, in 1960, sponsored by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, it was run as a Formula Junior event and held again at Roosevelt Raceway. In 1965,1967, and 1968, the Bridgehampton Sports Car Races were billed as the Vanderbilt Cup, the original Cup is cast of silver and measures 2.5 feet in height. It bears the image of William K. Vanderbilt II driving his record-setting Mercedes at the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1904, the trophy today is stored at a Smithsonian Institution storage facility and is not available to be seen by the public. The George Vanderbilt Cup is on display at Museo Nicolis in Verona, ^A The 1966 event was billed as the Bridgehampton 200. The Vanderbilt Cup name disappeared for another 36 years until 1996, in recognition of William Kissam Vanderbilts place in automotive racing history, a copy of the original cup was created as the trophy for the CART U. S.500 race. In 2000, CART designated the Vanderbilt Cup as its series championship trophy, names of U. S.500 winners from 1996–99 and the CART series winners since 2000, are etched into the new Cup
20.
Benjamin Briscoe
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Benjamin Briscoe was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was an automobile pioneer and industrialist. Briscoe entered business for himself at age of 18 with capital of $472 and this later became part of the American Can Company. He then invented a machine for the production of corrugated pipe for the Briscoe and Detroit Galvanizing Works, in 1901, the automobile industry was in its infancy when Briscoe helped finance David Buicks first car. In return for the finance, Briscoe gained a 97% interest in the Buick Motor Company and he sold Buick in 1904 to James H. Whiting, owner of Flint Wagon Works, and used the money to help found the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company, makers of the Maxwell automobile. This was probably his greatest success in the industry, by 1909 they were the third-biggest American make, with 9,400 sales. The company was backed by J. P. Morgan & Co. and Richard Irvin & Co. but in the panic of 1907, Mr. Briscoe conceived the idea of consolidating the four largest automobile manufacturers—Ford Motor Company, Buick, REO, and Maxwell-Briscoe—into one company. Durant, Henry Ford, and Ransom E. Olds failed, U. S. Motors continued production of the Maxwell and was soon also producing the Stoddard-Dayton car, the Brush Runabout, Alden-Sampson trucks, and others. The firm continued to operate the old Maxwell-Briscoe plants and bought up such concerns as the Columbia Motor Car Co. owner of many patents, including the Selden patent. Briscoe had an option on the Cadillac car at one time, but never exercised it, and it went to Mr. Durant. In 1910 bankers invested $6,000,000 in U. S. Motors, but the financing proved inadequate, Briscoe was forced out and Walter Flanders took over and reorganized the assets as Maxwell Motor Co. which itself was later reorganized as the Chrysler Corporation. A few months after leaving U. S. Motors, he and his brother formed Briscoe Frères at Billancourt, France, home of the Renault, to design and build a car on the continent according to American methods. A year later the brothers brought out the Briscoe car in America manufactured at Jackson, Michigan, when World War I broke out, Benjamin Briscoe turned his manufacturing facilities over to war production and he never returned to the automobile business. His partners continued to manufacture Briscoe models until 1923, during World War I, he joined the United States Navy with the rank of lieutenant commander. He saw service in both Italy and France and received the Navy Cross and was a member of the French Legion of Honor, after the war, Briscoe and a group of others developed a new process for refining crude oil. He then went to Montreal, Canada, as an executive in an oil company later taken over by the Texas Company, later he was involved in gold mining and ore milling in Colorado. About 1940 he retired to a 3, 000-acre plantation in Marion County, Florida, Benjamin Briscoe died at age 78 in his home near Dunnellon, Florida. Benjamin Briscoe, Auto Pioneer, Dies New York Times,28 June 1945, page 19
21.
Flint, Michigan
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Flint is the largest city and county seat of Genesee County, Michigan. Located along the Flint River,66 miles northwest of Detroit, it is a city within the region known as Mid Michigan. According to the 2010 census, Flint has a population of 102,434, the Flint metropolitan area is located entirely within Genesee County. It is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Michigan with a population of 425,790 in 2010, the city was incorporated in 1855. Flint was founded as a village by fur trader Jacob Smith in 1819, from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, the city was a leading manufacturer of carriages and later automobiles, earning it the nickname Vehicle City. General Motors was founded in Flint in 1908, and the city grew into a manufacturing powerhouse for GMs Buick. Flint was also the home of the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936–37 that played a role in the formation of the United Auto Workers. Since the late 1960s, Flint has faced several crises, the city sank into a deep economic depression after GM significantly downsized its workforce in the area from a 1978 high of 80,000 to under 8,000 by 2010. From 1960 to 2010, the population of the city nearly halved from 196,940 to 102,434, in the mid-2000s, Flint became known for its high crime rates and has repeatedly been ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States. The city was under a state of emergency from 2002–2004. The Saginaw Valley, particularly the vicinity of Flint, is considered by some to be the oldest continually inhabited area of Michigan. The Flint River had several convenient fords which became points of contention among rival tribes, as attested by the presence of arrowheads and burial mounds near it. In 1819, Jacob Smith, a fur trader on cordial terms with both the local Ojibwas and the government founded a trading post at the Grand Traverse of the Flint River. On several occasions, Smith negotiated land exchanges with the Ojibwas on behalf of the U. S. government, Smith apportioned many of his holdings to his children. As the ideal stopover on the route between Detroit and Saginaw, Flint grew into a small but prosperous village, and incorporated in 1855. The 1860 U. S. census indicated that Genesee County had a population of 22,498 of Michigans 750,000, in the latter half of the 19th century, Flint became a center of the Michigan lumber industry. Revenue from lumber funded the establishment of a local carriage-making industry, as horse-drawn carriages gave way to the automobiles, Flint then naturally grew into a major player in the nascent auto industry. Buick Motor Company, after a start in Detroit, soon moved to Flint
22.
