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Pontiac

Autonaut — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:32:53 +0000

The Pontiac brand was introduced by General Motors in 1926 as the ‘companion’ marque to GM’s Oakland Motor Car line. The Pontiac name was first used in 1906 by the Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works and linked to Chief Pontiac who led an unsuccessful uprising against the British shortly after the French and Indian War. The Oakland Motor Company and Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works Company merged in November 1908 under the name of the Oakland Motor Car Company. The operations of both companies were joined together in Pontiac, Michigan (in Oakland County) to build the Cartercar. Oakland was purchased by General Motors in 1909.
An American Indian Headdress was used as a logo until 1956. This was updated to the currently used American Indian red arrowhead design for 1957. The “arrow-head” logo is also known as the Dart.

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Buick

Autonaut — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:45:07 +0000

Buick is a marque of automobile sold in the United States, Canada, China, Taiwan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Israel by General Motors Corporation. Since the demise of Oldsmobile in 2004, it is GM’s only North America-based entry-level luxury brand.
Buick originated as an independent motor car manufacturer, the Buick Motor Company, incorporated on May 19, 1903, by the Scottish-American David Dunbar Buick in Detroit, Michigan. Later that year, the struggling company was taken over by James H. Whiting (1842-1919), who moved it to his hometown of Flint, Michigan, and brought in William C. Durant in 1904 to manage his new acquisition. Buick sold his stock for a small sum upon departure, and died in modest circumstances twenty-five years later.
The first Buick made for sale, the 1904 Model B, was built in Flint, Michigan. There were 37 Buicks made that year, none of which survive.

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Read more on Buick at Wikipedia

Hudson

Autonaut — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:20:32 +0000

The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped.
The name “Hudson” came from Joseph L. Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson’s department store, who provided the necessary capital and gave permission for the company to be named after him.

The company had a number of firsts for the auto industry; these included dual brakes, the use of dashboard oil-pressure and generator warning lights, and the first balanced crankshaft, which allowed the Hudson straight-6 engine, dubbed the “Super Six” (1916), to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power for its size than lower-speed engines. Most Hudsons until 1957 had straight-6 engines. The dual brake system used a secondary mechanical parking brake system, which activated the rear brakes when the pedal traveled beyond the normal reach of the primary system; a mechanical emergency brake was also used. Hudsons transmissions also used an oil bath and cork clutch mechanism that proved to be as durable as it was smooth.
At its peak in 1929, 300,000 cars were produced in one year, Hudson and Essex combined, including contributions from Hudson’s other factories in Belgium and England; a factory had been built in 1925 in Brentford in London. Hudson was the third largest U.S. car maker that year, after Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet.

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Dodge

Autonaut — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:06:01 +0000

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, sport utility vehicles and trucks, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide. Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900 to supply parts and assemblies for Detroit’s growing auto industry, Dodge began making its own complete vehicles in 1914. The brand was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1928, passed through the short-lived DaimlerChrysler merger of 1998–2007 as part of the Chrysler Group, and is now a part of Chrysler LLC owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity investment firm.

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Read more on Dodge at Wikipedia

Nash

Autonaut — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:49:16 +0000

Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash who acquired the Thomas B. Jeffery Company. Jeffery’s best known automobile was the Rambler. Nash enjoyed decades of success by marketing mid-priced cars for middle class buyers.
Nash Motors was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1938. From 1938 to 1954, Nash was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash production continued from 1954 to 1957 after the creation of American Motors Corporation.

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Chevrolet

Autonaut — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:01:24 +0000

Chevrolet was founded by Louis Chevrolet (Swiss-French) and William C. Durant (American). Louis Chevrolet was a race-car driver, and William Durant, founder of General Motors, had been forced out of GM in 1910. He wanted to use Chevrolet’s designs to rebuild his own reputation as a force in the automobile industry. As head of Buick Motor Company, prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races.
Chevrolet first used its “bowtie” logo in 1913. It is said to have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel. Another theory is that it is a stylized version either of the shape of Switzerland or the cross on the flag of Switzerland, Louis Chevrolet’s birthplace.

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