WIKI:
In 1886, he partnered with
Josiah Dallas Dort to found Flint Road Cart Company eventually transforming $2,000 in start-up capital into a $2-million business with sales around the world.[4] By 1890, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, based in Flint, had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles and in 1900, the largest in the US
However, Durant had overextended himself with imprudent acquisitions, and in 1910, General Motors faced a cash shortage. In the aftermath, Durant was forced out of the company by a consortium of bankers.[6] Not to be defeated, Durant backed Louis Chevrolet's eponymous company in 1911;
J. Dallas Dort was vice-president and director of the company.[8] In 1913, Dort stepped down as vice-president of Chevrolet,[8] and in 1914 Durant disposed of his share of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company.[9] By 1915 R S McLaughlin was building Chevrolet to allow that 1916, Durant had leveraged Chevrolet's sales to regain control of General Motors, and he went on to lead GM until 1920.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Dallas_DortYou would have to do a family tree search for his off spring. I suspect your customer is related. Durant was really big in the carriage business before cars. "Lets put a motor on a carriage and call it a horseless carriage".
Like the Wright Bros were bicycle guys. Look what they did. Same era.
