Most people don’t know that the Chevrolet Motor Car Company was founded as a means for former General Motor’s President William C. Durant to regain control of GM. Durant, had a very storied career in the auto industry, and many of the practices he used in starting and running several of the auto companies are studied today by business students worldwide.

Durant dropped out of high school to work in a lumberyard but it didn’t take long for the enterprising young man to realize that he wanted to lead companies, not work as a day laborer. In 1995 he partnered with Josiah Dort to create the Coldwater Road Cart Company. Shortly thereafter, he founded the Flint Road Car Company, turning a $2,000 investment into a $2 million business. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company became the number one leading manufacturer of horse drawn carriages in the world.

William C. Durant and Louis Chevrolet. Photo from www.chevyhardcore.com

He was approached to become the General Manager of Buick in 1904 where he turned the company around in short order, becoming the President of the horseless-vehicle company. Using uncommon business practices for the times, he set up incorporated business proxies and called them General Motors. Durant sold stock to begin acquiring other companies and soon GM acquired Oldsmobile, Oakland and Cadillac in short order.

William C. Durant. Photo from wikipedia.com

Durant continued to pick up other car companies, and began to eliminate the competition by acquiring them. His prize was to be the purchase of Ford Motor Company. Durant had arranged an $8 million deal to buy Ford in 1909, but the bankers turned him down and the board of directors of General Motors dismissed him.

The ousted GM founder partnered with Louis Chevrolet and started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company on November 3, 1911. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918 and propelled himself back to the GM presidency.

Durant on tour. Photo from gmheritagecenter.com

If Durant’s story were to end here, it would have been noteworthy by itself. This was not to be the end of Durant’s incredible life story however. He would be ousted from GM for a second time in 1919. In 1921, Durant established a new company, Durant Motors, with one brand. As he had done with GM, Durant acquired a variety of marques within two years. Ultimately he was unable to duplicate his former success, and the financial woes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression proved fatal as the company failed in 1933.

Durant and his second wife lived on a small pension on behalf of General Motors for the rest of his life. He suffered a stroke in 1942, which left him a semi-invalid. He went back to work as the manager of a bowling alley, slinging hamburgers in Flint, Michigan until his death in 1947. Durant was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996.