A Corporation called General Motors

The story of OAKLAND, necessarily starts with an explanation of General Motors, the brainchild of William Crapo (Billy) Durant, a gentleman born to wealth, later called an entrepreneur, whose passion was the stock market. He had very early recognized the potential of the automobile and he acted quickly enough to realize his dreams, but he was not wise enough to keep the corporation healthy or to control his appetite for the market. He lost control of GM, twice. He built another automobile conglomerate, adding DURANT, STAR, and FLINT to the lexicon, and he lost them the same way he lost GM. Billy Durant ended up a pauper, serving hamburgers at a lunch counter, but his vision lives on. It required all the brains and resources of the key men he had brought into GM to keep that company solvent, and GM did survive, but DURANT MOTORS (1921-1932) did not.Durant bought first the BUICK company in November, 1904. He added OLDSMOBILE in December, 1908, OAKLAND in April, 1909, RAINIER in May, CADILLAC in July, CARTERCAR in October, and ELMORE in November, 1909, and sometime in the same year, the WELCH and RELIANCE autos. In a flurry of spending sorely needed capital, he also bought some 20 other small companies, automotive parts suppliers, most of which eventually paid off for GM, but some, like the 2 stroke ELMORE, and the friction-drive CARTERCAR, were gambles.

Durant was forced out in 1910, and all his cars except BUICK, OLDS, CADILLAC & OAKLAND faded away before his 2d coming, as it were, in September, 1915, when, by a stock manipulation involving his fledgling CHEVROLET, he once again gained control of GM. One or two of the parts companies that didn't quite live up to their billing also got the axe, also the first MARQUETTE (1912) which was a new car produced with the leftover parts and plants of RAINIER and WELCH-DETROIT. One of my sources listed the RAPID and the RANDOLPH vehicles as among Durant's purchases, but I have not been able to verify either in Kimes' CATALOG; I suspect both were truck manufacturers.

With BUICK already in his pocket, Durant had attempted to unite the 4 major auto producers in early 1908, (Henry Ford of FORD, Henry M Leland of CADILLAC, Benjamin Briscoe of MAXWELL, and Ransome E. Olds of OLDSMOBILE but Henry Ford scuttled the project by insisting on $3 million cash, and Leland & Olds agreed that cash was the ticket. This was an impossible task for Durant, as Henry surely knew, and only Ben Briscoe, who had empire designs of his own, remained ready for a mere stock exchange, amongst those 4 producers. Durant raised the $3 million in 1909, and again approached Henry Ford, but his price was then $8 million! Henry M Leland wound up accepting $3.5 million for his CADILLAC operation, along with another $1 million more as a late fee, in part because Durant couldn't come up with the cash, and also because the Cadillac company was growing richer with daily sales while Durant scurried about, raising money.

Briscoe and his United States Motor Co never fared quite as well as Durant, although the end result was the same: both succeeded in combining several smaller companies while bankrupting their respective conglomerates. GM was twice saved, but USMC, successor to MAXWELL-BRISCOE, hired what we call a headhunter today, a disenchanted gentleman from a competitive car firm, Walter Flanders, who slashed and slashed until little was left of Briscoe's dream, but the MAXWELL. With Ben Briscoe long gone, Walter P Chrysler was hired a few years later, a dropout from BUICK, and after the example set by his mentor, Charley Nash, Wally renamed the MAXWELL as the CHRYSLER in 1924, and another giant of the industry was on his way.

By digging into General Motors history, I got another surprise, and a reminder that automobile history kind of reads like family history---its the genealogy of a car. A close friend in El Dorado Co, has an original, unrestored, 1909 CARTERCAR, and he has lent me appreciable help in my OAKLAND restoration effort. I was told we didn't have time for a history of CARTERCAR, and that it was a flop, anyway, like hundreds of others. As a favor I have been collecting information on my friend's car while researching mine, and I have happily discovered several connections between the two:

1) CARTERCAR was absorbed by GM, in October, 1909 (OAKLAND came into the GM fold in April) ...