Flat engine
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A flat engine is an internal combustion engine with horizontally-opposed cylinders. Typically, the layout has cylinders arranged in two banks on either side of a crankshaft and is otherwise known as the boxer. The concept was patented in 1896 by engineer Karl Benz, who called it the contra engine, a boxer engine should not be confused with the opposed-piston engine, in which each cylinder has two pistons but no cylinder head. Also, if an engine is canted 90 degrees into the horizontal plane. Horizontal inline engines are common in industrial applications such as underfloor mounting for buses. True boxers have each crankpin controlling only one piston/cylinder while the 180° engines, the 180° engine, which may be thought of as a type of V engine, is quite uncommon as it has all of the disadvantages of a flat engine, and few of the advantages. In 1896, Karl Benz invented the first internal combustion engine with opposed pistons. He called it the engine, as the action of each side opposed the action of the other. This design has since called the boxer engine because each pair of pistons moves in. The boxer engine has pairs of pistons reaching TDC simultaneously and these engines do not require a balance shaft or counterweights on the crankshaft to balance the weight of the reciprocating parts, which are required in most other engine configurations. However, in the case of engines with fewer than six cylinders. Other engine configurations with natural dynamic balance include the straight-six, the straight-eight, the V12, Boxer engines tend to be noisier than other common engines for both intrinsic and other reasons. In cars, valve clatter from the compartment is not damped by air filters or other components. Multi-cylinder boxer layouts have proved to be suited as light aircraft engines, as exemplified by Continental, Lycoming, Rotax, Jabiru. An important factor in aircraft use is the flat engines absence of vibration, general aviation aircraft often use air-cooled flat-four and flat-six engines made by companies such as Lycoming and Continental. Ultralight and microlight aircraft often use such as the Rotax 912. During the Second World War, Boxer engines were used as a motor for the first German jet engines to power up the engine at cranking speed. It was a short stroke design so it could fit in the hub of the turbine compressor
23.
Josiah Dallas Dort
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The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office is a historic office building located at 316 West Water Street in Flint, Michigan. This office building was the point of William C. Durants efforts in building first carriages and then automobiles, and is the extant building closely associated with Durant. It was here that pivotal decisions were made in the development and financing of the Buick Motor Company, the beginning of Chevrolet, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. William Durant was born in 1861 in Boston, Massachusetts, the grandson of lumber millionaire and his parents separated in 1871, and William moved with his mother to Flint, where they lived quite comfortably thanks to Williams grandfather. After dropping out of high school just before graduation, Durant worked for a time for the lumber business as a millhand. He was a director of one of Flints leading banks, and began selling cigars, real estate, by the mid-1880s, he ran one of the largest insurance agencies in mid-Michigan. Josiah Dallas Dort was born in Inkster, Michigan in 1861 and his father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was ten. Dort left school at age 15, to help his mother in business, in 1881, he began working at a Flint hardware store, and within a few years opened his own hardware store. Dort is the namesake of Flint area trunkline Dort Highway, the origin of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company came in 1886, when William C. Durant rode in a friends spring-suspension road cart. This cart was built by the Coldwater Road Cart Company of Coldwater, impressed with the smoothness of the ride, Durant obtained the patent and manufacturing rights to the cart for $2000, and with J. Dallas Dort, founded the Flint Road Car Company that same year. Dort, as president, handled manufacturing and administrative details for the firm, while Durant handled sales, the firm first had their offices located in Durants insurance agency in downtown Flint. They leased a factory on Water Street, originally used by the Flint Woolen Mills, the company sold 4000 carts its first year, and quickly grew from there. Under Durants leadership, the company expanded by acquiring companies that produced not only vehicles. In 1895, Flint Road Car changed its name to the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, by 1900, Durant-Dort was the largest producer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States. In 1906, the peak year, it produced 56,000 vehicles. The company continued making horse-drawn carriages until 1917, and the factory, by 1900, William Durant was a millionaire from his holdings in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. In 1904, Durant used his money to control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and mobilized the financial
24.
