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In 1948 Kaiser-Frazer and Graham-Page Farm Equipment went to Reo Motors, Mack Truck, and Willys-Overland to talk about a possible merger between the firms.

It would have been Kaiser-Frazer producing automobiles, Reo light trucks, Mack heavy trucks, Willys-Overland light duty four wheel drive vehicles.

As we all know the merger talks fell through.

John F. Shireman

The long-range history lesson in this was that if you sat out the big merger/combine building that began in the ot years (this year we are celebrating the birth of a big Combine, GM--100 years ago) and ended in the 20s with Walter P. Chrysler turning Maxwell-Chalmers into Chrysler, starting DeSoto and Plymouth and buying Dodge from Dillon, Read and Co. (the acquisition that put Chrysler into the big time) you weren't positioned to survive. All of this wasn't apparent at the time, and most independents worried about satisfying their shareholders first, with dividends.

Now the big three are fighting to survive.

Pushbutton: During the early years of GM from the time it was founded till the mid 20's, things weren't cream and honey.
The only reason GM survived past 1920 was because of the money the DuPonts had invested in GM.

There were a couple of big car combines tried that failed. One of the first was tried by the Briscoe brothers and failed. Bill Durant tried another one during the 20's and failed.

John F. Shireman

Durant was basically a good time Charlie, as the industry grew, and his assembled brands grew in sales and profits continued to increase (due mainly to the brain work of division heads like Charles Nash, Walter P. Chrysler, K.T. Keller and others) everything was OK. When the post WWI recession came along Durant couldn't manage during times when the cash wasn't flowing. He had been ousted once, got back in control and lost control again in the very early 20s, when the DuPonts installed Alfred Sloan, who did know how to manage cash during hard times, and who understood that you just couldn't keep acquiring companies and taking on debt.
Durant tried with his own Durant motors, but lacked the breath of product and the manufacturing and sales outlets that GM and Ford (and many independents) had. His Star car was based on a Zeder-Breer-Skelton design that was slated initially to be the first car to bear the name "Chrysler"; this was planned while Walter P. Chrysler was working as a trouble shooter bailing out Willys-Overland. That car was built as the Star in the Elizabeth, NJ plant that W-O had bought from the Duesenberg bros.
The Briscoe "combine" was to become United Motors; their brand portfolio was to be Maxwell-Briscoe, Columbia & Electric vehicle, Stoddard-Dayton, Brush and Alden-Sampson.
Only Maxwell survived the shake out of that combine, and Chrysler was born from the conversion of Maxwell into the Chrysler Corporation.

Pushbutton: Durant lost control of GM in 1910. Then he founded Chevy and along with using DuPont money gained control of Gm again in 1915. Durant controlled GM until 1920 when he was ousted again. In 1920 GM was in such bad shape due to Durants dealings that the only thing that kept GM from going under was DuPont money.

In 1924 I believe Durant had five differnet makes of cars in its line-up including a truck division Mason trucks. In fact the Star Motor was the seventh leading seller in 1923 or 1924.

John F. Shireman

Sloan was the number one reason behind GM's success - as a vertically-integrated conglomeration - and the company road on the coattails of his work for decades after he was gone.

Many years ago, a co-worker lent me his copy of Sloan's autobiography, but I was not able to get through it cover-to-cover before I returned it to him. It was the driest read that I'd come across since the economics textbook from my college years (which I still have), but I could see the brilliance of Sloan's organization.

GM's abandonment of Sloan's master plan will be their undoing.

Owen--yes, the Sloan book is pretty dry. A better account of GM is "Chrome Colossus" by Ed Cray.

Back in the summer of 1981, I picked up a hardcover edition of DeLorean's "unauthorized" biography, On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors, discounted down to $10. It was one of the best values in new books that I ever found. I knew enough to take DeLorean's perspective with a grain of salt, but found the read to be very enlightening. You could see trouble brewing on the horizon for GM, and then along came Roger B. Smith.

It seems that Sloan's book is currently available as new, if only in paperback form, these days. Perhaps, it was required reading in some business schools (if not, it SHOULD be). I'm gonna pick up a copy and curl up with it next winter.

While Cray's Chrome Colossus appear to be out of print, I'll keep an eye out for a good clean used edition.

The Sloan book is available in paperback:

"My Years with General Motors" by Albert P. Sloan, Jr.
ISBN 0-385-04235-3

While an interesting history of the growth of infant technology to a very large and mature industry, I agree with the comment that is a much better business process book than an entertaining read of the history of the auto industry.

Try this link to the Chrome Colossus book via Amazon.com:

amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0070134936/r ... olp_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1209150566&sr=8-1