2) in November, 1909, CARTERCAR moved from its Detroit plant to the Pontiac Spring and Wagon Works, which produced the first PONTIAC, a high-wheeler in 1907, in Pontiac, MI (home of OAKLAND)...

3) that early PONTIAC used friction-drive, like the CARTERCAR and very likely a patent infringement...

4) the present-day PONTIAC DIVISION traces its genesis to Ed Murphy's Pontiac Buggy Co, which started in 1893, and is sometimes confused with the Pontlac Motor Vehicle Co aka Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works, CARTERCAR's physical plant...

(5) the CARTERCAR facility in Pontiac, once production ceased in May, 1915, was used to produce the Northway powered 6 cylinder OAKLAND for 1916, (my car) which used virtually the same body, along with the 1915 OAKLAND... 6) both OAKLAND and the CARTERCAR suffered from the early demise of their founders, Ed Murphy and Byron Carter, aged 45 and 44 respectively, at a critical time for each car.....

Byron Carter's demise is an exceptional story. You heard some of it a few classes back when you were told that a "Mr Carter" injured himself rather seriously, assisting a lady whose car had stalled. It was, indeed, Byron G Carter, inventor of the friction-drive and builder of the CARTERCAR, whose arm and shoulder were wrecked in an encounter with an incompetent lady motorist on a bridge. He actually died of pneumonia, contracted during the long confinement following his bizarre accident with crank starting, which, you will recall, led to the development of the self-starter by "boss" Kettering at the urging of Henry M Leland, himself. (Unless, of course you accept the tall tale we heard from the retired OLDS exec. in Feb) Had he survived, the fate of Carter's car, and his company, might have been different, and the electric starter might not have been developed when it was. Speculation of this kind is called "iffy" history, and real historians avoid it, so forget I said that......

One more point, and then I'm done with the CARTERCAR! Under the protective wing of GM, but without its inventor and principal spokesman, the CARTERCAR was left to languish with few annual changes and little engineering support, and was finally dropped altogether after the 1915 model year, before Durant regained control of the corporation in June, 1916. As we shall see, the same fate awaited the OAKLAND. Because the last CARTERCAR, the 1915 Model 9, the only 1915 model offered, was essentially an OAKLAND with friction- ' drive, the 2 cars were 1st cousins or maybe step-brothers, if you can accept my notion of a genealogy of the automobile ... and further, both were to get the axe by their own adoptive parent, GM.

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OAKLAND history can be logically divided into 3 parts:

I. 1907-1917, THE GLORY YEARS, the independent years as Oakland Motor Car Company, and the early GM years when the protective envelope of the corporation actually helped, rather than hindered, development of the OAKLAND automobile;

II. 1918-1923, THE TRAGIC YEARS, or what the heck was GM thinking as the OAKLAND reputation was being eroded with unreliable and unattractive cars, produced by the renamed Oakland Division of GM;

III. 1924-1931, THE BITTER END, when it was too late for halfway recovery attempts, when PONTIAC was stealing the show, and the market, and the great depression stole away with OAKLAND...

THE GLORY YEARS

The first OAKLAND was actually a leftover two cylinder design by Alanson P. Brush, designer and chief engineer at CADILLAC, which firm Mr Brush had joined and left in 1905. The design he offered in 1907 to Edward M Murphy, founder of the Pontiac Buggy Co, Pontiac, MI, was intended to be an improved CADILLAC, but Henry Leland had already adopted a 4 cylinder design and wasn't interested. (CADILLAC never made a 2-banger, skipping from 1 to 4 cylinders) Although buyers seemed to prefer the new 4 cylinder cars, there were many other 2 cylinder cars then being manufactured? and Murphy was very much interested. Production of the OAKLAND soon began, owing much of its genesis to Edward Murphy's proven leadership and experience as a carriage builder. The name came both from the MI County where the city of Pontiac is located, and from the line of carriages produced earlier by Murphy's buggy company of the same name.

