The Rugby was a brand of automobiles assembled by the Durant Motors Company of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, New York (USA). Beside badges and right-hand drive for some models, the vehicle was identical to Durant's

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

car, and was assigned to export markets by Durant Motors, due to the name Star being under copyright by the

Star Motor Company The Star Motor Company was a British car and commercial vehicle maker based in Wolverhampton and active from 1898 to 1932. At its peak Star was the UK's sixth largest car manufacturer and produced around 1000 cars a year.Collins, Paul & Strat ...

in the British

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History

The Rugby was built from 1923 based on the Star car and production ended March 31 1928 together with the Star. The Star name was changed to Durant April 1 1928 and all 4-cylinder Durant's exported carried the Rugby name until the end of the Durant line in Canada in 1932. Commercial cars were marketed based on the Rugby. Some Durant commercial vehicles were badged Rugby's and sold in the US and Canada for 1928. Commercial trucks 6 cyl from January 1 1928 and 4 cyl from Sept 5 1928 were Rugby's to the end of production in 1933 at Dominion Motors in

Leaside Leaside (/'liːˌsaɪd/) is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northeast of Downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue East and Bayview Avenue. It is one of the most expensive and exclusive neighbourhoo ...

. The last remaining US plant in 1931 was Lansing which stopped in August 1931. Leaside became Canadian owned January 14 1931, as Dominion Motors, Ltd. and they chose to continue the Durant car into 1932 and Rugby truck end of 1933. REO cars were also built there beginning in 1932. In August 1931, Dominion made the Canadian Frontenac car to the end of 1933. All production stopped in December 1933. The company charter was finally surrendered in 1944. Production of the Rugby occurred at the following plants: *

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

(Star and Rugby) * Long Island City, New York (Star) *

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 ...

(Star and Rugby) * Leaside (Toronto), Canada (Star and Rugby)

External links

Homepage of the Durant Motors Automobile Club
* Th
Rugby catalog
a
Durant Cars

References

{{Durant_Motors Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Canada Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1924 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1933 Durant Motors Vintage vehicles Pre-war vehicles 1920s cars 1930s cars Cars introduced in 1924