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Automobile Macabre: The Earliest Hearses

Horse-drawn hearse at the Hastings Museum

Prior to the automobile, this horse-drawn hearse was the type of conveyance that carried people to their final resting places. The automobile hearse came into existence during the first decade of the 1900s, but trying to pin down when the first one appeared, or at least when the first American one appeared, is somewhat tricky.

As of 1906, there were not yet any automobile hearses in existence, at least according to this quote from the February 18th issue of the Kansas City Journal.

Eleven months later, in January of 1907, this short story announcing that the automobile hearse had arrived appeared in the Yonkers Statesman.

Unfortunately, this story does not tell us what hearse, or where it had arrived. This is a New York paper, so it could be describing events in that state, or it could have been a reference to an automobile hearse in Berlin, which many papers reported as being the first ever. This story appeared in April of 1907:

The Berlin hearse was an electric automobile, and this illustration of it appeared in the Scranton Truth, also in April of 1907:

Speaking of New York, the following story about an electric hearse created for Leonard Ruoff Jr. of Richmond Hill appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Times in June of 1907, and this marks one of the first, if not the first, appearance of an automobile hearse in the United States. Unfortunately, the accompanying photo is particularly poor.

This blurb appeared in the Freeport Journal in January of 1908, and it indicates that an Italian undertaker in New York had also purchased an automobile hearse during the summer of 1907, around the same time that Ruoff’s hearse was built. It is difficult to read, but it does say that the Italian man is the first undertaker to try an automobile hearse. Again, more detail would have been helpful here.

According to the following story in the Buffalo News, by January of 1909 many undertakers were using automobiles, and “a few” were using automobile hearses. The News was reporting on a 16-foot-long funeral automobile designed by a New York undertaker to carry both the casket and up to twelve mourners. Hilariously, note that it also says that the use of automobiles will cut down on funeral costs.

The funeral of Wilford Pruyn of Chicago was reported as being the “first automobile funeral” when it took place in January of 1909. However, since automobile hearses had been in use since the summer of 1907 in New York, this does not seem likely. Perhaps they meant the first to use a gasoline-powered hearse, which could be a possibility, or maybe they meant it was the first using all automobiles as the hearse carrying Mr. Pruyn was followed by eighteen other cars carrying the mourners.

Of course, it is also possible that they were just wrong. Regardless, this is the hearse that Pruyn made his last trip in:

This photo appeared in a February 1909 issue of the Los Angeles Evening Express about the funeral and that latest innovation in automobile rigs, the hearse. The article said that the hearse, built by Charles A. Coey, was made by replacing the tonneau of a large seven-passenger touring car with the body of a regular horse-drawn hearse. There are always those that resist innovation, so it was also noted that there was a certain class of Americans that would refuse anything but a horse-drawn hearse for their own funerals. The article also states that several of the large eastern auto manufacturers were taking up the “hearse problem,” and that it was expected that hearses would be listed in the next season’s automobile catalogues.

Over the next couple of years, use of the automobile hearse continued to increase as manufacturers designed and produced funeral cars like the 1911 Studebaker version pictured above. This particular car was finished in black satin enamel with silver trim, and hand-carved woodwork on the outside of the body gave the appearance of heavy, plush draperies. The interior was veneered with Birdseye maple, and it was all mounted on a Studebaker 40 chassis, the frame being slightly longer than that of the touring car frame. With offerings like this, the automobile hearse was definitely here to stay, and one paper summed it up this way:

1962 Cadillac Hearse sitting on a street corner in a Kansas ghost town

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Historic Photo of a Vanderbilt Course

It is well documented that the Vanderbilt Cup Races were dangerous for both drivers and spectators, but this photo that appeared in the December 24, 1914, issue of the Los Angeles Times illustrates another risk that was specific to the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup Race. That race was held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco, a world’s fair held to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, and the race took place on the Exposition grounds. The caption to this photo explained that this was the most dangerous point on the course where cars going in opposite directions, as indicated by the white arrows, passed so close to each other that a blown tire or mechanical failure at this point could result in a head-on collision. Here is a bird’s eye view of the course:

This map appeared in the February 21, 1915, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle

Thankfully, there were no head-on collisions or deaths in this race, although there were some injuries as described in the article below that begins with “Resta Wins.” In reference to the original photo, the caption also indicated that the driver pictured was Billy Carlson in a Maxwell 25. Carlson also piloted a Maxwell in the race and, although it had a leaky radiator, he still managed a fifth-place finish. Tragically, there were not many more races in Carlson’s future as he was fatally injured racing in Tacoma the following July. His mechanic, Paul Franzen, was also killed in the accident.

