Editing Durant Motors

{{Short description|Former automobile manufacturer}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Durant Motors
| logo = Durant logo.jpg
| logo_size = 100px
| caption =
| fate = Dissolved
| successor = <!--company merged into etc.-->
| foundation = 1921
| defunct = 1931 <!--date it went bankrupt, merged, etc.-->
| location = [[Lansing, Michigan]], United States
| industry = [[Automobile]]<!--types of products or services offered-->
| key_people = [[William C. Durant]]
| products = [[Vehicles]]<!--some of company's notable products-->
| num_employees = <!--peak number of employees-->
| parent = <!--former parent companies, if any-->
| divisions = [[Durant (automobile)|Durant]]<br>[[Flint (automobile)|Flint]]<br>[[Star (automobile)|Star]]/[[Rugby (automobile)|Rugby]]<br>[[Mason Truck]]
| subsid = [[Locomobile Company of America]]
}}

[[File:1923 Durant A-22 (14529785592) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Durant touring car 1923]]
[[File:1923 Durant A-22 (14550914843) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Durant touring car 1923]]
[[File:Durant Motors, Inc. 1925.jpg|thumb|Share of the Durant Motors, Inc., issued 6 March 1925]]
'''Durant Motors Inc.''' was established in 1921 by former [[General Motors]] CEO [[William C. Durant|William "Billy" Durant]] following his termination by the GM board of directors and the New York bankers who financed GM.<ref name= "flint">{{cite news |last=Levin |first=Doron P. |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/09/us/flint-journal-tribute-to-a-1908-durant-in-the-auto-s-future.html |title=FLINT JOURNAL; Tribute to a 1908 Durant in the Auto's Future |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 9, 1988 |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

==Corporate relationships==
Durant Motors attempted to be a full-line automobile producer of cars and fielded the [[Flint (automobile)|Flint]], [[Durant (automobile)|Durant]], and [[Star (automobile)|Star]] brands, which were designed to meet [[Buick]], [[Oldsmobile]], [[Oakland Motor Car Company|Oakland]], and [[Chevrolet]] price points. Billy Durant also acquired luxury-car maker [[Locomobile Company of America|Locomobile]] of [[Bridgeport, Connecticut]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans|first1=Steve|title=Impeccably refined Locomobile |url=https://journal.classiccars.com/2018/06/21/impeccably-refined-locomobile/ |website=The ClassicCars.com Journal |access-date=7 November 2018}}</ref> at its liquidation sale in 1922;<ref name="Naldrett">{{cite book |last=Naldrett |first=Alan |title=Lost Car Companies of Detroit p. 26 |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-6258-5649-4}}</ref> in theory, Locomobile gave him a product that would compete against [[Cadillac]], [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]], and [[Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company|Pierce-Arrow]]. Durant Motors had a relationship with the [[Dort Motor Car Company|Dort]], [[Dominion Motors Frontenac|Frontenac]], and [[De Vaux|DeVaux]] automobile name badges. The Rugby line was the export name for Durant's Star car line. However, from 1928 to 1931, Durant marketed trucks in the US and Canadian markets under the badge Rugby Trucks. The Princeton, a model aimed at the [[Packard]] and [[Cadillac]] price points, was planned but never realized; also planned was the Eagle car line, but it never made it off the drafting tables.

[[File:1929 Durant (5784724289).jpg|thumb|A 1929 Durant sedan]]

==Production==
Durant co-founded a truck-making subsidiary, [[Mason Truck]], and also acquired numerous ancillary companies to support Durant Motors. In 1927, the Durant line was shut down to retool for a brand-new, modernized car for 1928, re-emerging in 1928 with Durant, Locomobile, and Rugby lines in place, and dropping the Mason Truck and Flint automobile lines and the top-selling Star car in April 1928. In 1929, Locomobile went out of production.

Initially, Durant Motors enjoyed success based upon Billy Durant's track record at General Motors, where he assembled independent makes Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. However, when sales failed to meet volumes sufficient to sustain Durant Motors holdings, the firm's financial footing began to slip. As a result, Durant Motors began losing market share and dealers. The final Durant-branded models rolled off the US assembly line in August 1931 at Lansing, but continued in Canada into 1932 under Dominion Motors, which also built the [[Dominion Motors Frontenac|Frontenac]].<ref name= "leaside">{{cite news |last=Bradburn |first=Jamie |url= https://torontoist.com/2007/04/vintage_toronto_13/ |title=Vintage Toronto Ads: Sound Policies and Quality Products from Leaside |work=[[Torontoist]] |date=April 30, 2007 |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

==Subsequent history==
The [[Lansing, Michigan]], Durant plant on Verlinden Avenue opened in 1920. After the demise of Durant, it remained closed until GM purchased it in 1935. It restarted production for GM's [[Fisher Body]] Division, later becoming the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac factory. It was finally combined with another Lansing plant to become [[Lansing Car Assembly]]. That factory was closed on May 6, 2005.

Durant's [[Flint, Michigan]], factory was bought by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors, and built mostly Buick bodies until its 1987 closure.<ref name= "flint"></ref><ref name= "fisher">{{cite news |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-09-fi-5933-story.html |title=GM's Famed, Old Fisher Body Plant Is Slowly Fading Into Auto History |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 9, 1987 |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

Durant's [[Oakland, California]], plant, located at the northeast corner of East 14th Street (now International Blvd.) and Durant Avenue (also the boundary between Oakland and San Leandro), later became a General Motors parts warehouse. Part of the plant survives as loft apartments and the Durant Square shopping center.<ref>{{cite web |title=Durant Motors - Oakland |url=https://localwiki.org/oakland/Durant_Motors |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref>

The company's Canadian [[Leaside, Ontario]], plant later became a factory for the Canadian Wire and Cable Company, though it was later demolished and is now a neighborhood shopping center.

Durant's former plant in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], housed one of the first supermarkets in the 1930s, and then was used as a cookie bakery by [[Burry's|Burry Biscuits]] for many years. It was in use as a warehouse when it was destroyed by fire in December 2011.<ref name= "fire">{{cite news |last=Nutt |first=Amy Ellis |url= http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/elizabeth_fire_claims_a_storie.html |title=Elizabeth fire claims a storied building |work=[[NJ.com]] |date=December 25, 2011 |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

Billy Durant died nearly broke at age 85 in 1947, the same year as [[Henry Ford]], aged 83.<ref name= "general">{{cite news |last=Niemeyer |first=Glenn A. & Flink, James J. |url= https://www.americanheritage.com/content/general-general-motors |title=The General Of General Motors |work=[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]] |date=August 1, 1973 |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref>

==Production model specifications==
*[[Durant Touring Car]]

==See also==
[[File:1930 Durant R E Olds Museum Lansing MI 2-9-2008 072 N (2254142858).jpg|thumb|1930 Durant sedan]]
*[[Flint (automobile)]]
*[[Rugby (automobile)]]
*[[Star (automobile)]]
*[[Mason Truck]]
*[[List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Tad Burness, ''1920–1939 Car Spotters Guide'', Motorbooks International

==External links==
*[http://www.durantmotors.org Durant Motors Automobile Club]

{{Durant Motors}}

[[Category:Durant Motors| ]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Lansing, Michigan]]<!--formerly-->
[[Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1921]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1931]]
[[Category:1921 establishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:1931 disestablishments in Michigan]]
[[Category:Companies based in Flint, Michigan]]