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Billy Durant's Piano


BUICK RACER

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Good question, Leroy Cole donated Billy Durant's piano to the Durant Dort Office Building today. It was moved today by Red's Moving and we hope to have it tuned and someone to play it on August 17 during Back to the Bricks.

The piano was a wedding present to Billy and his first wife Clara from Clara's father Ralph S. Pitt who was the ticket agent for the Flint and Pere Marquette railroad station. The piano was moved to the family cottage at Pentwater on Lake Michigan and later used in the community hall in the gated community. Frances Willson Thompson gave the piano to Richard Scharchburg around 1980 who later gave it to his friends Leroy and Cora Cole.

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Guest BigDogDaddy

Wow ! Interesting history. I wish we lived closer, my Dad plays period correct music on the piano. Or could have a 4 or 5 piece band to play along.

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Glad it has been saved. So many old pianos have been smashed apart and scrapped for the cast iron in the harp, and brass parts. The wood has been thrown in a heap and burned. Sad that most of these beautiful old instruments are not worth much today and folks just do not want them taking up space. Dandy Dave!

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Guest BigDogDaddy

Grand pianos were always expensive. Uprights were the most common. Think of all the old saloons, they were uprights. My father had restored many an old upright, most of which were players, and many were from the 1800s and early 1900s.

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  • 6 years later...

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