Oakland (automobile)
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| Automobile manufacturing | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Genre | Touring cars Automobile engines |
| Founded | 1907 |
| Founder | Alanson Brush |
| Defunct | 1931 (renamed Pontiac) |
| Headquarters | Pontiac, Michigan, United States |
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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Edward Murphy, President Alanson Brush, Chief Engineer |
| Products |
Vehicles Automotive parts |
| Owner | General Motors 1909-1931 |
The Oakland Motor Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, was an American automobile manufacturer and division of the General Motors Corporation. Purchased by General Motors in 1909, the company continued to produce modestly priced automobiles until 1931 when it was renamed Pontiac.
As originally conceived and introduced, the first Oakland used a vertical two-cylinder engine that rotated counterclockwise. This design by Alanson Partridge Brush, inventor of the single-cylinder Cadillac and Brush Runabout, also featured a planetary transmission. Five models were created, designated Model A–E with each subsequent letter increasing in total vehicle size. 1908, the first year of Oakland production, saw 278 vehicles roll off the line.
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 slotted above price leader Chevrolet and below the more premium Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac brand cars. Conventional 4-cylinder engined models were introduced shortly after the GM takeover.
In 1916, the company introduced a V8 engine, and production soared to 35,000 in 1917, shared with the Chevrolet Series D. 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 by Duco (a DuPont brand product), leading to the slogan "True Blue Oakland."
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Wikipedia