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By: Gary Fisher
President - Genesee County Historical Society
They called him “Big” Bill Little, because he was that in both stature and personality. Standing 6’ 4” tall in an era when the average man was 5’8” 155, was a big deal. He arrived in Flint in 1906, only two years after William C. “Billy” Durant took over the Buick auto company in Flint. Little had been working in Waltham, Massachusetts at the Ilion Buckboard company building their automobile. He was attracted to Flint and Buick as it was obvious they were on the vanguard of the new frontier of automobile manufacturing.
He and Durant hit it off immediately, although Durant wouldn’t ride in a Buick with Little at the wheel. A swashbuckling high energy east coaster, Little wasn’t much for convention. He would never park his Buick normally when he headed down Saginaw Street for lunch with Durant at the Dresden Hotel. Instead, he would slam the gears and spin the car sideways into the space like a power slide on ice.
Skilled as that move was, the one time he gave Durant a ride to test out the brakes on the new model Durant made that ride his first and last. As the story is related in the book by Richard Crabb “Birth of a Giant”,
Little built up speed, then jammed on the new brakes. They locked, and Durant was thrown headfirst into the front seat and then on to the ground. Little was almost in a state of shock. He and others ran to Durant’s aid. Durant picked himself up, brushed off the dust, and said softly:
“Well, you certainly got some brakes, Bill”
“Get in Mr. Durant, and I’ll drive you back to the plant” said Little.
“No thanks Bill, I’ll Walk!”
Little would continue to work with Buick as the firm rose to national prominence leading to the creation of General Motors in 1908. When Durant was ousted from GM in 1910 in what amounted to a banker’s hostile takeover, Little followed Durant on to his next big adventure- the creation of the Chevrolet company.
In fact, it was the automobile named after Little “The Little” that formed the genesis to what became the successful Chevrolet automobiles and company. Initially the company was the brainchild of both Durant and Louis Chevrolet. Contrary to many accounts and books, Chevrolet was far less of a creator of the firm, as his role was primarily to lend his famous name to the brand and design it’s first model. Chevrolet was a world class racer on the Buick racing team Chevrolet’s name was well-known. This deal was kind of like Michael Jordan lending his name to Nike.
Ensconced in a semi-secret garage on Grand River Boulevard in Detroit, Chevrolet did just that, but his effort resulted in a finished product that left much to be desired. The car, known as The Classic Six, was cumbersome, slow, and far too expensive to be mass marketed. It was a flop in the marketplace. So when Chevrolet left the country on an extended European vacation Durant reconstructed the company, and the car.
He was already busy making moves in Flint and now brought the Chevrolet production back home to be handled by strictly Flint men. Already he had set Little up in the original Buick factory on the grounds of the old Flint Wagon Works that Durant had now purchased outright from James Whiting, William Ballenger, and the firm. He also set up Arthur Mason, a key engine man from Buick in his own firm Mason Motors simultaneously.
The Little was an economical car, but poorly constructed. The Classic Six by contrast was a ridiculously overpriced, but very well-built car. Durant envisioned melding the best parts of both and throwing away the worst to create a new hybrid vehicle. He put Mason in charge of this and brought in a man named Alfred Sturt, a local Flint man who was, like Mason, considered an engineering genius. Together they worked on the next generation of Chevrolet vehicles, the Baby Grand, Royal Mail, and 490. All three were big hits, and the first to use the legendary Chevrolet bow tie logo.
The Little plant was converted to a Chevrolet plant, making the factor there the original home of both Buick and Chevrolet. The grounds became the site of Chevy-In-The Hole, now known as Chevrolet Commons, and soon to be Flint’s first state park.
Louis Chevrolet was none to happy with the changes Durant had made, including moving production from Detroit to Flint, including the fact that Chevrolet himself had been removed from the Board and leadership of the company that bore his name. They acrimoniously parted ways shortly thereafter.
Chevrolet purchased The Little Company outright in 1913, Mason continued to provide the engines and operate independently until 1917 when and was eventually rolled into Chevrolet. Durant used Chevrolet as the basis for his revenge tour, which included his own incredible hostile takeover of General Motors in 1915, when Chevrolet acquired GM.
The Chevrolet company is sometimes referred to as getting its start in Detroit as the result of the work of Louis Chevrolet there with the Classic Six, but in truth it was really the evolution of The Little with Mason Motors in Flint that put Chevrolet on the map. Even more obscured in the story is the role of “Big Bill”. He was far more important to the birth of the Chevrolet company than anyone outside of Durant, including Louis Chevrolet himself. His name plates The Little, was deemed far too low on the quality side, and the name itself didn’t inspire a lot of marketing confidence “No one wants to drive a car thought of a ‘little’ Durant rightly concluded. Hence, it’s melding with the Classic Six, was a brilliant move and one that has lived on.
Little continued in the Durant’s organization but just like his moniker, he loved to life large he had money problems and health problems and died young at age 46 in 1922. His personae may be forgotten, but the car and brand he helped invent certainly are not. It’s time to tip our collective automotive caps to a larger-than-life forgotten hero of Flint’s automotive history.
Please join us for storytelling, terrific food and camaraderie, and a celebration of our own community’s tremendous legacy. For more information and to secure your ticket to GeneseeHistory.org
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