The Durant was an automobile make assembled by Durant Motors Inc. from 1921 to 1926 and from 1928 to 1932 in the United States. Durant Motors was founded by William Crapo Durant (a.k.a. Billy Durant) after he was terminated as the head of General Motors. Billy Durant's intent was to build an automotive empire that could one day challenge General Motors. The Durant automobile is considered to be an example of an ?assembled? automobile because so many of its components were obtained from outside suppliers. From 1921 to 1926 the vehicle was powered by a four cylinder Continental engine. The vehicle was directed at the Oakland automobile price point.

Production of the vehicle was suspended for the 1926 and 1927 model years. When the Durant was reintroduced, the car was redesigned and powered by a six cylinder Continental engine; some of the early vehicles were marketed as the ?Durant-Star?. Bodies for the vehicle were supplied by Budd. In 1930, some Durant's were built with all steel bodies, also supplied by Budd.

Durant Motors was found insolvent and automobile production ended early in 1932.

Manchester electrical engineer Henry Royce built a batch of three Decauville-inspired 10hp twin-cylinder cars under his own name in 1904; Lord Llangattock's surprising son, the Hon. C. S. Rolls was looking for a light car of quality to sell alongside the Continental imports in his West London motor agency; the two combined to create a motoring legend. After producing sound two-, three- and four-cylinder models of 10, 15 and 20 hp, not quite so good sixes of 30 hp and a dreadful V-8 (the "Legal limit"), in 1906 Rolls-Royce launched the immortal 40/50 hp six, known from 1907 as the "Silver Ghost". Even though its design was sound rather than original, it was built with Royce's consummate devotion to the highest engineering ideals.

The Ghost survived until 1925 (joined in 1922 by a 20 hp) and was supplanted by the ohv New Phantom, a transitional design which gave way to the more revised Phantom II in 1929.

Post-war Rolls-Royce moved from Derby (where they had been based since 1908) to Crewe, and restarted production in 1947 with the Silver Wraith, followed in 1949 by the Silver Dawn. The six-cylinder engine line continued until 1959, followed by a 6231cc V-8, used both on the Silver Cloud and Phantom V models. Integral construction and all-round independent suspension came with the 1965 Silver Shadow, direct ancestor of today's costly and magnificent Corniche and Camargue models.