Durant-Dort Carriage Company
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The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office is a historic office building located at 316 West Water Street in Flint, Michigan. This office building was the point of William C. Durants efforts in building first carriages and then automobiles, and is the extant building closely associated with Durant. It was here that pivotal decisions were made in the development and financing of the Buick Motor Company, the beginning of Chevrolet, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. William Durant was born in 1861 in Boston, Massachusetts, the grandson of lumber millionaire and his parents separated in 1871, and William moved with his mother to Flint, where they lived quite comfortably thanks to Williams grandfather. After dropping out of high school just before graduation, Durant worked for a time for the lumber business as a millhand. He was a director of one of Flints leading banks, and began selling cigars, real estate, by the mid-1880s, he ran one of the largest insurance agencies in mid-Michigan. Josiah Dallas Dort was born in Inkster, Michigan in 1861 and his father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was ten. Dort left school at age 15, to help his mother in business, in 1881, he began working at a Flint hardware store, and within a few years opened his own hardware store. Dort is the namesake of Flint area trunkline Dort Highway, the origin of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company came in 1886, when William C. Durant rode in a friends spring-suspension road cart. This cart was built by the Coldwater Road Cart Company of Coldwater, impressed with the smoothness of the ride, Durant obtained the patent and manufacturing rights to the cart for $2000, and with J. Dallas Dort, founded the Flint Road Car Company that same year. Dort, as president, handled manufacturing and administrative details for the firm, while Durant handled sales, the firm first had their offices located in Durants insurance agency in downtown Flint. They leased a factory on Water Street, originally used by the Flint Woolen Mills, the company sold 4000 carts its first year, and quickly grew from there. Under Durants leadership, the company expanded by acquiring companies that produced not only vehicles. In 1895, Flint Road Car changed its name to the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, by 1900, Durant-Dort was the largest producer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States. In 1906, the peak year, it produced 56,000 vehicles. The company continued making horse-drawn carriages until 1917, and the factory, by 1900, William Durant was a millionaire from his holdings in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. In 1904, Durant used his money to control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and mobilized the financial
25.
Buick Special
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The Buick Special was an automobile produced by Buick. It was usually Buicks lowest-priced model, starting out as a car in 1936. By 1970, Special was no longer offered as a standalone model, the entry level Buick can trace its heritage to the Buick Model 10, a companion to Buicks first car, the Buick Model B. The Model 10 started out as one of the independent brands merged into Buick, called the Janney. When the Series 40 was introduced, it had a 257.5 cu in six cylinder engine that produced 80.5 bhp of power at 2,800 rpm, and 74,257 examples were made, being the highest number of Buicks for 1930. For the year 1934, the Series 40 was temporarily discontinued, the 1935 version was introduced with a 233.0 cu in straight-eight engine and 93 bhp. In 1936 the name changed to Special, from 1936 to 1958, Buicks Special model range represented the marques entry level full-size automobile. The 36 was a successful year for Buick and also marked the first time of using names rather than the simple serial numbers which had been in use before. The Special continued to also be known as the 40-series, however, the first Specials rode on a 118 in wheelbase, but for the next model year this was increased to 122 in as all Buicks grew for that year. The engine was new, and was now of 248 cu in rather than 233 cu in. The Special underwent a restyling for 1939, with a more enclosed nose. The wheelbase was two inches shorter. For 1940, there was the usual restyle and the wheelbase increased by an inch and this was also the only model year that a four-door convertible Special was offered, although only 552 were built. For 1941 the bodywork was all new, with the front fenders now very closely integrated into the cars overall design. The Estate Wagon migrated from being a Super into the Special lineup, also new was the 40-A series, a version on a three inches shorter wheelbase which shared its body with the 1941 Chevrolet. These two series, with a reminiscent of the 1939 Y-Job, continued into the abbreviated 1942 model year. Production ended on 4 February 1942, for 1946 only the larger Special range remained available, still using the prewar B-body. The 46 Special is rare, representing less than 2% of Buicks production that year, the Special continued with minor changes until the prewar body was finally replaced halfway through the 1949 model year
26.
Buick Roadmaster
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The Roadmaster is an automobile that was built by Buick from 1936 to 1958, and again from 1991 to 1996. Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buicks longest non-limousine wheelbase and shared their basic structure with entry-level Cadillac and, after 1940, senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957 the Roadmaster served as Buicks flagship, the Series 80, which belonged to an upper category trim package, had a 344.8 cu in straight eight engine developing 104 hp of power to 2,800 rpm. The next year the pace grew and was introduced a new high engine power unit developing 113 hp. In 1933 the model was completely revised, at the end of 1933 the 80 series was discontinued after 24,117 units produced. In 1936 the model was re-introduced and changed its name to Series 80 Roadmaster, the origins of the Roadmaster name date to 1936 when Buick added names to its entire model lineup to celebrate the engineering improvements and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buicks Series 40 was named the Special, the Series 50 became the Super, the Series 60 was named the Century, the Series 50 was retired, but new for the model year was the Series 80 Roadmaster. The implications of the name were clear, for as the 1936 Buick sales catalogue said, the Roadmaster was introduced in a year when Buicks valve-in-head straight-eight engines were heavily revised. Buick reduced the number of engines from four sizes to two, a 233-cubic-inch, 93-horsepower job for the Special, and a big,320. 2-cubic inch, 120-horsepower engine for the other series. In addition to major engineering change 1936 was also the year Buick adopted an all steel turret top. Coil springs were in the front, the Roadmaster was a big car, in sedan form tipping the scales at 4,098 pounds, some 88 pounds heavier than Cadillacs new Series 60. But pricewise, the Roadmaster was a tremendous bargain, the sedan sold for $1,255, $440 less than the least expensive Cadillac. The only other body style available was a convertible phaeton, priced at $1,565. With Roadmaster being a new model, and with Buick having totally restyled its entire line for 1936. But that was not the case, Buick was the only GM car, along with the Chevrolet Standard, to retain its basic 1934 styling for 1935, so the 1936 re-style merely caught Buick up with the rest of the GM marques. For 1937, Buick moved to newly re-styled bodies along with all other GM cars, the Roadmaster gained a divided grille with horizontal bars. The center section of the grille was painted to match the body of the car, fenders became squared off and the headlight shells were gracefully streamlined. Overall height fell by 1.5 inches without sacrificing interior room, a new carburetor and revised camshaft raised engine horsepower to 130
27.
