History Of Famous Car Brands

 With auto companies bankrupt and losing names on the left and the right, it's important to remember that unlike Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, today's auto giants started out as small startups. Names such as Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, and Porsche are reminiscent of the success of big companies in the past and the large car families that have survived to the present day.

However, behind every brand there is a blood and flesh inventor, entrepreneur or industrialist. Most of them give names to companies. And that fame is often associated with everything they meet.

David Buick, who invented the air valve motor, founded the Buick Motor Car Co. In 1903, William C. Durant, the industrialist who finally found GM, took over the company in 1904 when he was experiencing financial difficulties.

Buick remained a director but left the company in 1908 and never made much money with the company. He reportedly died in 1929 without being able to afford one of his cars.

Durant has retained the name of one of his company divisions and his car, despite concerns people will pronounce it "boo-ick," according to one author. Surprisingly, the man who practically created General Motors himself never liked the idea of ​​Durant.

In another example, Robert Hoop invented the Hupmobile, the "two-seater airport," in 1908. In 1911 he sold his stake in his Hupp Motor Car Company. He turned around and founded Hupp Corp. the same year. Investors in his first company took him to court to dump Hupp on behalf of his new company and they won. The car's own fame quickly faded, although Hupmobil survived into the 1940s.

The experience of Swiss-born Luis Chevrolet is similar. Durant introduced him to a new auto company in 1911, hoping to trade in his fame as a completely fearless rider. Chevrolet left the company in 1913 and seemed unable to adapt from racing to building production vehicles. But his name stuck with the new Chevrolet car; Durant reportedly likes his elevator music.

The converse can also work. In 1925, Walter P. Chrysler was given the rights to name the Maxwell Motor Co. after he and another industrialist continued to buy shares in the company for two years.

It's a little different for Henry Ford. He suffers the shame of being founded by the early car company that bears his own name. But the revenge is sweet.

The Henry Ford Company, freely trading Ford's early fame as an inventor, fired him in 1902 "because he had spent all his time developing racing cars, not cars," according to the Encyclopedia of American Business and Biography. . AOL Ford car: Wonder Woman designs its most important new car.

After Ford left, the company changed its name to Cadillac after Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, a French aristocrat who founded Detroit in 1703. His emblem became a model badge, and the company became part of General Motors in 1909.

Upon his release, Ford quickly found an investor who helped him found his own company, Ford Motor Co., in 1903. He introduced the company's first new vehicle, the Model, and followed suit with other low-cost cars, including the largest. The successful Model T, in 1908. Prices started at $ 850 and continued to fall as Ford introduced more manufacturing innovations. The young company became very successful. AOL Cars: 10 Classic American Journeys.

In the 1920s he got the opportunity to buy Lincoln Motor Co. who is five years old. before going bankrupt. It was later owned by one of the men, Henry Leland, who fired it in 1902.He then used the former airline to launch his own line of luxury cars called Lincoln.

Meanwhile, General Motors barely got the name it bears today. Duran actually registered his company as "International Motors Co." 1908 in New Jersey. However, his lawyer advised him that it would be easier to raise capital under a new name.

"We could have used the United Motors Company if it weren't for the United Motor Company already in the state," wrote the lawyer. "We suggested the General Motors Company name because we had decided that it could be used."

The newfound French word, auto-mobile, inspired many car names from the early years. Inventor Ransom E. Olds filed a patent for a "car" in the mid-1890s. Names like Bugmobile, Locomobile, Hupmobile and of course Oldsmobile would not have appeared without him.

The origin of some names can be difficult to trace. The first use of the jeep, for example. shrouded in fog. Jim Allen, author of a book called The Jeep, concluded that it was based on World War II jargon about "new cars unproven recruits or new cars unproven."

Only in 1950 Willys-Overland, Inc. from Toledo, one of the earliest all-wheel drive manufacturers, coined the term.

Many of the names were originally unrelated to the auto industry. The name Toyota comes from the Toyoda warehouse in Karia, Japan; When it comes to car manufacturing, the Toyoda family changes the "d" to "t" to make it easier and more elegant in the Japanese scenario. AOL Cars: 10 Best Car Names.

There is little doubt about other brands. Pontiac is an offshoot of Pontiac Buggy Co., the maker of horse-drawn carriages named after the famous Indian chef. Mechanic Soichiro Honda began making motorized bicycles after the destruction of World War II and graduated with a degree in automotive. AOL Autos: We'll never forget Pontiacs.

In response to Adolf Hitler's request for a car for the common man, Volkswagen means "Volksauto" in German and apparently suggested the prototype name "Kraft durch Freude" for the award.

In 1917, Rapp Engine Works became known as Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH or Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) as a four-year aircraft engine company which, according to some authorities, specialized in motorcycle engines with stylish white propellers with blue sky as the logo. . The first BMW vehicles were produced 11 years later.

The legendary Jaguar name is considered to be one of the best sports car names of all time. He defeated the long list of grim animal names compiled by the British advertising agency in 1935. In 1939 Ford won gold with Mercury, the messenger of the gods at the foot of the navy. It became part of Greek and Roman mythology about the name, as did Lincoln Zephyr, the god of wind, for the same style three years earlier.

Several other land car brands are based on abbreviations. Fiat stands for Fabbrica Italiani Automobili Torino or Italian car factory Torino. Likewise, Saab Svenska means Aeroplanaktiebolaget or Swedish Airplane Ltd. and return to the origins of car manufacturing as an airline.

Ford better off using the acronym in 1958. Edsel is considered a new brand separate from Ford Motor Co. with its own models, badges and divisions. Its mission is to take over GM's Oldsmobile.

After considering thousands of proposals, Ford named the new brand Edsel Ford, the only son of Henry Ford. He had a profound influence on the style of the company and became its president when his father died in 1943.

Edsel's name was an immediate disappointment. Ford shares fell 10 points on the day it was announced. A frustrated manager predicted that the name alone would cost 200,000 new vehicles to sell. AOL Cars: The Best and Worst Car Design Ever.

His name wasn't the only reason he failed. It doesn't help that the country is in a recession or that the new car appears to be based on Ford and Mercury models. However, none of this prevented Edsel from entering the dictionary as an idea or a project, which proved unsuccessful.