1910 Buick Model F

David Dunbar Buick was born in Arbroath, Scotland and came to the United States at the age of two, and grew up in Detroit. He was working for a plumbing fixture company when he devised a method of adhering porcelain to cast iron which soon earned him great wealth. With his newly found financial position, he launched a venture called Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company to make gasoline engines. One of the individuals hired to assist with this venture was Walter Lorenzo Marr, a machinist and tinkerer who was running a bicycle shop. Mr. Eugene Richard, a French-born mechanic-machinist, was also an early individual added to the growing list of employees in the burgeoning company. Together, Marr, Richard, and Buick devised an engine with valves in the cylinder head, opposite the pistons, not alongside them. This 'Valve-in-Head' engine would become a hallmark of Buick cars to the present day.

William Crapo Durant was a partner in the Flint, Michigan Durant-Dort Carriage Company. After taking a ride in a Buick in 1904, he soon became a member of the company's board of directors. He was a wealthy and shrewd businessman who believed in the potential of the Buick automobile and soon floated a $300,000 stock issue for what was now the Buick Motor Company.

Many automobiles developed their reputation at the race track, hill climbs, or by establishing land or endurance speed records. When the Chicago American and Examiner staged a 1,000-mile relay run from Chicago to New York in 1906, the Buick Model F was the only competitor to complete the event. Along with an enviable reputation, the Model F earned the nickname 'Old Faithful,' soon touted in a company brochure. The Model F remained in production through 1910, the last of the two-cylinder Buicks.

The Buick Model F Phaeton and its Model G roadster-bodied companion were the most successful Buicks of their time, with nearly 17,000 built through 1910. By 1909, the company ranked in second place for U.S. motorcar production. It was also a transitional year for Buick as some less popular models were dropped and the remaining models saw an increase in body styles. Styling was modernized with rounded-off front and rear fenders. By this point in history, Billy Durant was at the helm of Buick who was subsidizing his growing General Motors Empire through the success of Buick. Durant would be ousted as GM's chairman in 1911 but regained the position in 1916.

The Model F was powered by a two-cylinder in-line engine with a bore and stroke of 4.5 x 5 inches, displacing 159 cubic inches (2.6 liters.) The engine used a single updraft carburetor and a two-speed transmission. The suspension was conventional using leaf springs and braking was by two-wheel mechanical units. The wheelbase measured 92 inches.

Among the changes for the 1910 Buick Model F was a new vertical tube radiator. The 1909 Buick Model F Tourer was priced at $1,250 and the 1910 Model F Tourer was listed for $1,000. The Model F and the Model 10 Runabout were the company's most affordable models for 1910.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2021