Close Up of Vignette David Dunbar Buick was born on September 17, 1854 in Arbroath, Scotland. His parents moved to the United States in 1856, when he was two years old. They decided to settle in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In 1869, he finished school and found a job at a plumbing company. In 1882, the company started having financial problems and he decided to become a partner by investing in it. Along with this investment, he started dabbling in inventions. One of his early developments was a lawn sprinkler that sprayed water over a large area. He also developed a method to produce white bathtubs more economically by coating cast iron with vitreous enamel. The method was widely used until cast iron was replaced by other materials for bathtubs. With profits from his inventions and increasingly successful business, Buick began to find new business ventures to pursue. In the early 1890s, he began to develop an interest in internal combustion engines. His experimentations took up most of his time, eventually forcing him to dissolve his partnership in the plumbing company. With the capital from his plumbing company, Buick started a new one called the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in 1899. His goal was to produce engines that could be used for agriculture equipment, but eventually focused on developing an automobile. By 1902, he had developed a single working automobile, but did not have any money left to produce more or market his design. In 1902, he started the Buick Manufacturing Company with the goal of marketing his engines to other automobile companies as well as manufacturing cars of its own. Buick developed the first "valve-in-head" style overhead valve engine, which proved to be more powerful than the common side valve engine design. This style of engine is still used today. In 1903, Buick once again found himself broke. He took out a $5,000 loan from his friend Benjamin Briscoe and formed a new company, the Buick Motor Company. Briscoe soon found out that a car production company was starting up in the city of Flint and convinced Buick to become a partner in it with him. They borrowed $10,000 from a bank in order to settle Buick's debts and Buick moved his operation to Flint. Buick combined his company, Buick Motor Company, with the start up firm with himself and Briscoe as partners. However, Buick's debts made it necessary for him to accept a smaller stake in the company and he didn't have much control over its operations. As president of the company, Buick oversaw the production of 16 cars in 1903, doubling that number to 34 in 1904. The automobiles were largely experimental, but popular with the wealthy, who purchased them for $1200 each. However, a man named William Durant joined the company and eventually pressured Buick to leave in 1906. After leaving the company, Buick moved back to Detroit and lived with his wife and son. He found a day job as an inspector at the trade school in Detroit and watched with dismay as his company became more successful without him. Had he stayed with the company, his minor shares would have been worth approximately $10 million by 1921. He died of colon cancer on March 5, 1929. Certificate Details: Capital Stock Certificate, issued in the 1910’s Printed by Goes 8 1/4” (h) x 10 3/4” (w) This certificate has vertical fold lines, no cancels, edge faults and toning from age, and minor fold splits (less than a ¼”) outside of the border. |
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