Flint's Early Automobiles.

Wisner's 2nd  horseless carriage.

Wisner's 3rd horseless carriage.

The judge built three horseless carriages. You can find their photos in Lawrence Gustin's book "The Flint Journal Centennial Picture History of Flint. These and the photos below are from that book.  The story about them can be found in the book.












The very first automobile built in Flint was built by Judge Charles H. Wisner,  possibly as early as 1898. The carriage house which was his workshop was written about in The Detroit Journal of October 10, 1901 as being one of the best appointed machine shops in the state. I just so happened to be there the day they were moving it to it's new home in Crossroads village near Flint, where it can still be seen today. I was skipping school that day. It was located at the southwest corner of east Court and Lapeer Street. I looked in the windows with the glass now removed and it was already elevated for moving. It was bright red with white trim as I recall. It was being moved to make way for the new business loop through Flint called the Buick & U.A.W. expressway or I-475 as we know it today. Wisner's first car was known as Wisner's "Buzz Wagon". Wisner built a total of three cars and two of them are said to have had their final assembly done at the Armstrong plant on St. John Street. Robert (Bert) Armstrong supposedly helped Wisner with those two. One side note is that James Parkhill erected the first gasoline station in Flint during 1905. A recreation of this station was for a time set up at the Sloan museum in Flint.   James Parkhill Flint Garage 1906.  James Parkhill's book: To My Friends: by James Parkhill 

As best I recall this is where the Wisner home and carriage house were located.

  







1879.


February 1, 1901. December 19, 1900.     January 9, 1901.        Links:   Arthur W. Hough    March 25, 1928 story of early Flint & Buick.          

City Of Flint 1913.

   Click on picture for the link.

Hyatt Roller Buick 1917.

This is the Buick factory in Flint, Michigan.

November 10, 1917 Collier's Magazine.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    October 10, 1917.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  July 1917.                       

Buick Drive-away 1917.

This east facing view on Hamilton Avenue in Flint, Michigan is showing a Buick drive-away getting underway in front of the soon to be finished Buick main office. Visible at the left is Factory #01 and in the distance is Buick Service #18. Link: 

Imperial Wheel Company Had Many Faces Buick Factory #01. Main Office Building First & Second  Buick's Second Main Office.  Buick Driveaway 1923

1929 Buick Funeral Coach.

I was doing my other passion, which is World War II research, when I spotted this old Buick funeral coach. It was being used to carry the body of Hans William Lansdorff who was the captain of the "pocket" battleship Graf Spee, in the opening months of the war. Even the British sailors paid their respects at that time, since this was at the very beginning of the war and the intense hatred towards Germans had not yet happened. Hitler would make that happen in a very short time. Since I have always studied World War II history, I find it very interesting that Lansdorff's sailing orders proceeded the, so called, Polish incursion by 10 days. It's as though Hitler could see into the future and knew the Pole's were going to invade Germany before it actually happened.  

Notice the original 1929 bumper changed sometime after 1939. These are some of the German sailors that Lansdorff saved from certain death at the beginning of World War II.

The stylized cross has been cut down from the original 1929 cross (shown below).

Compare the height of the original cross with the current one shown above. Also of note is the open drivers compartment, in 1939, and the now covered one.

This enclosed drivers compartment was not part of the original design (shown above) from 1939.

The original bumpers are gone now. I could not identify the replacements. 

The rear fender looks to be from a 1935 Chevrolet Master Deluxe. The original 29 Buick fender is visible during the Lansdorff  funeral procession.

There were many different companies doing conversions back in 1929, so I do not know which did this particular example. I'm thinking all the conversions like this one, (link here for unique coaches) from Uruguay, may have actually been converted in Montevideo.

This shows that the steel wheels used were actually an option that year.

This would be my best guess for the main chassis used in the Lansdorff  funeral coach.

Video link; Lansdorff funeral.  Wiki link.  Life Magazine. Life Magazine. 

Buick Trucks

December 1908.

This is from the George Dammann book: "Seventy Years Of Buick. I have yet to find a photo of one on the assembly line. The last light delivery vehicle was produced in 1918. Many other varied size trucks were built at Buick and have been well documented elsewhere on line and in books.  Buick truck & commercial vehicles.

The first appearance of a factory built Buick truck.

June 1909. Click article for the rest of the story.     1910.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         September 1910.    

                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             June 1912. Click on photo for information.      

I took this photo at the Buick Gallery in Flint, Michigan in 2008. Link for this truck.   More information.

The San Francisco call November 27, 1911.

                                                                                                           December 1912.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            January 1913.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                  January 1916.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         1917.  Looks similar to the truck shown below at the Buick plant.

                         

This view is facing north across Hamilton Avenue in Flint, Michigan. This truck is being loaded from the north dock of factory #04 (old W.F. Stewart body plant). The building seen across Hamilton is The original Weston Mott axle plant which would be Buick #31 by this time.

                                                                                                                                                                                March 1918.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1918.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

This is 1928 over at Flint's Kearsley park. The structure  in the background is still standing as of today. This would be facing north-west with the Buick factory located in the distance. I drank many beers here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Links: AACA truck thread.  Restored 1908.