Tiller
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A tiller or till is a lever attached to a rudder post or rudder stock of a boat that provides leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. The tiller can be used by the helmsman directly pulling or pushing it, rapid or excessive movement of the tiller results in an increase in drag and will result in braking or slowing the boat. In steering a boat, the tiller is moved in the direction opposite of which the bow of the boat is to move. If the tiller is moved to side, the bow will turn to starboard. If the tiller is moved to starboard, the bow will turn port, sailing students often learn the alliterative phrase Tiller Towards Trouble to remind them of how to steer. Since the tiller is forward of the pivot point, and the rudder aft of it. For example, to turn a ship to port, the helmsman would be given the order starboard helm or x degrees starboard, the ships tiller was then moved to starboard, turning the rudder to the vessels port side, producing a turn to port. The opposite convention applied in France, but Austria and Italy kept to the English system, there was no standardisation in vessels from Scandinavian countries, where the practice varied from ship to ship. Most French vessels with steering wheels had their steering chains reversed, when large steamships appeared in the late 19th century with telemotors hydraulically connecting the wheel on the bridge to the steering gear at the stern, the practice continued. However the helmsman was now no longer controlling the tiller. Tiller Orders remained however, although many maritime nations had abandoned the convention by the end of the 19th century, Britain retained it until 1933, during the transition period the wording of the order was changed, to specify Wheel to starboard or Wheel to port. A well-known and often-depicted example occurred on the RMS Titanic in 1912 just before she collided with an iceberg. When the iceberg appeared directly in front of the ship, her officer-of-the-watch, First Officer William Murdoch and he ordered Hard-a-Starboard, which was a Tiller Order directing the helmsman to turn the wheel to port as far as it would go. The Titanics steering gear then pushed the tiller toward the side of the ship, swinging the rudder over to port. These actions are portrayed in the 1997 film of the disaster. Although frequently described as an error, the order was given, however, according to the granddaughter of the highest-ranking officer to survive the sinking, Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the order was not correctly executed. Quartermaster Hitchins, who had trained under Rudder Orders, mistakenly turned the wheel to starboard. It took two minutes to recognise and correct the error, by time it was too late to avoid collision with the iceberg
28.
Oldsmobile Curved Dash
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The gasoline-powered Curved Dash Oldsmobile is credited as being the first mass-produced automobile, meaning that it was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts. It was introduced by the Oldsmobile company in 1901 and produced through 1907,425 were produced the first year,2,500 in 1902, with over 19,000 built in all. It was a model, could seat two passengers, and sold for US$650. While competitive, due to volume, and priced below the US$850 2-seat Ford Model C Doctors Car. The Black sold for $375, and the Success for US$250, the flat-mounted water-cooled single-cylinder engine, situated at the center of the car, produced 5 hp, relying on a brass gravity feed carburetor. The transmission was a design with two forward speeds and one reverse. The low-speed forward and reverse gear system are a planetary type, the car weighed 850 lb and used Concord springs. It had a top speed of 20 mph, the car’s success was partially by accident — in 1901 a fire destroyed a number of other models before they were approved for production, leaving the Curved Dash the only one intact. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925, new York, NY US, Bonanza Books. Frank Leslies Popular Monthly Georgano, G. N. Cars, Early and Vintage, the story of Veteran & Vintage Cars. The 1901 output was 425 cars, and this rose to 2100 in 1902,3750 in 1903. Wright, Richard A. detnews. com | Michigan History, archived from the original on 2013-03-28. Oldsmobile Club of America 1905 Oldsmobile Image Soule, Gardner, from Coast To Coast In An Old Old Olds. New York, NY US, Popular Science Publishing, – large 1951 article on a 1904 Olds making a coast to coast trip with detailed photo of subject
29.
Flat twin engine
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A flat-twin is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. It is an engine with two cylinders. Used in motorcycles for more than a century, flat-twins have also used in automobiles, light aircraft, stationary powerplants. Early flat-twin motorcycles engines were mounted with the cylinders in line with the frame and this caused uneven cooling of the cylinders and required the motorcycle to have a long wheelbase. Later flat-twin motorcycles engines were mounted with their cylinders across the frame for better air cooling, disadvantages of this layout include torque reaction in the motorcycle in turns and the potential to damage cylinder heads. The traditional crank configuration used with flat-twin engines is the boxer twin whose 180° crankshaft moves the pistons in phase with each other, in this configuration, the primary force generated by one piston counteracts that generated by the other at all times, resulting in excellent primary balance. Since the pistons are not in line with other, the equal. Unlike the ignition of a V-twin or a 180° parallel twin, the flat-twin engine in the 1897 Lanchester 8 hp phaeton had two counter-rotating crankshafts. Each piston was attached to one crankshaft by a connecting rod. This allowed both cylinders to have the same axis and it also had the torque reaction of one crankshaft cancel the torque reaction of the other, cancelling torque reaction in the engine. The pistons in the Lanchester engine moved so that one piston was on top while the other was at bottom dead center, Lanchester used this engine design until 1904. There have been flat-twin engines with one crank pin shared by both connecting rods, thereby have only one crank throw, uniquely among flat engines a boxer twin suffers from differences in crankcase pressures as the pistons alternately compress and expand the crankcase gases. This issue is addressed by means of a crankcase breather. This crankcase pumping effect is found on singles and 360° parallel twins. Crankcase pressure differentials have scope for providing a form of supercharging and this system requires only a single contact breaker and single coil to run two cylinders. The first flat-twin motorcycle engine was the Fée, later renamed Fairy, the Douglas Engineering Company, one of Light Motors suppliers, took over the manufacturing rights and developed motorcycles based on the Fée system under their own name. BMW Motorrad manufactures a number of flat-twin engine motorcycles, as do Ural, the 1907 Douglas, developed from the Fée system, had a belt drive to the rear wheel driven directly from the engine. Later developments of the Douglas motorcycle were made with the cylinders in line with the frame until the Second World War, Other early flat-twin motorcycles used a similar layout, with their cylinders aligned along the frame and therefore with the crankshaft running transverse to the frame
30.
