Premium

Oakland 1907-1931 - Pontiac predecessor

Name: Oakland Model 40 1909
Brand: Oakland

This article was auto-translated. We apologize if some words are confusing or simply amusing. Would you like to help us improve?

Created in 2013

Text:

Roger Gloor

Photos:

Corey Silvia - Courtesy RM Auctions

Karissa Hosek - Courtesy RM Sotheby's

Josh Sweeney - Courtesy RM Sotheby's

Archiv

Corey Silvia - Courtesy RM Auctions

Karissa Hosek - Courtesy RM Sotheby's

Josh Sweeney - Courtesy RM Sotheby's

Archiv

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Oakland Model 30 Touring (1912) - on offer as lot 221 at the RM Auction Hershey on October 10/11, 2013

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Oakland Model 30 Touring (1912) - as lot 236 at the RM/Sotheby's Hershey sale on October 6/7, 2016

When logged in, you see more images in larger size.

Oakland Model 34-B Touring (1918) - offered as lot 206 at the 2017 RM/Sotheby's Arizona sale

You have only

1 out of 7

images seen in high resolution

Summary

There have been around 10,000 car brands and designers - most of which have disappeared. Oakland can also be counted among these vanished brands. It went to General Motors founder Durant two years after it was founded and Oakland models were positioned between Chevrolet and Buick. However, too few were sold and Oakland was renamed Pontiac Motor Company.

Estimated reading time: 3min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Oakland = Oakland certainly instilled confidence as a brand name for rustic furniture and hiking boots as well as for automobiles. Initially, however, it was horse-drawn carriages built in the city of Pontiac, Michigan, that bore this name. Their manufacturer was Edward M. Murphy, who found a designer in Alanson P. Brush who enabled him to make the step to motor cars. Brush had already developed the early Cadillac, and he soon created his own single-cylinder small car, the Brush Runabout. Murphy founded the Oakland Motor Car Company in 1907 and built two- and four-cylinder cars based on Brush's design. But just two years later, Murphy died at the age of 44 and his company went to William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors.

Welcome to Zwischengas!