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Elon Musk Wouldn't Be the First Car Company Founder to Flame Out

6 points by rmason 3y ago

rmason 3y ago
I have the greatest respect for Steve Blank whom I've met in person. But I cannot disagree with this article any more strongly. My late father was an early collector of antique cars and along with being born in Detroit meeting some of the industry's early pioneers I know something about the history of the auto industry. There is no doubt Billy Durant was a genius. But unlike Musk he inherited wealth and the family wagon company based in Flint was the largest of its kind in America. He also didn't have to deal with stock markets shorts who have castigated Musk in the press constantly trying to drive down the price of his stock. Durant had always been a successful stock trader. It was the dawn of the great depression that took all of his wealth. He had by then divorced his wife and married his daughter's best friend. It was pretty scandalous at the time and it may be why Durant isn't remembered in the Motor City in any way. But if you look carefully at the old GM building (not RenCen but the one before it) you will see Durant's initials because the building was designed while he as still running GM.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  > He also didn't have to deal with stock markets shorts who have castigated Musk in the press constantly trying to drive down the price of his stock. I mean, you know they had short selling back then, right? It has been around for literally centuries.
joegibbs 3y ago
You could also include John DeLorean, who was reduced to dealing watches after getting arrested for cocaine trafficking (it was a total setup, DeLorean would never have gotten into it if he hadn't been goaded by the FBI's informant), or Howard Hughes, who went totally insane after a string of massive successes and ended up spending his time rewatching the same movie on repeat and restacking tissue boxes in his penthouse.
- Zigurd 3y ago
  I've been reading up on Howard Hughes out of idle curiosity recently. His diverse business interests struck me as a parallel to Elon. Howard Hughes's isolation came after a series of plane crashes, including one where he was burned over most of his body and had severe physical injuries on top of that. While I was not able to find definitive answers, it may be that his isolation was due to him being in severe chronic pain from his injuries.
  - The-Old-Hacker 3y ago
    > it may be that his isolation was due to him being in severe chronic pain from his injuries. This article draws precisely that conclusion: https://web.archive.org/web/20070925191015/http://pain-topics.org/pdf/HowardHughesPseudoaddict.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20070925191015/http://pain-topic...
deleted 3y ago
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6 points by rmason 3y ago

I have the greatest respect for Steve Blank whom I've met in person. But I cannot disagree with this article any more strongly. My late father was an early collector of antique cars and along with being born in Detroit meeting some of the industry's early pioneers I know something about the history of the auto industry. There is no doubt Billy Durant was a genius. But unlike Musk he inherited wealth and the family wagon company based in Flint was the largest of its kind in America. He also didn't have to deal with stock markets shorts who have castigated Musk in the press constantly trying to drive down the price of his stock. Durant had always been a successful stock trader. It was the dawn of the great depression that took all of his wealth. He had by then divorced his wife and married his daughter's best friend. It was pretty scandalous at the time and it may be why Durant isn't remembered in the Motor City in any way. But if you look carefully at the old GM building (not RenCen but the one before it) you will see Durant's initials because the building was designed while he as still running GM.

rsynnott 3y ago
> He also didn't have to deal with stock markets shorts who have castigated Musk in the press constantly trying to drive down the price of his stock. I mean, you know they had short selling back then, right? It has been around for literally centuries.

joegibbs 3y ago

You could also include John DeLorean, who was reduced to dealing watches after getting arrested for cocaine trafficking (it was a total setup, DeLorean would never have gotten into it if he hadn't been goaded by the FBI's informant), or Howard Hughes, who went totally insane after a string of massive successes and ended up spending his time rewatching the same movie on repeat and restacking tissue boxes in his penthouse.

Zigurd 3y ago
I've been reading up on Howard Hughes out of idle curiosity recently. His diverse business interests struck me as a parallel to Elon. Howard Hughes's isolation came after a series of plane crashes, including one where he was burned over most of his body and had severe physical injuries on top of that. While I was not able to find definitive answers, it may be that his isolation was due to him being in severe chronic pain from his injuries.
- The-Old-Hacker 3y ago
  > it may be that his isolation was due to him being in severe chronic pain from his injuries. This article draws precisely that conclusion: https://web.archive.org/web/20070925191015/http://pain-topics.org/pdf/HowardHughesPseudoaddict.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20070925191015/http://pain-topic...

deleted 3y ago

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