Who knows where Billy Durant might have ended had he not teamed up with Josiah Dallas Dort? The two men were the same age and good friends when Billy returned from that fateful trip to nearby Coldwater, MI finding himself the surprise owner of a manufacturing company.
If only he knew the first thing about manufacturing.
At that time Billy, 25, was part owner of the largest insurance brokerage in Central Michigan. That term, part owner, captures the essence off who Billy Durant was. Wherever he went, he assumed the role of salesman and partnered with men who took care of the other aspects of the business.
Arriving with a deal to buy the carriage company, and its patent, in his pocket, Billy’s first priority was finding a partner. The next day Dallas Dort walked in the door and by the time he left he was that partner.
And what a partner. While Billy cycloned across the country signing dealers and showing them how to sell, Dallas built the company. At a time when labor strikes, even killings, were common, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company never had any labor unrest under Dort. In fact, he started a health care program of sorts for his workers at a time that was unheard of, even radical.
Dallas and Billy complemented each other extraordinarily. Dort had to build a new factory every year in order to keep up with Billy’s unending sales growth… and he just got it done. While Billy was the restless traveler (he never owned a home he stayed at for any length of time till he was 55) Dallas was the steady homebody. He and his wife Nellie were musicians and were active in Flint’s cultural scene. He eventually endowed the Flint Institute of Music among other civic benevolence.
Nellie contracted tuberculosis and Billy sent them to Arizona on a paid sabattical to see if that might help. During that time ABC Hardy stood in for Dallas. How big the shoes were that Hardy filled became clear when Dort came back after Nellie’s death. Hardy was so stressed out from one year of trying to manage the growing operation with a steady hand while coping with the Billy Durant tornado that he needed a year off to recover. Just one year in the middle left him a nervous wreck.
Dallas Dort came back and continued, as calmly successful as before. When Jim Whiting seduced Billy into the emerging automobile industry, Dort stayed with the horse drawn vehicle company. They remained friends and owned significant stock in each other’s companies. When Billy made his comeback Dallas helped him by supplying facilities, money and support.
Dallas Dort emerged as a wealthy and successful statesman of the carriage trade, as you can see from this trade publication item from 1910.
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