The first PONTIAC predated the OAKLAND by a few months, and was produced by the PONTIAC SPRING & WAGON WORKS, also called the PONTIAC MOTOR VEHICLE CO, but was apparently not affiliated with Murphy's PONTIAC BUGGY CO, all, of course, located in Pontiac, MI. The 1908 PONTIAC was a 2 cylinder high wheeler, meaning it incorporated buggy wheels and solid tires, and only about 40 were produced before Byron G Carter came along and bought the physical plant to produce his new CARTERCAR. You have to wonder if the unauthorized use of his patented gearless drive had something to do with this takeover of the high-wheeler PONTIAC firm ... but, of course, the name PONTIAC wasn't done yet...

The Model A OAKLAND (there's that Model A designation, again) was a front-engined 20 hp vertical twin, with planetary transmission like the FORD, selling for $1300. The very first OAKLAND was produced in late 1907 and was an immediate success. OAKLAND serial #1 saw service as a demonstrator for several months before being sold in April, 1908, with 5852 miles under its belt, possibly the first OAKLAND sold, but there were "new" units available by then. It featured an "extra power" motor, peppier than most other cars rated at 20 hp, and was easily serviced, although running counter clockwise, unlike most cars, even today.

Total production for 1908 is in doubt, probably 200 to 278, but interestingly, only 14 other automakers produced more than 700 vehicles that year. OAKLAND'S first year was all it took for Ed Murphy to recognize that something other than a 2 cylinder was needed if the company was to succeed. About 350 more 2 cylinder cars were produced as 1909 models, most of them being a replacement, clockwise running, GM design, not the engine designed by Brush. The big news in 1909, was the introduction of the OAKLAND 40 Model, a 40 hp four for just $1600, and it was an immediate success. The new engine was just a pair of the 2 cylinder units mounted on a single crankcase, doubling the horsepower. This engine and a smaller 30 hp version introduced in 1910, with minor changes, built the OAKLAND's reputation; they were light and fast, reliable, and easily maintained and operated. Total production for both 1909 models was 1035, about 700 of them fours. This rapid success, along with Murphy's reputation, attracted the attention of Billy Durant. GM actually took control of OAKLAND by a stock majority in January, 1909, the official merger taking place in early April. and so OAKLAND joined the new GM concern after just one full year of independent operation---the 3rd automobile company acquired by Billy Durant, after BUICK and OLDS. It has often been speculated that Durant was after the man behind the OAKLAND, Edward M Murphy, and probably the same could be said of his acquisition of CARTERCAR, but he was to be disappointed with the untimely deaths of both men.

Early OAKLAND advertising offered the following purpose:
"To build at a fair air price an automobile so SPRIGHTLY as to uphold its owner's pride; so COMPETENT as to arouse his genuine respect; so RELIABLE as to win his deepest confidence; so ECONOMICAL as to serve his highest interest---this has been the purpose, is now the accomplishment, and will continue to be the endeavour to which Oakland devotes the whole of its energies, its resources, its skills.....”

Later advertising used "Sturdy as the Oak", "sensible six", "true blue Oakland Six", "up to the minute", "for the man who says Show Me!", and "All-American Oakland Six"

Keeping the direction taken by Ed Murphy, who had died suddenly in September, 1909, the OAKLAND MOTOR CAR CO out produced all but 9 other American auto manufacturers in its 3rd year, 1910, with 4049 units. FORD, by comparison, had reached the top spot in 1906. even before annual production was reduced to a single model, and never relinquished its lead until 1927, when the belated changeover to production of the first Model A created a sales lag finally eclipsed by GM's OHV CHEVROLET 6. The fight for the top spot was won by FORD only 3 times more, 1929, 1930 and 1935, until long after the post-war boom when the weird fins of the 1959 CHEVROLET, and the rumors of lift-off at speed, made the new FORD Galaxie the top seller that year. You remember. it wasn't pretty, was actually boxy, but it sold well.

