Written by Mike Brazeau

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Date

1930

Location

Unknown

The Marquette was introduced as a companion car to the Buick in June of 1929 as a 1930 model (although some seem to have been registered as 1929 models). The "Baby Buick" had a 114-inch wheelbase compared to the 118-inch wheelbase of Buick’s smallest car, the Series 40. The Marquette Business Coupe was offered at $990.00, some $270.00 less than Buick’s least expensive Series 40 Business Coupe. Other GM divisions also built companion cars. Oakland had the Pontiac (which surpassed its parent company when the Oakland Motor Car Company became the Pontiac Motor Car Company in 1932 and the Oakland name was dropped). Oldsmobile had the Viking and Cadillac had the LaSalle. Although 35,007 Marquettes were produced in the U.S., it was cutting into Oldsmobile sales and with a crowded low price six-cylinder field it was dropped at the end of 1930. The depression fighting economy car had a short life, but did you know it was not General Motors first Marquette?

Billy Durant bought the Rainer Motor Company of Saginaw, Michigan and the Welch-Detroit Company in 1908 (just after founding General Motors) and formed the Marquette Motor Company. In 1909 and 1910, Bob Burman and Louis Chevrolet raced Buick Bugs that were known as Marquette-Buicks. Durant continued to build the Rainer and parts for the Welch-Detroit until a production Marquette auto was introduced in late 1911. By February 1912, the name was changed to Peninsular Motor Company to avoid confusion with the Marquette Motor Company formed earlier. Some of the last cars produced were registered in Michigan as Peninsulars. So by 1912 the Marquette name had ended its short second life, although Buick brought back the Rainier name (slightly different spelling) in 2004 as a midsize SUV. This was fitting since the Rainier was Buick’s first truck (except for the Rendezvous) since the 1920’s.

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