This photo appeared in the July 5, 1915, issue of The Oregonian

Finally, here are a few more newspaper clippings related to the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup Race including the race results, another view of “the dangerous curve,” and an awesome photo of legendary driver Barney Oldfield, chomping on his signature cigar:

Write-up from the March 7, 1915, issue of the Indianapolis Star
This photo appeared in the March 6, 1915, issue of The Santa Barbara Daily News
Photo taken from the March 6, 1915, issue of The Evansville Journal

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Car Gadget Chicanery

This small gadget called “The Stromberg Condenser” was patented in 1934 by inventor Henry Oestricher, and it has an interesting back story that is positively steeped in deception:

The Stromberg Condenser, manufactured by the Stromberg Ignition Company of Detroit, was a spark intensifier meant for use on any gasoline engine. It was promoted as something of a miracle product with the capability to increase power, eliminate spark plug trouble, save oil and gasoline, reduce carbon, and make starting easier.

The company also claimed that the Stromberg Condenser was endorsed and approved by the Automotive Engineers Association of America. Unfortunately, the FTC did not agree with any of these claims and charged the company with unfair and deceptive acts and practices in 1940. The FTC also frowned upon Striker’s use of an exaggerated fictitious price:

In addition to the deceptive acts cited above, the FTC also took issue with the name of the company. There was another company called the Stromberg Carburetor Company, later the Bendix-Stromberg Carburetor Company, which had built up valuable good will during its decades in business, so the use of the Stromberg tradename was apt to confuse, mislead and deceive purchasers. The FTC ordered Henry Oestricher, now going by Henry O. Striker, to cease both the making of false representations and the use of the Stromberg name.

It might be tempting to give Striker the benefit of the doubt on the use of the Stromberg moniker were it not for a 1937 case that seems to establish a pattern. In that instance, Henry O. Striker and six other officers and shareholders of a Michigan corporation were charged with fraud. The indictment charged, among other things, that the men had misrepresented their concern, called R. Cummins & Co., as being related to an old Kentucky distillery with the identical name of R. Cummins & Co.

Another gadget, this one called the “Coilmaster,” surfaced in 1948 when two men selling them for $3 each were arrested in Indianapolis for obtaining money under false pretenses. The device was worthless, but the salesman claimed it increased power and decreased gas consumption. It was demonstrated on a rigged automobile that gave a convincing sales demonstration through the use of two distributors, one of which was a dummy. The other was fixed so that two cylinders were shorted out until the gadget was used. According to a technician with the Indianapolis Police Department, the device had a long shaft which tripped a switch built into the distributor. This must have been an effective dog and pony show, because the salesmen had racked up $1,245 in sales in St. Louis before moving on to Indianapolis. They had probably been trained by the best, though, because they were working for Electronics Research of Detroit, a company owned by none other than Henry O. Striker.

I found no other stories involving Striker, so maybe he went straight after the Indianapolis incident, or maybe he changed his name again, or maybe he just didn’t get caught. Regardless, rest assured there was never a shortage of snake oil salesmen ready and willing to take his place.

The Nebraska State Patrol’s 1950 Ford

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Why Was the Ford Model T Called a “Flivver?”

If you enjoy watching old movies, you have likely heard the word “flivver” tossed around on occasion, usually in reference to a Model T. I wondered about the origins of the term and decided to see what evidence could be found in old newspapers.

The earliest reference to the word “flivver” that I could find was 1907, and it was used as a synonym for failure. This slang term was said to have originated in the theater, and a 1909 newspaper story explained it this way: “A flivver is a fizzle. The term was coined by the profession to denote a part that falls flat because there is nothing to it, or even a player who makes a failure because he hasn’t got it in him.” Here is another explanation from a different paper: “A flivver is something that is not a success, perhaps not an outright, hideous failure, but certainly a long way from the top. Even the actor himself, when he fails, may be described as a flivver.”