For the 11 years from 1910 to 1920, the OAKLAND was a consistent top 15 producer, 6th in 1919, averaging better than 10th overall. OAKLAND was also an early innovator, being the first car to use centralized controls for the driver, a result of the movement of the steering wheel to the left side and the controls to the center of the car. OAKLAND offered a choice of left or right hand steering as early as 1913, and moved the controls inboard as a result. Oakland was among the first to offer the "fat-man" adjustable steering wheel, to switch over to closed body styles, adopt 4 wheel brakes, and the very first to offer DUCO spray-painted bodies (1924), which revolutionized both new car finishes and auto production methods. (Prior to the Duco method, car bodies were generally brush-painted and hand-sanded over and over again to achieve a finished look.) The early OAKLAND was a "state-of-the-art" machine, at least in the tens and early teens, in spite of beginning with a 2 banger. The late teens and twenties brought new management and new direction from the corporation, and eventual ruin.

Through the early teens, OAKLAND remained a quality medium-priced car, with somewhat brisk sales, but it began to be relegated to a lesser role in the big corporate GM picture, after 1917. Until Durant regained control of the corporation in late 1915, OAKLAND remained an excellent car, with management in the hands of Charles Nash, who was also the president of GM, but only until Billy Durant returned. As Durant and CHEVROLET came in, Nash went out, by his own choice, "to go fishing" as he told the press. The catch he landed was his own car company, the sedate and reliable, though stagnating JEFFERY Company of Kenosha. Billy Durant was an entrepreneur; he was not an automobile man, like Charley. Nash had risen quickly at GM, having been hired by Durant himself, but Charley reached the top in Durant's absence, in between Billy's two periods of GM control, and the two old friends, mentor and mentee, did not see eye to eye on management.

In 1916, thanks to the steady planning and direction of Charley Nash, OAKLAND was still in a position of leadership, and had offered 3 different models, the already-proven big 4, now called the Model 38, a new Northway produced OHV 6 called the Model 32, and a big Northway V8, the Model 50. After Charley bailed out, the four was dropped for 1917, and the V8 was discontinued a year later, both decisions that would have been made differently had Charley still been aboard. (I didn't use the word if, there... )
I have discovered a minor inconsistency in recorded OAKLAND history ... according to the only automotive writers who have taken up the OAKLAND challenge in any depth, John Gunnell and Arch Brown, the big change in 1917 was the replacement of the L-head 6, Model 32, and the mid-year 1916 update Model 32B, with the OHV 6 Model 34. 1 have had to reread both writers several times, and there is no mistake, they both claim the 6 of 1916 was an L-head design, and that the OHV 6 that was to (sus)stain the OAKLAND reputation in the years to come, was introduced in 1917 ... but my 1916 Model 32 is an OHV with the correct Model 32 numbers ... more significant is the 4 page AUTOMOBILE journal article that announced the 1916 Oakland 6, which details the engine and the valve train in scale drawings.

I hate to take exception with these two renowned authors, but the OAKLAND OHV 6 was born in 1916, not 1917. Apparently the 1915 Model 49, like the first 6 cylinder OAKLANDS of 1913-1914, was an L-head design, produced by the Northway concern, which had by then also been absorbed by GM. Kimes has a confused entry for the 1915 and 1916 OAKLANDS, and the engine confusion error may have started there.

