Beginning of Essay
One September evening in 1886, a young businessman in an old lumber town in Michigan hitched a ride in a friend's horse-drawn cart. The cart's spring suspension made it a more comfortable ride than usual--so comfortable, in fact, that the young businessman bought ....

Middle of Essay
.... for a ride with Marr in his car and immediately learned to drive it himself, the other partner, Billy Durant, wouldn't so much as look at it. Undaunted, Marr drove the car back and forth in front of Durant's house that evening, and the next morning he returned. Impressed by Marr's persistence, Durant this time agreed to go for a ride. Only then did Durant realize that Marr wasn't trying to sell him the car--he was trying to sell him the company. Durant was never one to pass up a business opportunity--he collected companies the way somebody's pack-rat uncle might collect broken lawn mowers and obscure gadgets. He borrowed a Buick for three months, ....