Torque
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Torque, moment, or moment of force is rotational force. Just as a force is a push or a pull. Loosely speaking, torque is a measure of the force on an object such as a bolt or a flywheel. For example, pushing or pulling the handle of a wrench connected to a nut or bolt produces a torque that loosens or tightens the nut or bolt, the symbol for torque is typically τ, the lowercase Greek letter tau. When it is called moment of force, it is denoted by M. The SI unit for torque is the newton metre, for more on the units of torque, see Units. This article follows US physics terminology in its use of the word torque, in the UK and in US mechanical engineering, this is called moment of force, usually shortened to moment. In US physics and UK physics terminology these terms are interchangeable, unlike in US mechanical engineering, Torque is defined mathematically as the rate of change of angular momentum of an object. The definition of states that one or both of the angular velocity or the moment of inertia of an object are changing. Moment is the term used for the tendency of one or more applied forces to rotate an object about an axis. For example, a force applied to a shaft causing acceleration, such as a drill bit accelerating from rest. By contrast, a force on a beam produces a moment, but since the angular momentum of the beam is not changing. Similarly with any force couple on an object that has no change to its angular momentum and this article follows the US physics terminology by calling all moments by the term torque, whether or not they cause the angular momentum of an object to change. The concept of torque, also called moment or couple, originated with the studies of Archimedes on levers, the term torque was apparently introduced into English scientific literature by James Thomson, the brother of Lord Kelvin, in 1884. A force applied at an angle to a lever multiplied by its distance from the levers fulcrum is its torque. A force of three newtons applied two metres from the fulcrum, for example, exerts the same torque as a force of one newton applied six metres from the fulcrum. More generally, the torque on a particle can be defined as the product, τ = r × F, where r is the particles position vector relative to the fulcrum. Alternatively, τ = r F ⊥, where F⊥ is the amount of force directed perpendicularly to the position of the particle, any force directed parallel to the particles position vector does not produce a torque
31.
Mid-engine design
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A mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine between the rear and front axles. The mid-engine layout makes ABS brakes and traction control systems work better, the mid-engine layout may make a vehicle safer, since an accident can occur if a vehicle cannot stay in its own lane around a curve or is unable to stop quickly enough. This balance is harder to achieve when the weight of the engine is located far to the front or far to the rear of the vehicle. Some automobile designs strive to balance the fore and aft weight distribution by means, such as putting the engine in the front. Another benefit comes when the mass of the engine is located close to the back of the seats. It makes it easier for the suspension to absorb the force of bumps so the riders feel a smoother ride, but in sports cars the engine position is once again used to increase performance and the potentially smoother ride is usually more than offset by stiffer shock absorbers. The largest drawback of mid-engine cars is restricted rear passenger space, the engine in effect pushes the passenger compartment forward towards the front axle. The mid-engine layout was common in buses in the 1950s and 1960s. The Ferrari Mondial is to date the only example of a true mid-engined convertible with seating for 4. A version of the Lotus Evora with a roof panel is anticipated. Like any layout where the engine is not front-mounted and facing the wind and this has been a problem in some cars, but this issue seems to have been largely solved in newer designs. For example, the Saleen S7 employs large engine-compartment vents on the sides, mid engined cars are more dangerous than front-engined cars if the driver loses control - although this may be initially harder to provoke due to the superior balance - and the car begins to spin. Conversely, a car is more likely to break away in a progressive. The term mid-engine has usually been applied to cars having the engine located between the driver and the drive axles. This layout is referred to here as RMR layout, sports and racing cars typically have this mid-engine layout, as these vehicles handling characteristics are more important than other features, such as capacity. Additionally the mechanical layout and packaging of an RMR car is substantially different from that of a front engine or rear engine car, in handling and vehicle layout FMR is substantially the same as FR. Some vehicles could be classified as FR or FMR depending on the installed engine. Historically most classical FR cars such as the Ford Models T and A would qualify as a FMR engine car, not all manufacturers use the Front-Mid designation
32.
