Durant also created a racing team that won
500
racing
trophies
in
1909
and
1910,
including successes at
Indianapolis two years before the Indy
500
began.
The
success
of
Buick engines was visible not only on
the race track, but in ,endurance tests across
the
country
and around the world.
Buick
was
the
only
car
to
complete
.a
1,000-mile Chicago-to-New York race
in
1906.
And
aBuick
was the first car to travel across
South America, driven
from
Buenos
Aires;
Argentina,
over the Andes
to
Santiago? Chile in
1914.
Buick drew plenty of attention because it could
chb
hills
and
run through mud like no
othef
car. Buick's
endurance and reliability were world famous.
During World War
I,
Buick built Liberty aircraft engines
as
well'as Red Cross ambulances
so
successfully that
one.Buick ambulance was awarded
the
Croix
de Guerre
by the French government.
As
a builder
of
premier automobiles,
Buick
was hard hit
by the Great Depression. However, new General
Manager
Harlow
H.
Curtice created populax new models
1911
Model
21
Touring
Car
on
Buick's
Test
Hill
