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William Crapo Durant
William Crapo Durant was an American businessman. A leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, he was the founder of General Motors and a co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple brands – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. He also founded Frigidaire.
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business · American automotive businessman (1861–1947) · entrepreneur · industrialist · also William Crapo Durant, William C. Durant, William Durant, Durant
Born 8 December 1861 · Died 18 March 1947 · Q381381
24 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 1 entry
2025· 2 entries
Dollars ) (cosigned by R S McLaughlin), Durant went into partnership with Louis Chevrolet in 1911, starting the Chevrolet company
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Dollars ) a year on behalf of General Motors
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1947· 1 entry
Died 1947-03-18.
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1946· 1 entry
But his health had deteriorated to the point where this was impossible
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1942· 1 entry
Durant traveled to Goldfield, Nevada, to open up a cinnabar mine, hoping the US government would subsidize it through defense contracts, although this ultimately proved a pipe dream
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1934· 1 entry
And Cliff's death in 1937, Cliff's fourth wife, Charlotte Phillips Durant, sold the land to George W
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1921· 1 entry
Durant established a new company, Durant Motors, initially with one brand
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1920· 1 entry
Finally lost control of GM to the DuPont and McLaughlin shareholders, paying out $21,000,000 ($338,000,000 in 2025 dollars ) back to his friends
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1918· 1 entry
United Motors was sold to General Motors for $44,065,000 ($9
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1917· 1 entry
Durant, who detested war, declared that GM would not participate in defense work
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1916· 1 entry
The GM board had already decided to discontinue the Cartercar, largely because sales never approached the 1000-2000 annually that Durant had predicted
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1915· 1 entry
To put Chevrolet in Canada and with the shares being bought up at 5-to-1 and 7-to-1, McLaughlin and Durant with other shareholders had enough stock to reclaim Durant's old job
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1914· 1 entry
A disagreement with Louis Chevrolet resulted in Durant buying out his partner
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1913· 1 entry
Dort stepped down as vice-president of Chevrolet, and in 1914 Durant disposed of his share of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company
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1910· 1 entry
Immediately set out to create "another GM", starting with the Little car, named after its founder, William H
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1909· 3 entries
General Motors Holding acquired the Cartercar Company, founded four years earlier in Jackson, Michigan, by Byron J
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But the bankers turned him down and the board of directors of General Motors dismissed him
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Durant's GM bought Cadillac, and Oakland Motor Car (eventually replaced by Pontiac), along with many parts-manufacturing companies, paint and varnish companies, and other accessory manufacturers owned by General Motors
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1908· 2 entries
Durant purchased Olds Motor Works (Oldsmobile)
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And exchanged a large parcel of Buick stock for a matching parcel of McLaughlin stock, making McLaughlin one of General Motors' biggest shareholders
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1904· 1 entry
Assumed control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and used the financial and manufacturing resources of Durant-Dort to correct Buick's course
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1886· 1 entry
Durant partnered with Josiah Dallas Dort and founded Flint Road Cart Company, eventually transforming $2,000 ($72,000 in 2025 dollars) in start-up capital into a $2-million company with worldwide sales ($72,000,000 in 20
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1861· 1 entry
Born 1861-12-08.
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