Chevrolet
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Chevrolet, colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors. Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant started the company on November 3,1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2,1918. Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide, with the exception of Oceania. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe, with the exception of the Camaro, Chevrolet vehicles will continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, in North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Durant was cast out from the management of General Motors in 1910 for five years and he took over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating the Mason and Little companies. As head of Buick Motor Company prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races, Durant planned to use Chevrolets reputation as a racer as the foundation for his new automobile company. Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six, was drawn up by Etienne Planche, the first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated. However the first actual production wasnt until the 1913 model, so in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only the 1 pre-production model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. Then in the fall of that year the new 1913 model was introduced at the New York auto show, Chevrolet first used the bowtie emblem logo in 1914 on the H series models and The L Series Model. It may have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel room, more recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a case that the logo is based on a logo of the Coalettes coal company. An example of this logo as it appeared in an advertisement for Coalettes appeared in the Atlanta Constitution on November 12,1911, others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in tribute to the homeland of Chevrolets parents. Chevrolet eventually unified all vehicle models with the gold bowtie in 2004, Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1914 sold Durant his share in the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough with successful sales of the cheaper Series 490 to allow Durant to repurchase a controlling interest in General Motors. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant became president of General Motors, in 1919, Chevrolets factories were located at Flint, Michigan, branch assembly locations were located in Tarrytown, N. Y. Norwood, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, Oakland, California, Ft. Worth, Texas, mcLaughlins were given GM Corporation stock for the proprietorship of their Company article Sept.23,1933 Financial Post page 9. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Series D, Sales were poor and it was dropped in 1919
33.
Oakland Motor Car Company
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The Oakland Motor Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, was an American automobile manufacturer and division of the General Motors Corporation. Purchased by General Motors in 1909, the continued to produce modestly priced automobiles until 1931 when it was renamed Pontiac. As originally conceived and introduced, the first Oakland used a vertical two-cylinder engine that rotated counterclockwise and this design by Alanson Partridge Brush, inventor of the single-cylinder Cadillac and Brush Runabout, also featured a planetary transmission. Five models were created, designated Model A–E with each subsequent letter increasing in total vehicle size,1908, the first year of Oakland production, saw 278 vehicles roll off the line. After one year of production, Oaklands principal founder, Edward Murphy, durants General Motors Corporation in early 1909. When Murphy died in the summer of 1909, GM acquired the rights to Oakland. Within General Motors, Oakland was slotted above price leader Chevrolet and below the more premium Oldsmobile, Buick, conventional 4-cylinder engined models were introduced shortly after the GM takeover. In 1916, the company introduced a V8 engine, and production soared to 35,000 in 1917, by early 1920, however, production and quality control problems began to plague the division. In 1921, under new General Manager Fred Hannum, a consistent production schedule was underway and the quality of the cars improved, one marketing tactic was the employment of a quick-drying bright blue automotive lacquer by Duco, leading to the slogan True Blue Oakland. The Oakland vehicle was only in Pontiac, Michigan, which is the county seat of Oakland County. The name predates any GM association with a manufacturing facility in Oakland, California. By the mid-1920s, a price gap existed between Chevrolet and Oakland, as well as a wide gap between Oldsmobile and Buick. There was also a gap between Buick and Cadillac. General Motors pioneered the idea that consumers would aspire to buy up an automotive product ladder if a company met certain price points-called the Companion Make Program, to address this, General Motors authorized the introduction of four brands priced and designed to fill the gaps. Cadillac would introduce the LaSalle to fill the gap between Cadillac and Buick, Buick would introduce the Marquette to handle the upper end of the gap between Buick and Oldsmobile. Oldsmobile would introduce the Viking, which took care of the end of the same gap. Oaklands part in plan was the 1926 Pontiac, a shorter wheelbase light six priced to sell at a 4 cylinder cars price point. Pontiac was the first of the companion marques introduced, and in its first year sold 49,875 units, by 1929, GM sold 163,000 more Pontiacs than Oaklands
34.
D. Napier & Son
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D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the Edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid-20th century. Napier was founded as an engineering company in 1808 and for nearly a century produced machinery for the financial, print. In the early 20th century it moved for a time into internal combustion engines and its powerful Lion dominated the UK market in the 1920s and the World War Two era Sabre produced 3500 hp in its later versions. Many world speed records on land and water, as well as the Hawker Typhoon, during World War Two the company was taken over by English Electric and engine manufacture eventually ceased. Today, Napier Turbochargers is a subsidiary of the American company Wabtec, david Napier, second son of the blacksmith to the Duke of Argyll, was born in 1785. While cousins became shipbuilders, he took engineering training in Scotland before coming to London, there in 1808 he founded the firm that was to become D. Napier & Son in Lloyds Court, St Giles, London. He designed a printing press, some of which went to Hansard. The company moved to Lambeth, South London in 1830, between 1840 and 1860, Napier was prosperous, with a well-outfitted factory and between 200 and 300 workers. Napier made a variety of products, including a centrifuge for sugar manufacturing, lathes and drills, ammunition-making equipment for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Davids younger son James Murdoch, born 1823, joined the firm in 1837 and became a partner in 1847, James proved an excellent engineer, but a poor businessman, considering salesmanship undignified. It became so bad that there were as few as seven employees in 1895, and James attempted to sell the business, James son Montague, born 1870, inherited the business in 1895, along with his fathers engineering talents. Montague was a racing cyclist, and at the Bath Road Club. Edge Edge persuaded Napier to improve his Panhard, converting from a tiller to a steering wheel, dissatisfied, Napier offered to fit an engine of his own design, an 8 hp vertical twin, with electric ignition, superior to the Panhards hot tube type. By June 1900, eight 16 hps had been ordered, and Edge entered one in the 837 mi Paris-Toulouse-Paris race, the 301.6 cu in sidevalve suffered problems with its ignition coils and cooling system, and failed to finish. For 1901, Montague designed a car not to lack speed, having a 16. 3-liter sidevalve four capable of 103 bhp at 800 rpm, on a wheelbase of 115 inches with four-speed gearbox. Called the 50 hp, only two or three were completed, including one for Rolls, in the concurrent Paris-Bordeaux rally, it retired with clutch trouble. For the 1902 Gordon Bennett, three entrants contested for France, with Edge in a Napier and two Wolseleys, the Napier was a three-speed, shaft-drive 6. 44-litre four of 44.5 hp. Piloted by Edge and his cousin, Cecil, it wore what would become known as British racing green and it was the first British victory in international motorsport, and would not be repeated until Henry Segrave took the French Grand Prix in 1923
35.
