History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

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plicity and accessibility, are to eliminate friction, guard against distortion,
reduce wear to the minimum, and deliver the maximum horsepower to
the driving wheels with the least possible loss." As the making of the
Oakland cars is based on this creed, the company is necessarily a firm
advocate of the "unit power plant" for the machine. The reasons for
thus believing are stated in these words: "The unit power plant first of
all reduces friction. Friction and wear mean a loss of power. Wheil
a car is passing over bad roads, the frame is in constant, violent motion,
and a unit power plant, suspended at three points, will better withstand
any shock produced than separate units mounted at four points. Where
the motor, clutch and transmission are assembled separately, one unit
cannot help being a burden on the others in the matter of friction and
wear."
The Oakland motor cars comprise four chassis sizes,-model 30,
touring car and roadster; 33, the Oakland Oriole; 40, "Sociable" roadster, coupe and passenger touring car; 45, Berline Limousine and touring
car.
GENERAL MOTORS TRUCK COMPANY
Seven years has witnessed a remarkable growth in the development
of the interests of the General Motors Truck Company in Pontiac. In
1905 the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company began operations in a small factory about seventy-five feet long. Today the combined business of that
concern and the General Motors Truck Company, which absorbed the
former some time ago, is represented by two rows of modern cement
and steel buildings each 725 feet long, while their pay roll has increased
from twenty men to between eighteen hundred and two thousand, when
the plant is running at full capacity.
Thus, from a small local business, this concern has reached out until
its product is now distributed to practically every country in the civilized
world. Its operations include the building of all types of business
vehicles, from "gospel wagons to fire apparatus," to quote their own
phrase, and they have built ambulances, sight-seeing cars, dog wagons,
and even industrial trucks for use at railway terminals and warehouses.
Their trucks have a reputation for serviceability and durability that is
well sustained, and the firm manifests a pardonable pride in the fact
that in I908 one of their trucks climbed Pike's Peak,-a feat which had
never been duplicated, nor yet has been,-by a vehicle of similar capacity.
The plant of the General Motors Truck Company is one of the best
equipped of its kind in the country, and its power is supplied by one of
the largest independent power plants in Michigan.
THE FLANDERS PLANTS
One of the greatest industries of Pontiac takes its name from its
controlling spirit, Walter E. Flanders, and is known the country over as
the Flanders Manufacturing Company. It was organized late in I910
with a capital of $2,250,000 and was a consolidation of the Pontiac
Motor Cycle Company, Pontiac Drop Forge Company, Pontiac Foundry