Statues

A.B.C. HARDY

November 19, 1869 – November 22, 1946

Alexander Brownell Cullen Hardy, better known as A.B.C. Hardy, was an important Flint automobile pioneer and close associate of Flint’s major carriage and auto leader, William C. Durant, for a half century. When Durant, co-founder of Flint’s Durant-Dort Carriage Company, started a new low-price firm, Diamond Buggy, in the 1890s, he hired Hardy to run it. Hardy, born in Ypsilanti, had been head of the Wolverine Carriage Company in Davison, Michigan. Later in the decade, when Durant’s business partner, Dallas Dort, stepped aside to care for his ailing wife from 1898 until her death in 1900, Durant named Hardy interim president of the Durant-Dort company.

While at Durant-Dort, Hardy learned of trusts trying to take over carriage suppliers. Rather than accept the resulting higher prices, Hardy negotiated with some suppliers while also implementing a practice whereby Durant-Dort would manufacturer their own wheels, forgings, paint and varnish. Durant recognized that Hardy needed a vacation, so sent him on a trip to Europe. While there, he was astonished by the advanced automobiles seen on European roads. When he returned to Flint, he advised Durant to “get out of the carriage business before the automobile ruins you.” Durant was not ready, and Hardy made a second trip to Europe to study the automobile more closely. Hardy then became Flint’s first auto manufacturer, building 52 cars in 1902-03 (priced from $750 to $850). At the time, holders of the Selden Patent, essentially a blanket patent on the automobile, attempted to control all U.S. automobile production. Although the patent would be overturned in 1911, it was too much of an uphill fight for Hardy, and his company was forced out of production. Durant finally got into autos in late 1904, taking over the fledgling Buick Motor Company in Flint, growing it to be the top selling automobile in the country, and then creating General Motors, also in Flint, in 1908. Hardy was managing a carriage firm in Iowa when Durant called him back to Flint in 1909.

Durant lost control of GM in 1910 and, with Hardy’s help, created the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. After Durant regained control of GM in 1916, Hardy continued to assist him in ventures such as the creation of the Frigidaire Company. Durant was forced to resign as GM president in 1920. Hardy was made general manager of Oldsmobile in 1921 and was added as a GM director in 1922. He retired from Oldsmobile and GM for health reasons in 1925. In later years he was involved in many Flint community events.