Comeback! is based on the true story of the greatest comeback in American business.
The greatest? Read the book and judge for yourself.
Billy Durant was a highly successful business owner and a millionaire at forty–this was back in 1900 when a million was still real money. His business? Horse-drawn carts and buggies.
Technology (the automobile) threatened his empire. What did Billy Durant do? He scoffed. Why, we even have a six month backlog of orders for our vehicles.
A good friend and wagon making competitor (many fit that description) saw the writing on the wall and bought a fledgling automobile maker. David Buick had barely made a handful of cars and was about to go under when Jim Whiting acquired it. Through a little friendly subterfuge, Whiting palmed off the struggling Buick onto Billy, who not only embraced the new technology but made it the world’s top selling automobile in a few short years.
Around 1906-1908 mergers (trusts) were all the rage, headlined by J. P.Morgan’s U.S. Steel. Ben Briscoe, a friend/competitor with ties to J. P. Morgan, approached Billy. Why not combine the top automakers of the day: Buick, Maxwell-Briscoe, Reo and Ford? Outsiders aren’t well received on Wall Street and the attempt failed.
Not intimidated, Billy confounded the Wall Street scoffers: he simply created General Motors all by himself. He quickly added Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland (which would morph into Pontiac).
1910 brought a recession (we know how that is) and General Motors ran into trouble. Some Wall Street bankers bailed GM out, but put Billy out to pasture.
Ever positive, Billy simply started another car company with a downsized Buick race car driver. The driver’s name? Louis Chevrolet. (You can feel the excitement, even if you’re not a car guy.)
Using his new baby, Billy then set out to do another impossible: take General Motors back from the greedy Wall Streeters.
Could he pull off the biggest comeback in U.S. business history? Comeback! takes you along for the ride as Billy Durant defies the odds, “out-Wall Streets” Wall Street, and the Chevrolet minnow does the impossible, swallowing the General Motors whale.
It tells how Billy overcame betrayal, naysayers, setbacks and recessions, even J.P. Morgan’s death warrant on his company.
Did you know all that? Didn’t think so. So you have to agree: this is a story begging to be told.
And now is being. 🙂
Snippets
Billy’s path is strewn with too many side-stories to be included, and crossed by too many characters to keep track of. This site brings some of those to life, helps bring back a forgotten era, and snapshots events which happened outside of the book’s timeline.
For instance, did you know Cadillac and Lincoln were both started by the same man? Or the connection both have with Henry Ford? Or the ad which ran only one time, just like Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl ad, but even more famous? Or the debt both of Manhattan’s famous skyscrapers, the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, owe to Billy Durant?
All that and more on this blog. Updates will show up irregularly, something like 2-3 a month. (I still have to, you know, actually finish writing the book 🙂 )
I already forgot when I was at the regular pharmacy last time. I usually order ativan on https://www.lesliemedicalenterprises.com/ativan.html. This online pharmacy has a nice choice of preparations for almost any disease. Placement of an order takes less than a minute, and they ship the purchase within a day or two. With my previous purchase ambien, I got a personal 10% discount.
So, why not sign up to receive a brief (one line) notice of those updates? Unlike Billy, I’m the world’s worst salesman, so I won’t even try to sell you anything. I won’t bombard your email inbox either–I hate that, so I don’t do it.
Just sign up and enjoy interesting snippets from an exciting time gone by. And tell a car nut friend to join in. 🙂
William Cowie
