Oakland Automobile
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Oakland Motor Car Company of
Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...
, was an American automobile manufacturer and division of
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
. Purchased by General Motors in 1909, the company continued to produce modestly priced automobiles until 1931 when the brand was dropped in favor of the division's Pontiac make.


Beginning

The company was created by Edward Murphy who owned the Pontiac Buggy Company and Alanson Brush who was working as a consultant in Detroit after leaving the Cadillac Motor Company. Oakland Motor Company was named for Oakland County, Michigan, in which it was based. As originally conceived and introduced, the first Oakland used a design created by Brush and presented to Murphy who liked the idea and decided to go into business. The vertical two-cylinder engine that rotated counterclockwise was originally presented to Cadillac but was rejected. This design by Alanson Partridge Brush, inventor of the single-cylinder Cadillac and Brush Runabout, also featured a planetary transmission. The 1908 Oakland came in five body styles, designated Model A–E, varying from a runabout to a landaulet. The first year of Oakland production, 1908, had 278 vehicles roll off the line.


GM Division

After one year of production, Oakland's principal founder, Edward Murphy, sold half of the company to William C. Durant's General Motors Corporation in early 1909. When Murphy died in the summer of 1909, GM acquired the remaining rights to Oakland. Within General Motors, Oakland was later slotted as their entry-level brand below the more expensive
Oldsmobile Oldsmobile (formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors) was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produc ...
,
Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
, and
Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...
cars. Conventional four-cylinder engined models were introduced shortly after the GM takeover, and GM didn't acquire the volume-priced Chevrolet until 1917, and Oakland found itself competing with the Ford Model T introduced in October 1908. Once GM assumed operations of Oakland, production was moved to the factory that manufactured Cartercar in
Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...
, another Durant acquisition that was cancelled while the resources were newly utilized, and the Oakland Model 40 was introduced. Starting with 1910 Oakland was exclusively offering 4-cylinder flathead engines with five different wheelbases and their advertising slogan was "The Car with a Conscience". By early 1920, however, production and quality control problems began to plague the division. In 1921, under new general manager Fred Hannum, a consistent production schedule was underway and the quality of the cars improved, and Oakland vehicles shared the GM A platform used by Chevrolet. One marketing tactic was the employment of a quick-drying bright blue automotive
lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...
by Duco (a
DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
brand product), leading to the slogan "True Blue Oakland Six". The Oakland was built only in Pontiac, Michigan, which is the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of Oakland County. The name antedates any GM association with an automobile manufacturing facility in
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, that built Chevrolet vehicles before Chevrolet joined GM called Oakland Assembly.


Oakland Six and V8

In 1913 the Oakland Six was introduced followed in 1916 by the Model 50 flathead
V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Origins The first known V8 was the Antoinette, designed by Léon Levavasseur, a ...
sourced from Northway Motor and Manufacturing company, and production soared to 35,000 in 1917. The Series 50 V8 used a flathead design shared with the Oldsmobile Light Eight and the Cadillac Type 51. The Model 50 was only available from 1915 to 1917 as a seven-passenger touring sedan on a 127" wheelbase and was listed at US$1,600 ($ in dollars ). The Oakland 34-C of 1921 and 1922 used a six-cylinder engine with 4894 cc with a 71.4 mm bore and 120.6 mm stroke. The wheelbase was 2920 mm. The petrol tank held 50 litres. In 1930, Oakland reintroduced the Model 101 V8, again using a flathead architecture, on a 117" wheelbase and offered it as a roadster, phaeton, coupe, closed body sedan and sport coupe. Prices were listed at US$895 ($ in dollars ) for the roadster or phaeton to US$1,045 ($ in dollars ) for the Custom Sedan. The Oakland V8 was shared with the Viking V8 which was a companion of Oldsmobile and was the only product sold. 1931 was the last year for the Oakland Model 301 V8 and the only vehicle available was the V8 with very few changes, and was renamed the 1932 Pontiac Series 302 V8. The 1932 V8 had an oversquare bore and stroke of x displacing with a compression ratio of 5.2:1. Horsepower was rated at 85 @3200 RPM using three main bearings, solid valve lifters and a
Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
one barrel carburetor. Unusually, Pontiac switched to the straight-eight for 1933 until it was replaced in 1954.


Pontiac joins Oakland then replaces Oakland

As General Motors entered the 1920s, the product ladder started with the price-leading Chevrolet marque, and then progressed upward in price, power, and luxury to Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick, and ultimately Cadillac. By the mid-1920s, a sizable price gap existed between Chevrolet and Oakland, as well as a wide gap between Oldsmobile and Buick. Also, a product gap existed between Buick and Cadillac. General Motors pioneered the idea that consumers would aspire to buy up an automotive product ladder if a company met certain price points-called the Companion Make Program. To address this, General Motors authorized the introduction of four brands priced and designed to fill the gaps. Cadillac would introduce the LaSalle to fill the gap between Cadillac and Buick. Buick would introduce the Marquette to handle the upper end of the gap between Buick and Oldsmobile. Oldsmobile would introduce the
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
, which took care of the lower end of the same gap. Oakland's part in this plan was the 1926 Pontiac, a shorter-wheelbase "light six" priced to sell at a four-cylinder car's price point, but still above Chevrolet. Pontiac was the first of the companion marques introduced, and in its first year sold 49,875 units. By 1929, GM sold 163,000 more Pontiacs than Oaklands. The discontinuation of Oakland was announced with the onset of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
in 1931. Pontiac was the only companion make to survive beyond 1940, or to survive its "parent" make. File:Oakland Forty ca 1909 Schaffen-Diest 2012.jpg, 1909 Oakland Model 40 File:Stahls Automotive Collection December 2021 019 (1914 Oakland Model 36 Touring).jpg, 1914 Oakland Model 36 Touring File:1916 Oakland Model 50 V-8 (43615575991).jpg, 1916 Oakland Model 50 V8 File:Oakland Sport Cabriolet 1928.jpg, 1928 Oakland Model 212 All-American Sport Cabriolet File:Oakland Model 212 All American Landaulette Sedan 1929.jpg, 1929 Oakland Model 212 All-American Landaulette Sedan File:1931 Oakland-3 (2833146996).jpg, 1931 Oakland V8 File:Tree "growing" in old Oakland car in Virginia City, Nevada (8916500261).jpg, The Oakland Tree in Virginia City, Nevada


References


External links


Pontiac-Oakland Club International

Oakland Company Factory photograph, 1907


{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakland (Automobile) Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1907 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1931 General Motors marques Pontiac (automobile) Defunct brands 1907 establishments in Michigan 1931 disestablishments in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles 1930s cars Pre-war vehicles Cars introduced in 1907 Cars discontinued in 1931