It may have originated in the theater, but it was also used when discussing 1909 sporting events such as this poetic start to a story about a boxing match: “The Ketchel-Langford flivver has done two things to the pugilistic calendar, besides piercing the tender hearts of the students of the Queensberry game.” Even more colorful was this piece of reporting on baseball’s American League: “The crucial game proved a flivver; the Athletics fell and have been getting the wadding beaten out of them ever since, while Detroit is now serenely sailing with nobody rocking the boat.”

I do not know who first applied the derogatory term to the Model T, but it must have happened quickly because this headline also appeared in 1909:

The story underneath this banner was about a Ford hitting a truck that was heavily laden with nitroglycerine, but, because it was a flivver, it did not hit hard enough to cause an explosion.

The name stuck, and within a few years the newspapers were full of references to the Ford Flivver. This one was about Brooklyn car thieves preferring more expensive cars like Packards.

Finally, this political cartoon from 1916 includes a bottle labeled, “Ford’s Flivver Cure.” This was a reference to Henry Ford’s attempt to end the First World War by sending a “peace ship” full of peace advocates to Europe to exert moral and diplomatic pressure to end the war. Ford paid all the expenses for this trip, but it was widely ridiculed in the press. Theodore Roosevelt condemned it as a “ridiculous and mischievous jitney peace junket!” and the war raged on, so I guess you could say the trip itself was something of a flivver.

Sources:

“Chat and Comment.” Fall River Daily Evening News, 10 Feb 1910, p. 6.

Hobart, George. “New Year Dinkelspielers.” Ledger-Star [Norfolk, Virginia], 11 January 1907, p. 13.

“Good thing It Was a Flivver.” The Chronicle Telegram [Elyria, Ohio], 31 Mar 1909, p. 4.

Greene, Sid. “War Grip.” The Daily Gleaner [Fredericton, York, New Brunswick, Canada], 20 Jan 1916, p. 5.

“Know About the ‘Flivver’ Thing?” The Kansas City Times, 9 Feb 1910, p. 8.

“Langford Has Had Hard Luck.” The Butte Daily Post, 27 Sept 1909, p. 6.

“Roosevelt Urges Unity in Defense.” The New York Times, 6 Dec 1915, p. 3.

“Three Clubs Now in Pennant Fight.” The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer, 20 Jul 1909, p. 4.

“Want an Auto? Just Take One.” The Brooklyn Daily Times, 22 Jul 1915, p. 12.

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A Rare Lincoln Accessory from the Fifties

We found this rare Lincoln accessory in a tiny antique store in a tiny town. It is clearly a speaker, and the emblem gives away its origins as a Lincoln product, but why does it have such a long cord attached to it?

The answer can be found in the 1950 Lincoln “Styled Accessories” brochure which features this speaker on page five. It is a detachable rear seat speaker, and it came equipped with a 20-foot extension cord so that it could be taken outside of the car and used while camping or enjoying a picnic. It also has a volume control, which is the knob on top of the speaker housing. Just imagine cranking up the tunes while picnicking next to your new 1950 Lincoln!

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A Christmas Road Race in Tropico

This intriguing headline appeared in the December 22, 1914, issue of the Pomona Daily Review. The “Tropico Speed Contest” was an amateur road race held on Christmas morning in Tropico, California, and it took place on a two-mile course with many sharp turns, including a hairpin turn at “San Fernando Road and the Pacific Electric Tracks.” In the days leading up to the affair, the drivers hyped it by promising a thrilling performance and declaring that they were “out for blood.”

The main event was a free-for-all with a $100 purse, and a drawing was held to determine numbers and places. The distance was 20 laps, or 40 miles, and this list of cars and drivers was printed in the Los Angeles Evening Express, albeit with a number of typos.

There was also a 30-mile motorcycle race, and a 20-mile race for lightweight cycle cars. The entrants for the cycle car race were as follows:

This photo of Les Rawson, driver of the #17 Christie, being supervised by one Lucille King was also published, but with no explanation as to the identity of Miss King.

