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David Dunbar Buick

David Dunbar Buick (September 17, 1854 - March 5, 1929) was a Scottish-American inventor best known for founding the Buick Motor Company. He was born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland but moved to Detroit, Michigan at the age of two when his parents emigrated to the United States.

When he left school in 1869 he started working for a company which made plumbing goods and when it ran into trouble some years later in 1882, he and a partner took it over. At this time Buick began to show his promise as an inventor, producing many innovations including a lawn sprinkler, and a method for permanently coating cast iron with vitreous enamel which allowed the production of "white" baths at much reduced cost. Although cast iron baths are uncommon nowadays, the method is still in use for enamelling them. With the combination of Buick's innovation and his partner's sound business management the company became quite successful.

During the 1890s, Buick developed an interest in internal combustion engines and began to spend his time on experimenting with them. This meant that he was spending little time on the plumbing business and as a result his business partner became impatient with him. The result was that the partnership was dissolved and the company was sold.

Buick now had the time and capital to work on engines full-time, and he set up a new company, the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company, in 1899 to do so. The stated aim of the company was to market engines for agricultural use. However Buick soon turned to the development of a complete car rather than just an engine. He also concentrated on research and development at the expense of manufacturing and sales. The result was that he ran through his capital by early 1902 without generating any significant return other than a single car.

In early 1902, he set up a second company, the Buick Manufacturing Company, with the twin aims of marketing engines to other car companies and of manufacturing and selling its own cars. Once again manufacturing and development problems meant that by the end of 1902, Buick had run out of money with only one car to show for his work. However the concentration on development had also produced the revolutionary "Valve-in-Head" overhead valve engine. This method of engine construction produces a much more powerful engine than the rival side valve engine design which all other manufacturers used at the time. Overhead valve engines are now used by all car companies.

Be that as it may, the money had run out again and in 1903 Buick was forced to raise more money via a $5,000 loan from a friend and fellow car enthusiast, Benjamin Briscoe and form the Buick Motor Company which was to become the foundation stone of the General Motors empire.

• A Buick biography
• Another version of the story