Flint Road Cart Patent

This 1886 patent is the original patent that William Durant purchased and started him on his path as the creator of General Motors.

link for additional history:

Flint Road Cart

Buick Postcards

Buick City

November 1985. You can super enlarge just about any photo on this blog for viewing small details. The way this is done is a little different depending on which browser is used.

Hardy Flint Roadster

Update (11-15-2011) on the oldest "Flint Roadster" know to exist. This "tiller" steered version would almost certainly be a 1902 model. Here's what the new owner/restorer/collector has to say: Well the flint is coming along well so far. The chassis is done the front axle bearings were missing so I have had new ones made from scratch.

The tiller steering is done, I have spent weeks machining up all new square headed nuts and bolt to match the original ones that were fitted.

Next was all the brackets to hold the fuel and water tanks to the chassis. I have taking drawings from the sister car in the UK to get the correct match. I have made two new tanks .One for water and the other for fuel was really happy with the end result.

The wheels aim having made in the states by a guy called Bill Calimer he is making me exact replicas of the original wheels in hickory and with 12 spokes. The old wheels fitted to the car were off a model T ford and were too high for the car..

The body I have taken to a friend of mine who has been a art painting restorer, and I must say he is making a fantastic job of it.

One or two of the panels are just too far gone so he has re painted them with a color that matches the body now. Then he put cracking agents in the paint to give the new paint some history and then distressed it all. He is going to reline the coach work in gold leaf then rub in some satin varnish over the whole body to bring out the old pigments in the paint. Aim so happy this is working as I really did not want to paint the whole car with new shiny paint and take away the original look of her. Well the flint is coming along well so far. The chassis is done the front axle bearings were missing so I have had new ones made from scratch.

The tiller steering is done, I have spent weeks machining up all new square headed nuts and bolt to match the original ones that were fitted.

Next was all the brackets to hold the fuel and water tanks to the chassis. I have taking drawings from the sister car in the UK to get the correct match. I have made two new tanks .One for water and the other for fuel was really happy with the end result.

The wheels aim having made in the states by a guy called Bill Calimer he is making me exact replicas of the original wheels in hickory and with 12 spokes. The old wheels fitted to the car were off a model T ford and were too high for the car..

The body I have taken to a friend of mine who has been a art painting restorer, and I must say he is making a fantastic job of it.

One or two of the panels are just too far gone so he has re painted them with a color that matches the body now. Then he put cracking agents in the paint to give the new paint some history and then distressed it all. He is going to reline the coach work in gold leaf then rub in some satin varnish over the whole body to bring out the old pigments in the paint. Aim so happy this is working as I really did not want to paint the whole car with new shiny paint and take away the original look of her. ........Well the flint is coming along well so far. The chassis is done the front axle bearings were missing so I have had new ones made from scratch.

The tiller steering is done, I have spent weeks machining up all new square headed nuts and bolt to match the original ones that were fitted.

Next was all the brackets to hold the fuel and water tanks to the chassis. I have taking drawings from the sister car in the UK to get the correct match. I have made two new tanks .One for water and the other for fuel was really happy with the end result.

The wheels aim having made in the states by a guy called Bill Calimer he is making me exact replicas of the original wheels in hickory and with 12 spokes. The old wheels fitted to the car were off a model T ford and were too high for the car..

The body I have taken to a friend of mine who has been a art painting restorer, and I must say he is making a fantastic job of it.

One or two of the panels are just too far gone so he has re painted them with a color that matches the body now. Then he put cracking agents in the paint to give the new paint some history and then distressed it all. He is going to reline the coach work in gold leaf then rub in some satin varnish over the whole body to bring out the old pigments in the paint. Aim so happy this is working as I really did not want to paint the whole car with new shiny paint and take away the original look of her.

Brown-Lipe Spur Type gear for the rear axle, which would be found on a Hardy Roadster. This was the same gearing used on the first 1903 Buick.

This shows the workings for the Champion Transmission, the type used in the Flint Roadster. This is from the Cycle and Trade Journal of February 1, 1903.

Here are the full specifications from the Horseless Age magazine from December 31, 1902.

This would be the early model with center mounted tiller, just like the one for sale on Ebay. The color scheme I find most often mentioned in numerous publications state, red body with red leather seat.

This is the same vehicle as shown below with the two passengers.

This was the motor used in the Hardy Flint Roadster. This particular Beilfuss motor was patented in 1902 and 1903. This ad was found in the Horseless Age magazine, dated January 11,1905. I found one on the web that was using a 1901 Oldsmobile clutch. Beilfuss motors were also used by the American Motor Carriage Co. of Cleveland Ohio and the Luverne Automobile Co. in Minnesota. The single cylinder model was built from 1904 to 1907. The engine has a 5 1/4-inch bore. The American Motor Carriage Co listed the hp. at 4-5 at 700 rpm.

Sloan Museum Hardy Flint Roadster.

Here is another Flint Roadster I found on line, so there must be at least three of these historic vehicles still around.

 link here:

First mass produced Automobile In Flint.

Durant-Dort Factories East of Saginaw Street.

Gregg Morse alerted me to the sale of the Flint Roadster shown below on E-bay. I hope whoever gets it saves the original paint.The seller was including the original wire wheels. I have included an article from The Horseless Age magazine dated: June 30, 1903. update: the ebay Roadster sold for $27,600.