There were two additional exhibition races that were referred to as “freak” races. The first of these was a race between two rival jitney bus drivers to settle the question of superiority once and for all. The following comic strip by Gale at the L. A. Times, titled “Mr. T. Wad Certainly Opened Up His Jitney Bus at Tropico!” was published the day before the race.

The other was a race for automobiles considered “antediluvian,” or ancient. One entrant in that race, 73-year-old Tom Morris, declared that he would be taking the turns “wide open.” The Los Angeles Times noted that “wide open” meant fifteen miles per hour provided the racer showed an unexpected burst of speed. Here is a photo of Morris with his automobile, a 1901 Peerless.

Women were not allowed to drive in the race, but some women did enter their cars with a “brother, sweetheart, or friend” driving. Those women were Adele Martin, Helen Holmes, and Jeanne Warden, and it was reported that both Martin and Warden were personally tuning and stripping their cars as well as plotting strategy for the course. One article referred to Holmes as an actress, and there was an actress by that name born in 1893 according to IMDB.

The winner of the cycle car race was H. Lindley in a Mercedes, but the winner of the main event was a druggist named Waldo Throop. Throop had been a sprinter at USC and was among the fastest in the country in 1910, running the 100 in 9.8 seconds. At Tropico, he won the purse and bragging rights in a Ford with a time of 50:15 4-5. R. Dorney drove a Studebaker to second place 40 seconds later, and third place went to G. Pulliam in Helen Holme’s Studebaker, just 21 seconds behind Dorney. There was some controversy as that third-place finish was protested by A. Austria who claimed his Knox was leading Pulliam’s Studebaker at the checkered flag. Also, the driver in the headline at the top of this story, Earl Pitts, claimed he passed 22 of the 24 machines and should have placed.

Waldo Throop is pictured below, the man on the right, and then again in his winning Ford:

This photo is of Helen Holmes in the third-place Studebaker:

There was one crash involving a Buick, but no serious injuries, so the race was a success all the way around. The second annual Tropico race was held on Thanksgiving Day the following year, but a third was not to be. There was no report of why the race was discontinued, but there was a war going on, and then Tropico ceased to exist a few years later when it consolidated with Glendale in 1918. Whatever the reason, it was likely a great disappointment to the thousands of spectators that spent that Christmas Day in 1914 taking in the excitement of the speed, rivalries, and hairpin turns at the Tropico races.

Merry Christmas!

1925 Detroit Motor News Cover

Sources:

“Bill Throop Had Merely a Rebuilt Ford but Ran Like Sin and a Victory Scored.” Ventura Weekly Post and Democrat, 1 January 1915, p. 1.

“Nineteen-Year-Old Boy Does ‘100’ in 8 4-5 Seconds.” Passaic Daily News, 5 October 1910, p. 4.

“Old Car Enters Tropico Race.” Los Angeles Times, 22 December 1914, p. 25.

“Pomona Driver Says Tropico Auto Race Was Unjustly Judged.” 26 December 1914, p. 1.

“Pomona Driver Will Enter Christmas Race.” Pomona Daily Review, 22 December 1914, p. 9.

“Races Again at Tropico.” Pomona Daily Review, 9 November 1915, p. 2.

“Tropico Has Gone Speed Crazy.” Los Angeles Times, 24 December 1914, p. 24.

“Tropico is Busy for Speed Event.” Los Angeles Evening Express, 23 December 1914, p. 4.

“Tropico Ready for Auto Race Set for Tomorrow.” Los Angeles Evening Express, 24 December 1914, p. 3.

“Tropico Road Race Success.” Los Angeles Times, 26 December 1914, p. 6.

“Waldo Throop Wins Tropico Road Race.” San Francisco Examiner, 26 December 1914, p. 14.

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Lost Brands: 1914 Photo of a Sampson Hauling a Marathon

In the early days of the automobile industry, it must have been difficult to keep track of the many car and truck brands appearing and disappearing at a rapid rate. Two of these makes are pictured in the above 1914 newspaper photo that was captioned as follows: “Linz & Sanborn Company’s economical way of delivering a Marathon car and a Sampson truck to one customer.” Unfortunately for that customer, one of these companies was already defunct, and the other would not be around much longer.

