The history of General Motors

General Motors (GM) was formed in 1908 as a holding company for Buick. William Crapo "Billy" Durant was the company owner at the time. During the company's early years, Durant went on a shopping spree for automobile manufacturers. That buy-out of 30 other companies came to an end in 1910. Durant had spent so much money that he was unable to hold his position, because banks were now unsure of the company's financial stability.

The firm prospered, however, and went on to purchase the internal combustion engine railcar builder Electro-Motive Corporation and its engine supplier, Winton Engine, in 1930. By 1955, General Motors was the first company in America to make more than $1 billion in a single year.

Olds Motor Vehicle Company, Inc., the oldest unit of General Motors Corporation, was organised in 1887 by Ransom E. Olds with $50,000 of capital (5,000 shares of stock at $10 per share). On May 8, 1899, shortly after the appearance of the world's first Oldsmobile, Olds Motor Vehicle Lansing merged (with $500,000 capital) to form Olds Motor Works. The new auto company then constructed its first factory in Detroit, Michigan, specifically for the manufacture of premier U.S. automobiles.

An important building block for the eventual GM corporation occurred in 1907. In that year, the Buick Company began production of a four-cylinder car, the Model D.

Henry M. Leland then established the Cadillac School of Applied Mechanics, the first school to train machinists, technicians and toolmakers. And on August 28th, 1907, in Pontiac, Michigan, the Oakland Motor Car Company, predecessor to Pontiac Motors, was founded by Edward M. Murphy. Under Billy Durant's leadership, General Motors Company was founded on September 16, 1908. That year the Buick Motor Company, then Oldsmobile, were bought out by the growing GM.

By the time 1909 rolled around, General Motors had purchased a half interest in Oakland Motor Car Co. When Oakland's founder passed away the following summer, General Motors took little time to gain full control of the company.

That same year, Cadillac, AC Spark Plug, and Rapid Motor Vehicle Company (predecessor of GMC Truck) of Pontiac, Michigan, were integrated into the GM family as well. Fortunately for the Ford Motor Company (1909), William Durant was denied a "buy-out loan" of $9.5 million by his bankers.

Over the next two decades, General Motors fine tuned its standards of quality, producing state-of-the-art driving machines. Also during this period, GM developed the General Motors Truck Company (later known as GMC), Chevrolet Motor Company of Michigan, General Motors Export Company, and General Motors of Canada.

In 1925, Ethyl Gasoline Corporation was formed by General Motors and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. The added ethyl produced a higher octain level, and produced a cleaner gasoline for the engine. That advancement in fuel efficiency was one more asset to the prosperous GM company.

By the time of the stock market downfall (Black Thursday, 1929), and the following Great Depression, GM had become known worldwide.

In 1923, GM decided to establish a proving ground. It was to be the place where all types of cars were tested and compared, a place where independent tests could be conducted by resident engineers free from the problems of design and production.

Shops and garages were built to house and maintain hundreds of test cars. There were living quarters for the staff of resident and visiting engineers. A feature of the equipment at this station was the only device in existence for making instantaneous record of wind velocity.

By 1929, General Motors boasted manufacturing facilities and branch sales offices in Shanghai, China; Copenhagen, Denmark; Antwerp, Belgium; Luton, England; São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Malaga, Spain; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide, Australia; Petone, New Zealand; Kobe and Osaka, Japan; and Alexandria, Egypt.

The year 1929 also put GM in the pilot seat. Fokker Aircraft Company was bought out, which paved the way for General Motors Aviation Company.

Although the Depression exerted devastating effects on the nation's financial stability, large companies were able to collect and consolidate equity to get by. Also, financial depression did not affect GM's numerous other overseas facilities. The "Big Three" survived the Depression; in fact GM made money every year, and Chrysler Corporation actually grew.

On January 11th, 1940, General Motors celebrated the production of its 25th millionth automobile. Following that milestone, the company continued to push forward with new grit and determination. GM would shortly convert 100 percent of its production to the war effort.

In 1941, General Motors took its story of continuous automotive innovation on the road. The travelling exhibit was appropriately titled Parade of Progress. Its imaginative displays were as creative and timely as the GM cars themselves. The program gave the nation an exciting first-hand glimpse into the automotive industry’s past, present and future.

Featured here is an irresistible crowd favourite from that show. The mechanically animated diorama depicts life in small-town America before and after the advent of the automobile.

The exhibit eventually found its way back to the GM Heritage Center, which it has called home since 2001.

GM Japan closed its doors, and by 1942, the U.S. government asked for help with the production of military vehicles. GM delivered more than $12.3 billion worth of war material to lead the Allied war effort, including trucks, guns, airplane engines, airplanes and parts, tanks, marine diesels, shells and other related products.

In the following five decades, GM and affiliated companies developed and engineered some of the most popular automobiles ever made. The Cadillac, Corvette, El Camino, Malibu, and Camaro are just a few of the memorable models that were sold.

General Motors has made significant contributions to society in important areas besides automotive. One such example is the development of a machine that would temporarily replace the blood-pumping function of the heart, making open heart surgery possible for the first time.

Dr. Forest Dodrill, a surgeon at Wayne State University's Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, first envisioned the mechanical heart pump in 1952. He called upon GM Research Laboratories for help. The result was the Dodrill-GMR Mechanical Heart, built by GM laboratories with funding from the American Heart Association. Its first successful use occurred later that same year, on a 41-year-old man.

The Dodrill-GMR Mechanical Heart set into motion a tidal wave of research and medical advances. Since its revolutionary introduction, more than a million successful open heart surgeries have been performed worldwide.

GM also provided the space program with the mobility system for the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which enabled Apollo 15 astronauts to accomplish mankind's first vehicular drive on the moon.

In spite of a few legal issues with GMAC dealers in the 50s and the U.S. Supreme Court's 1961 decision to charge du Pont, GM's largest shareholder, with violating the Clayton Antitrust Act*, General Motors has successfully and smoothly sailed through its history of technological innovations. Today, General Motors remains a U.S.-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, and Vauxhall.

The nation's highest court ruled in a case brought by the Justice Department that the 23-percent stock interest du Pont held in GM violated the Clayton Antitrust Act. The du Pont directors on GM's board of directors were forced to resign in 1959. The case was resolved in 1961 when du Pont divested its stock.

Some time around 1961, a man named William L. Mitchell hooked and landed a Mako shark off the coast of Florida. Mitchell also just happened to be vice president of the General Motors Styling Staff. The adventure inspired the 1961 experimental “Mako Shark” Corvette show car.

The car’s vari-coloured paint scheme is an iridescent blue that blends into a white side and lower body, like the natural colouring of the shark itself.

A number of experimental engines were tested in the Mako Shark Corvette, including a supercharged engine with four side-draft carburetors, a fuel-injected engine, and a V8 engine with two four-barrel carburetors and a production 1969 427-cubic-inch ZL-1 Chevrolet V8 that produced upwards of 425 horsepower.

These days you won’t find too many consumers willing to sit through a 90-second commercial. In fact, it wasn’t that common even back in 1984, when this ad ran for the new fourth-generation Corvette. But several things made it a successful effort just the same.

For starters, it was, after all, the new Corvette. There was also a great story to be told. The ’84 Vette represented more than just a body change. It ushered in a new age of computer-based technology applied to sport car performance. And the production values of the commercial itself were unusually advanced for the times.

Put it all together and you have an intriguing story that somehow leaves us wanting to see more. Even today.