THE TRAGIC YEARS

By the late teens, when another misfortune in the market squelched Durant's last tenure at GM, the dual leadership of Pierre S DuPont and Alfred P Sloan resulted in a corporate reorganization which redefined the role and the price range of all the surviving GM marques. and somehow the appeal of OAKLAND, not to mention what prestige remained, was lost in the shuffle. By 1917, the two solo OAKLAND bodies, a roadster and touring, were also offered with a CA style removable top, along with a fixed top coupe and sedan for 1918. The unit-body coupe of 1918 featured windows that dropped into the doors and body panels along with a removable pillar, to produce what we would call today a hardtop convertible. I can't say this was the first such hardtop but it was surely unique for 1918, and wasn't generally adopted by all GM marques until 1949-50. By now, only the small OAKLAND OHV 6 engine remained, still with fewer cubic inches than its 1916 4 cylinder companion; the same engine carried the marque up to 1924, with only a series of minor changes, including a valve and push rod cover.
OAKLAND called it the "sensible six" from about 1917, a sure-fire misnomer from my limited acquaintance, as it did suffer from under-lubrication and developed a reputation for burning oil. What worries me the most as an owner, is the bad news that the crankshaft in this engine was too light and that the splash style lubrication was inadequate, the result being that few of these engines have survived today, and they were shunned by buyers of that day, once the word got out. My mentor in the OAKLAND Club, who confirms that his 1916 Model 32 is an OHV, was careful to suggest that I install cup oilers on the connecting rods to improve the lubrication design.....
The 1916 engine had an exposed valve and push rod design similar to the 1916 BUICK, both requiring frequent hand oiling intervals by the driver, as often as every 35-40 miles, to be safe. (I am not looking forward to this function... ) In the case of OAKLAND, I have been unable to determine when this ill-advised design was amended with a cover that surely improved the under hood look and probably contributed in no small way to improved oil consumption. I found a 1923 owner's manual at the March 7th Pomona Swap Meet, which pictured the valves and rocker arms covered by a neat and attractive cover, but none of my sources list this improvement, and I am fairly certain that the exposed design was continued at least to 1919, based on engine photos. The engine problems were resolved, probably by 1922, when all the rods, pistons, rings, cylinders and valves were covered by a written guarantee for at least 15,000 miles, but the buying public never forgets, and the OAKLAND name was now tarnished. Having relied solely upon a single, questionable engine from 1918 thru 1923, the Division really needed a new model, a timely shot in the arm to recapture the confidence of the motoring public, but almost all subsequent OAKLAND design and engineering was unremarkable.

THE BITTER END
(THE DEATH OF OAKLAND - WAS IT MURDER?)

I really like this sub-title, but its not my original idea, 1 found it in my research ... it does enunciate a difficult proposition, one that could be extended to the demise of all of Durant's other auto acquisitions, as well as EDSEL, DESOTO, PACKARD, NASH, HUDSON, EVERITT, FLANDERS, CORD, DUESENBERG, OVERLAND, MAXWELL, JEFFERY, the original RAMBLER, the 1950's RAMBLER, most of the "companion" cars, and probably many others. The difficulty, as I see it, is that each of the above were dropped from production lines for a variety of reasons, but the companies lived on with some other automobile product, leaving many thousands of owners, and now collectors, with varying degrees of brand loyalty that may or may not be rational or justifiable, and the more obvious notion that the dead cars really live on, "embodied," as it were, in the successor. I must confess to not being completely untouched by this brand-consciousness# perhaps because I own an OAKLAND, 2 NASHES and a LAFAYETTE, and have had several PONTIACS ...

In 1924, OAKLAND introduced a new L-head 6 engine, a design usually considered inferior to an OHV, and the Sensible Six was dropped. The new engine was trouble-free, much cheaper to produce, and simpler to operate. It made sense for the corporation, but it was not a reflection of early OAKLAND achieve-ment. It was also ho-hum something less than very exciting, and the slide into oblivion was gathering speed. OAKLAND had been in danger of being deleted before the 1924 engine was introduced, and lackluster sales of that new model didn't help. This setback was the impetus for the introduction of a companion car, the 1926 PONTIAC, which was to change the fortunes of Oakland Division, and even GM.

