Most of us think of the GMC brand and GM itself as being one and the same. They are, in a way, but they also aren’t. There’s some guys named Grabowsky involved, for example, along with some ambiguity amongst the mythology of early automotive.
Lets get to the bottom of it.
Back at the turn of the century, a lot was happening in automotive. As the industry transitioned from putting engines into what were essentially horse-drawn buggies towards what we see as automotive today, there was a lot of turmoil in the newborn automotive landscape. Many short-lived companies were building (or attempting to build) cars and trucks alongside some mainstays that were transitioning from making one thing into making this new thing.
Among those early automakers were two brothers from Detroit named Max and Morris Grabowsky. They started the Grabowsky Motor Company in or about the year 1900. A couple of years later, William Durant would famously fold the automotive companies and brands he was buying (starting with Buick) into General Motors, aka the General Motors Company. This is where legend and fact are one and the same. Then they begin to split.
Some of the stories from there include Durant wanting a truck to combat Henry Ford’s popular Model T, which later would manifest as the Model TT. The newly minted GM owner looked to the Grabowsky brothers, who had Grabowsky Motor Co under the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company. In 1909, the Grabowsky’s pickup conquered the famous Pikes Peak in Colorado and started to make a name for itself. At about that same time, Durant began negotiating to acquire either the rights to the truck or the whole of GMC. GMC was bought and, the story goes, the name actually means Grabowsky Motor Company, not General Motors Corporation. A condition of purchase for GMC was to keep its original name.
That’s one story. Another, which is the generally accepted historical account, has Durant looking at the Grabowskys’ operation as an acquisition for GM and beginning to dump capital into Rapid Motor Vehicle Company stock. He eventually gained a controlling share in 1908 and folded Rapid and its interests into GM in 1909. Eventually, GMC was restructured as a truck division under the General Motors Corporation umbrella.
Either story could be truth. The reality could be (and probably is) a combination of both. But the latter has some historical backing in the form of paperwork filed and name changes made after acquisition while the former has a few holes in it.
For starters, Ford didn’t introduce the Model T until 1908, so it selling as a truck in high numbers was not yet a thing when Durant was looking to acquire the Grabowskys’ business. More likely Durant just saw a good thing filling a niche that needed filling and wanted to own it. Neither the Model T introduced that year nor the TT, introduced about a decade later, would have been impetus for Durant’s truck itch.
As for the keeping the name part associated with buying the Grabowsky brothers’ company, that was probably just legend born from the deal to buy Cadillac at about that same time. The purchase of Cadillac did have a stipulation about keeping the name, but it was more about branding than anything else and it was to Durant’s benefit to own that name. By the time GM acquired Cadillac in 1909, the nameplate was well-established as a luxury make and had won several prestigious awards.
The history of the Grabowskys is also a little unclear. The Grabowsky Motor Company and Grabowsky Motor Vehicle Company were both registered in Detroit in 1900 or 1901. It appears they were interchangeable. Only one truck (called “Job Number One” as a prototype) was produced under that company’s name before it was changed to Rapid Motor. Most likely in order to avoid lawsuits from Durant’s General Motors Company, which was also an established entity. That new Rapid name was established and a second truck was made and then sold. Neither Grawbowsky nor GMC ever appeared on a surviving vehicle advertisement from pre-acquisition.
Several iterations of Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, however, appear advertising trucks based on the company’s platform. And within a decade after the acquisition by GM, adverts with the GMC logo clearly stating “General Motors Company” and “General Motors Truck Company” are seen. We also know that the General Motors Truck Company was established officially in 1911.
The Rapid Street plant where Rapid Motors was located would eventually become the large Pontiac West plant on Cadillac Avenue.
So the legends around the GMC name are mostly that. The reality seems a little more mundane. Durant, having purchased Cadillac with the stipulation that the name remain intact, had also purchased Rapid Motors at about that same time. The Rapid name was dropped soon in favor of what would become the GMC nameplate. And so legend and history intermingled and continues doing so in some circles.
It is fun to think that GMC actually means Grabowsky Motor Co, though.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
