Before Detroit was the "Motor City," Flint, Mich. was "Vehicle City" -- but the original nickname had nothing to do with cars. In the late 1800's, Flint was home to a booming carriage-making industry for horse-drawn buggies -- which some say was the biggest in the entire world. Hence, Flint became known as "Vehicle City."

M&S Beverages began in Flint, Michigan (also known as Vehicle City) in 1918 as the Independent Bottling Works, co-founded by Morris Weinstein and Samuel Buckler. So is that how they came up with the M&S name (Morris and Samuel)?

Family members say it stood for “Moon and Stars” inspired by the celestial logo for the company’s K&M Malt. Some might say it means “Mellow and Smooth”. Others said M&S means “More Sugar” but regardless, the company became M&S Beverages in 1929. Weinstein and Buckler had worked for the Detroit company which would become Faygo Beverages. At first, M&S produced strawberry, grape and lime sodas, plus Hires Root Beer, according to a story by Flint historian Gary Flinn. Later, orange soda was added.

During WWII, M&S also produced Dr. Pepper which had a lower amount of sugar then Hires. M&S purchased the local 7up Bottling of Flint and started to bottle 7up at the same plant. In Addition, they also bottled Mason’s Root Beer and Wolverine Ginger Ale. M&S later started to produce variety packs of their popular orange and strawberry cherry red pop. The 80s brought about a number of company buyouts and name changes which further decreased the popularity of the M&S brand with a final closing in 1989.

Today, the M&S brand is only a memory with its few remaining soda artifacts!

Main Bottling plant location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/2307+Saginaw+St,+Flint,+MI+48503/@43.0012233,-83.6775251,3a,75y,139.7h,78.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgsa_QjsRji3CUPzSZLsE2g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x882381fff9e9e835:0x74874a5c0104e790!8m2!3d43.000841!4d-83.6771435