The concept of "companion cars" as utilized in the early industry, needs to be explained. Early automobiles usually had several models, distinguishable by engine size, power, displacement, number of cylinders, sometimes body style, etc., but special models like the OAKLAND ORIOLE, the NASH CHESTERFIELD, the KISSELL GOLD BUG, or the MERCER RACEABOUT and STUTZ BEARCAT always carried the marque name; it was not just a BEARCAT, it was a STUTZ BEARCAT. For marketing reasons, sometime in the teens or twenties the idea of introducing an entire new line of car to bolster flagging sales came along, but naturally the "new" car had to be sold in a different price range than the "Parent" so as not to encroach on the latter's sales. These new cars were called "companions" simply because they were offered right alongside the parent marque, broadening the company's range of automobiles. Everybody had a companion car in those days: HUDSON had ESSEX, later ESSEX-TERRAPLANE, and then just TERRAPLANE; PAIGE-DETROIT had JEWETT; WILLYS-OVERLAND had WHIPPET, which actually replaced the OVERLAND; NASH had AJAX and LAFAYETTE; MARMON had ROOSEVELT, STUDEBAKER had ERSKINE and the ROCKNE; MOON had the DIANA, CHRYSLER added PLYMOUTH, DESOTO and then bought DODGE, etc. , etc. In reality, both the MERCURY and the EDSEL were companion cars that filled a niche between FORD and LINCOLN, but use of the term had been abandoned. The FRAZER was a companion marque to the KAISER. The LINCOLN ZEPHYR, the MARK series, the sporty THUNDERBIRD, the CORVETTE, even the MUSTANG, COUGAR, NEON, COLT, PROWLER, CHARGER, SEVILLE, ELDORADO, TORONADO, RIATA, MIATA, and many, many more, all retain the parent marque name, and are thus merely new models, not companion cars or separate new marques. PONTIAC was a low-priced OAKLAND companion car.

There was little change at OAKLAND until the addition of PONTIAC in 1926, the development of which had apparently kept the OAKLAND boys very busy. Actually, the project was begun at CHEVROLET, even though destined to be produced in another Division, probably OAKLAND or OLDSMOBILE. Sloan was after improving inter-division component sharing to cut costs, and the basic CHEVROLET platform with only rear brakes was chosen by the CHEVY guys, and was used until 1928, even though OAKLAND went with 4 wheel brakes back in 1924. First year PONTIAC sales were not exceptional, the OAKLAND outsold it by enjoying a record sales year, but by 1928, the cheaper PONTIAC was the best seller, by 224,784 to 60,121. Production figures for 1930 made the new PONTIAC a remarkable 4th largest producer, in just its 5th model year, with OAKLAND ranking 19th. Of course, OAKLAND was producing the new PONTIAC, which was nothing more than an OAKLAND with another badge, conceived and built by the same men who had produced OAKLAND, but, unlike the (2d) MARQUETTE (1930) by BUICK, and the VIKING (1929-1930) by OLDSMOBILE, and LASALLE (1927-1940) by CADILLAC, the OAKLAND offspring took on a life of its own. Rather than boosting OAKLAND sales, as in 1926, it now stole them, and even a new OAKLAND V8 in 1930 could not keep PONTIAC's star from rising.

The depression was the last straw. Faced with sagging sales that killed off many of its rivals, GM was forced to reduce costs and go with a winner. In January, 1932, the OAKLAND was officially eliminated, but it was noted then as merely a name change. In the words of the MOTOR, a trade journal, "the OAKLAND EIGHT is now known as the PONTIAC EIGHT". It could be argued that today's PONTIAC, wide track and all, is still an OAKLAND, with another name, but today, 99 people out of 100 have never heard of the OAKLAND, or have simply forgotten it, so it is up to us docents to tell them. I think it would be cool to see a new PONTIAC model called an OAKLAND, and who knows, maybe history would repeat itself! Stranger things have happened......