Auto racing
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Auto racing is a sport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Almost as soon as automobiles had been invented, races of various sorts were organised, by the 1930s specialist racing cars had developed. There are now numerous different categories, each with different rules and it was won by the carriage of Isaac Watt Boulton. Internal combustion auto racing events began soon after the construction of the first successful gasoline-fueled automobiles, the first organized contest was on April 28,1887, by the chief editor of Paris publication Le Vélocipède, Monsieur Fossier. It ran 2 kilometres from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne, on July 22,1894, the Parisian magazine Le Petit Journal organized what is considered to be the worlds first motoring competition, from Paris to Rouen. One hundred and two competitors paid a 10-franc entrance fee, the first American automobile race is generally held to be the Thanksgiving Day Chicago Times-Herald race of November 28,1895. Press coverage of the event first aroused significant American interest in the automobile, brooklands, in Surrey, was the first purpose-built motor racing venue, opening in June 1907. It featured a 4.43 km concrete track with high-speed banked corners, One of the oldest existing purpose-built automobile racing circuits in the United States, still in use, is the 2. 5-mile -long Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It is the largest capacity venue of any variety worldwide, with a top capacity of some 257. NASCAR was founded by Bill France, Sr. on February 21,1948, the first NASCAR Strictly Stock race ever was held on June 19,1949, at Daytona Beach, Florida. From 1962, sports cars temporarily took a seat to GT cars. From 1972 through 2003, NASCARs premier series was called the Winston Cup Series, the changes that resulted from RJRs involvement, as well as the reduction of the schedule from 48 to 31 races a year, established 1972 as the beginning of NASCARs modern era. The IMSA GT Series evolved into the American Le Mans Series, the European races eventually became the closely related Le Mans Series, both of which mix prototypes and GTs. The best-known variety of racing, Formula One, which hosts the famous Monaco Grand Prix. In single-seater, the wheels are not covered, and the cars often have aerofoil wings front, in Europe and Asia, open-wheeled racing is commonly referred to as Formula, with appropriate hierarchical suffixes. In North America, the Formula terminology is not followed, the sport is usually arranged to follow an international format, a regional format, and/or a domestic, or country-specific, format. In North America, the used in the National Championship have traditionally been similar though less sophisticated than F1 cars. The series most famous race is the Indianapolis 500, the other major international single-seater racing series is GP2
36.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, in the United States. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 and it is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles west of Downtown Indianapolis. Constructed in 1909, it is the original speedway, the first racing facility so named and it has a permanent seating capacity estimated at 235,000 with infield seating raising capacity to an approximate 400,000. It is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world, considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2. 5-mile-long rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. A modern infield road course was completed in 2000, incorporating part of the oval, including the mainstretch, in 2008, and again in 2014, the road course layout was modified to accommodate motorcycle racing, as well as to improve competition. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres on which the speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559 acres. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, in addition to the Indianapolis 500, the speedway also hosts NASCARs Brickyard 400 and Lilly Diabetes 250. From 2000 to 2007, the hosted the Formula One United States Grand Prix. On the grounds of the speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which opened in 1956, the museum moved into its current building located in the infield in 1976. Also on the grounds is the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside of the track, along the backstretch, the speedway also served as the venue for the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games. Fisher began thinking of a means of testing cars before delivering them to consumers. At the time, racing was just getting started on horse tracks, Fisher noticed how dangerous and ill-suited the makeshift courses were for racing and testing. He also argued that spectators did not get their moneys worth, Fisher proposed building a circular track 3 to 5 miles long with smooth 100–150-foot-wide surfaces. Such a track would give manufacturers a chance to test cars at sustained speeds, Fisher predicted speeds could reach up to 120 mph on a 5-mile course. He visited the Brooklands circuit outside London in 1907, and after viewing the banked layout, in December 1908, he convinced James A. Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank W. Wheeler to join him in purchasing the property for $72,000. Construction of the started in March 1909. Fisher had to downsize his planned 3-mile oval with a 2-mile road course to a 2. 5-mile oval to leave room for the grandstands
37.
