Abstract

In the Driftway

This article focuses on David D. Buick, whose invention becomes a great commercial success but was robbed of it. Buick was seized with the idea of the Great Invention back in the days when we still called it a "horseless carriage." He put in his spare time tinkering with a "horseless carriage," and he went to work to produce a practical automobile. But in doing it he spent all his capital and had a hard fight to finance a company, which finally began to manufacture and sell his car. Success seemed to be won at last, but there was dissension in the company, and in 1909 Buick withdrew from active management and went to California, though still retaining a large block of stock. He lost again and returned to Detroit, Michigan a broken man. He got a job as an instructor in a trade school, but as he grew feebler was demoted to "information man," sitting behind a desk and answering questions all day. While 2,000,000 cars bearing his name roared over the world's highways.