William Crapo Durant took a ride in a Buick in 1904. Two months later, he had become a member of the company’s board of directors. As a partner in the Flint, Michigan, Durant-Dort Carriage Company, Durant had not been enamored by automobiles, but he was impressed with the car built by David Buick, Walter Marr, and Eugene Richard, and he felt it worthy of investment. Durant was an avid stock speculator, and he had soon floated a $300,000 stock issue for what was now the Buick Motor Company. Durant was a superb salesman, as he managed to sell more than 1,100 Buicks before the firm had even built 40.

From the start, Buicks had overhead-valve “valve-in-head” engines and two cylinders. They were robust and ready, and they found an enthusiastic audience, as production reached 750 by 1905. A revised Model F Tourer and its companion, a Model G Roadster, were introduced in 1906. That year, the Chicago American and Examiner staged a 1,000-mile relay run from Chicago to New York. A Buick Model F was the only competitor to complete the event. A contemporary account notes that “stretches of bad road [were] rendered well nigh impassable by rainstorms…through all this struggle of a thousand miles, the Buick never failed to move forward.” The Model F earned the nickname “Old Faithful,” as it was soon touted in a company brochure. So popular were the two-cylinder cars that they remained in production after four-cylinder Buicks joined the catalogue in 1907, with the G being discontinued after 1909 and the F at the end of 1910.

This Model G Buick Roadster, with single rumble (or “mother-in-law”) seat, was found in a barn in Indiana. Ed Messenger, of Longview, Texas, restored it to pristine condition over a period of four years. It won a National First Junior in Antique Automobile Club of America judging in the spring of 1999. That autumn, it took a National First Senior and then the coveted AACA Cup in February 2000.

The current owners purchased the car from Messenger in 2003, and they have since toured with it on AACA, Horseless Carriage Club, and Veteran Motor Car Club events. In 1,500 miles of touring, it has never suffered a breakdown.

The Model G Roadster is far rarer than its touring sibling, the Model F. During the cars’ four-year lifespan, just 1,091 were built, compared to the 11,709 of the Model Fs. This is one of just 144 built in 1909, its final year, and only two of which are known to survive. As it has been tested and true in touring, it will be an excellent car for Brass and Gas events and one- and two-cylinder tours, or for providing just plain fun.