Buick City
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Buick City was a massive automobile manufacturing complex in the northeast of Flint, Michigan. Elements of the 235-acre complex dated from 1904, where all aspects of Buick vehicles were constructed, the site was vacated by GM employees and site responsibilities were transferred to Motors Liquidation Company as of December 6,2010. The final cars built at Buick City were the Pontiac Bonneville, manufacturing operations were transferred to Orion Assembly. In the beginning, all components were manufactured in one location, to include wheel bearings, nuts, bolts, operations were carried out in this fashion well into the 1940s and beyond. The plant originated with Buick before the formation of General Motors, other elements were built by early manufacturers and suppliers like Fisher Body. The Buick City concept represented an attempt by General Motors to experiment with just-in-time manufacturing methods in response to Japanese manufacturers. In 1999, the year the plant was closed, Buick City won J. D. Powers Platinum Award for assembly plant quality, as of 2016, it is the only General Motors plant to win the award. The closing of GMs manufacturing plants in Flint, and its subsequent economic toll on the community was chronicled in Michael Moores documentary film, the plants acreage became an EPA cleanup site. In 2013, American Cast Iron Pipe Co. announced plans to construct a new 200,000 square foot manufacturing plant on the former Buick City complex, the Old 97s 2001 album Satellite Rides features the track Buick City Complex. List of GM factories General Motors closes Buick City complex in Flint, demolition photos JD Powers and Associates from Answers. com All Things Buick Blog about factory and workers history
38.
Buick Master Six
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The Buick Master Six was an automobile built by Buick from 1916 to 1929, and shared the GM B platform with the Oldsmobile Model 30. It was powered initially with a Buick Straight-6 engine, later upgraded to a Buick Straight-8 engine with multiple bodystyles and it was Buicks high-end offering, above the Standard Six. It was also manufactured from knock-down kits at GMs short-lived Japanese factory at Osaka Assembly in Osaka and it was an all-new platform joining the smaller Model 10, and was replaced by the Buick Series 50, and the Buick Series 60. Starting in 1916, when this generation was introduced, it was known by a designation that changed yearly and it began as the Series D, followed by E, H, and K. Beginning with 1921 until 1924, it changed to Series 21, denoting the year, to Series 24. Beginning with the designations, the Series D had additional numeric designations for the body style,44,45,46, and 47, designating touring car, roadster, sedan. The Series E, H, and K continued using the designations for body styles but added additional designations for longer wheelbases. The numbered series vehicles added additional body styles called Pullman Saloon, Country Club, the year 1924 continued to use the previous numeric designations without any changes. Starting with 1925, the designation changed back to numeric designations. The Master Six was also sold with a vehicle, called the Standard Six, later the Series 115. They were replaced with the Series 40, kimes Beverly, Henry Clark, Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942, Iola, Krause Publications Inc,1996, ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9
39.
Marquette (automobile)
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Marquette was a brand used on several different automobiles, most recently on Buicks companion make. The name Marquette was first used for an automobile when the Berwick Auto Car Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for General Motors, William Durant bought the Rainier Motor Car Company in May 1909, which was in severe financial trouble. A new company, the Marquette Motor Company was established in Saginaw, Michigan, further, they manufactured parts for another luxury make belonging to General Motors, the Welch, and its cheaper sister car, the Welch-Detroit. Management was controlled by Buick officers, after Durant left GM for the first time in September 1910, it was tried to make both the Rainier and the Welch profitable. Therefore, with the Marquette, a new make was introduced and it produced two car lines, both with huge 4-cylinder engines. The 45 hp line consisted of one only, the Model 28 7-passenger touring. It had a wheelbase of 119 inches, and sold for $4,000 and it seems that this reorganization was not successful, as GM announced the end of the Marquette still in 1912. Probably, some of the last Marquettes were labeled as Peninsular, the Marquette nameplate was revived when the Buick Division of General Motors launched their own sister make for model year 1930. Along with Viking and LaSalle, the Marquette was conceived to span a gap in General Motors market segmentation plan. Marquette was placed below Buick, but above Viking which was to be sold in Oldsmobile dealerships, the Marquette arrived in dealer showrooms on June 1,1929. The Marquette line rode on an 114 in wheelbase and was powered by an L head six 212.8 cu in producing 67 hp, Marquette was built to sell in the $1,000 range, and was available in a single car range. Reviewers at the time described it looking like a small Oldsmobile or small Cadillac. Despite its promising first year sales, two factors worked against the Marquette, Buick gave no advance warning of the termination of the Marquette, just four months before the shutdown,4,000 Marquette signs were shipped to dealers in the hope of better days ahead. Photo of restored 1930 Model 34 Sport Roadster
40.
Viking (automobile)
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Viking was an automobile manufactured by General Motors Oldsmobile division, in Lansing, Michigan, for model years 1929 to 1931 and used the GM B platform. Viking was part of Alfred Sloans companion make program introduced to help span gaps in General Motors’ pricing structure, Viking was one of four makes introduced by General Motors, the other lines being Pontiac, Marquette and LaSalle. Of the four makes, Viking was the only one priced higher than its parent make. Riding a 125 in wheelbase with steel springs and a 44 1/2 foot turning circle, Vikings were powered by a monobloc V8 engine. The front seat and the wheel were ajustable. Viking production for 1929 was 4,058 units and 19302,813, GM discontinued the Viking and the Marquette at the end of the 1930 model year, preferring to bet on Oldsmobile and Buick which had better consumer awareness. However, an additional 353 units were assembled using existing parts, contemporary photo of 1930 Convertible Coupe
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