The Fall ofВ Detroit
Dmitry Nazarov
The history of the automotive industry was different.Breakthroughs, ups and downs, luxury, asceticism, inventors whose brains changed the world. There is a place on the planet where these events took place. Its name is Detroit! This is where famous car brands were born. It was here that the war broke out between American, German and Japanese auto companies. And now everything is in the past.I want you to immerse yourself in this atmosphere of American cars, feel it and just get high.
The Fall ofВ Detroit
Dmitry Nazarov
© Dmitry Nazarov, 2022
ISBNВ 978-5-0056-8318-2
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Table ofВ contents
Introduction
It’s impossible to imagine our modern world without cars.
Despite the fact that aВ car, inВ general, is just aВ pile ofВ metal and aВ set ofВ parts, no one thinks ofВ it like that.
Many people believe that a car possesses a soul. It’s like a full-fledged family member. And some people prioritize a personal car above themselves, and even family.
Pretty often, we only have to look at the car to understand everything about its owner. We don’t even have to converse, everything goes without saying.
And, of course, not all cars are created equal. If you drive a Renault Logan, you would hardly be allowed to pass other cars as freely as an owner of a Geländewagen. Although, some old, rusty Geländewagen would cost just as much a new Logan.
But still, they would let it pass byВ more often.
IВ wonder, could it be the case that aВ car might be aВ real problem for its owner?
I’m not talking about the classic story where your DSG breaks for the second time in a week.
Could the owner be gradually beaten down for having aВ car ofВ the wrong brand? Could someone even kill the man who choses his car incorrectly?
It sounds absolutely crazy.
Today, if you’d come for a Peugeot club meeting and began yelling that a Peugeot was a worthless waste of a vehicle, the worst consequence would be beauty bags thrown at you. Believe me, I know.
However, the problem is real.
There were examples inВ human history. And today, from this video, you will know how and why the cult surrounding the car was born. How car makers shot their workers down, and the workers demolished their manufactures. How one worker from the Ford factory arrived here, toВ the USSR, and how that trip changed the course ofВ car history. What people were willing toВ do when an empire built on cars was crashing. You will witness aВ detailed, thorough and eventful story ofВ Detroit, the main city ofВ the car industry.
Enjoy!
When Detroit was originally founded, no one could predict anything about it becoming aВ car empire, there was never aВ hint ofВ such an ambition.
First ofВ all, Detroit belonged toВ Canada and was originally aВ trading settlement. Just aВ piece ofВ land enclosed byВ aВ fence; and the purpose ofВ that settlement was trading fur skins with Native American Indians.
Fur skins are fur wheel covers. The Natives couldn’t drive without them.
Every Native had toВ have them. And before the XIX century, there was only about aВ thousand ethnic europeans inВ the area. The Black population, slaves and the Natives were not regarded as substantial men, hence we only have information about the white population.
One thousand people lived there, more or less.
When we speak about that period, inВ context it was was quite aВ large settlement. But still only aВ settlement.
It was aВ camp with aВ fence.
And at some point, that village burned down inВ 1805. And the property development began.
They built shipyards and the first manufactures.
That’s what Detroit looked like a hundred years later, in 1905.
But it would start toВ become more significant on August 5, 1899. That day was the day when DAC was founded. Detroit Automobile Company.
That was the first US car company inВ Detroit. It was founded byВ the infamous Henry Ford.
Suddenly.
Chapter 1. HenryВ Ford
HenryВ Ford
The Ford wasn’t the first of Henry’s companies. He gathered 12 investors, and DAC was the first car company he founded.
Do you remember that famous legend where Ford, inВ his barn, put together some wagon with some engine, that was before he openedВ DAC.
Ford had many ideas, but he didn’t have any money. He was just a regular mechanic. And with this wagon, he convinced 12 investors, the mayor of the town included, to invest 86,000 dollars in him.
If we talk about modern money, it’s 2.6 million usd. A significant amount of money, for sure.
And the focus ofВ the DAC activities was aВ vehicle for delivery men. It was heavy, slow, uncomfortable, hard toВ build.
That idea was void from the start.
There were only 12В ofВ them ever produced, the money was wasted.
Ford who was very pleased regardless, left the company and founded his own Ford company inВ 1903. AВ year later, inВ 1904, he founded the Ford Piquette Plant that was the first full-fledged car factory inВ Detroit. Ford is the first element inВ our diagram.
It’s the first foundation of Detroit’s future.
The next moment was inВ 1904. AВ fellow named William Krapo Durant bought aВ huge chunk ofВ Buick shares.
Chapter 2. William Durant
William Crapo Durant, the American entrepreneur who founded the General Motors and Chevrolet automobile companies
Buick had already existed byВ that time.
It was a successful brand, in general. It wasn’t located in Detroit but it was a successful car company.
Durant wasn’t as famous as Henry Ford. Although, a few years later, he created a brand you definitely heard about. It was such a small, low-profile company named General Motors.
Durant wasn’t an inventor, he was an entrepreneur, pure and simple.
He was trying toВ sell things since he was aВ kid: cigarettes, papers, shoes. Then, it came toВ real estate.
And so, aВ result ofВ his upbringing was the fact that, inВ 1886, he had his own factory which produced running gear for bullock carts. He produced wagon wheels, so toВ speak. And actually, his mindset predetermined all the way ofВ General Motors development, and ofВ whole the car industry.
Perhaps, IВ will say something not so obvious toВ you, but GM has never been aВ car manufacturer. GM is just aВ managing company.
And who were those car makers? Chevrolet, Opel, GMC, Cadillac, the very same Buick. GM was just an office with managers.
When Durant began toВ manage the Buick, the company was doing poorly. They were just producing something within some scope, and they were not highly regarded.
But within 4В years, Durant made Buick toВ an industry leader, and inВ 1908, Buick was aВ bestseller.
Although, Ford Model T was also born in 1908, it didn’t manage to move his competitor yet.
The main difference between Durant’s and Ford’s models of how they would run their businesses was the following; Ford placed all his bets on one model, and Durant decided that each manufacturer had to have a wide range of products. It had to be like that so that each customer could find something fitting for them.