The four-cylinder Marathon automobile was produced from 1908 to 1914 in first Jackson, and then Nashville, Tennessee, and it was the first car manufactured entirely in the south. According to the Tennessee State Museum, the cars were first called Southerns, but the name had to be changed due to the existence of another automobile by that name. The name Marathon was chosen because anything related to ancient Greece was very in vogue at the time. The company went bankrupt shortly after the above photo was published and was purchased by Herff-Brooks of Indiana.

The Sampson truck, frequently misspelled as “Samson” in the early newspapers, was built by the Alden Sampson Manufacturing Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In 1911, it was purchased by the United States Motor Company, a conglomerate Benjamin Briscoe put together in an attempt to emulate General Motors. This 1911 advertisement refers to the Alden Sampson Manufacturing Company as the “truck division” of United States Motor Company.

The fine print near the bottom of the page explains that the 1,000-pound capacity truck pictured was the smallest Sampson available, and that Sampson also had trucks available in 1-ton, 2-ton, 3-ton, 4-ton, 5-ton, and Motor Train 20-ton capacity. Along with Sampson, other brands under the United States Motor umbrella included Maxwell-Briscoe, Columbia, Stoddard-Dayton, and Brush. The United States Motor Co. failed in 1912, and the Sampson ended with it. Jonathan Maxwell purchased the assets and formed the Maxwell Motor Company, which eventually became Chrysler.

General Motors produced a “Samson” truck, this time spelled without the “p,” a few years later. The production of that truck stemmed from GM’s 1917 purchase of the Samson Sieve-Grip Tractor Company of Stockton, California, all part of William Durant’s bid to compete with Henry Ford’s success in the manufacturing of farm equipment.

After purchasing the tractor company, GM expanded the Samson line to include a truck as seen in this 1921 advertisement for “The Samson Truck – a General Motors Product.”

This truck did not last long either, however, with the entire Samson division closing in 1923. The 1920 Samson pictured below sits at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, a place where you can find many rare and wonderful examples of cars and trucks from the earliest days of the American automobile industry.

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Another Idea for a Two-Engine Automobile

The sheer number of ingenious Americans that eagerly dove into developing and improving automobiles around the turn of the century is nothing short of amazing. The following article about one of those men, Henry K. Hess, appeared in a 1902 newspaper.

A search of the patent database indicates that Hess was a prolific inventor and holder of many patents. From 1901 to 1905, he was granted several related to steam-powered automobiles. These patents include ideas for both the overall design of the system and improvements to pieces of it such as the means for producing combustion, the distribution of fuel in the combustion chamber, and the maintaining of a uniform degree of steam pressure.

1902 advertisement for Locomobile steam cars

The technology for steam engines, and even steam-propelled road vehicles, had been around for centuries, and a number of steam-powered cars were developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of them used kerosene for fuel, but, like Hess’s charcoal version, other types of fuel were experimented with. There were barriers to be overcome with steam, however: The engines were heavy and slow to start, the fuel was bulky, hot ashes needed to be removed, and the engines needed to be supplied with water in addition to fuel.

Gasoline-powered internal combustion engines also had problems. They had to be started with hand cranks, and many serious injuries were caused by the cranks kicking back during the perilous process. People were also concerned about the dangers and cost of gasoline as seen in the following letter inquiring about the Hess Charcoal Burner that appeared in a 1903 issue of Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal. The publication’s answer appears underneath the letter.

Henry K. Hess also wrote a letter in response:

Hess obtained another very interesting patent in 1909 for the design of a self-propelled vehicle that featured two motors. Unlike the Carter Two-Engine Car which was patented in 1907 and focused mostly on reliability, Hess’s main focus was on efficiency. His idea was to incorporate both an internal combustion engine and a steam engine, operating both with the same fuel required for the operation of the gas motor by using the heat of the exploded gases to generate steam to power the steam engine:

“It is well known that the temperature of these exploded gases reaches a very high degree, far in excess of that produced by any open flame burner, and that in many self-propelled vehicles in which gas or vapor engines are used as the motive power apparatus, the highly heated products of combustion are allowed to escape into the atmosphere, thereby losing a considerable power which I have sought to utilize to generate steam for the operation of a steam engine in conjunction with a gas engine.“

According to the patent, both engines could be employed either individually or jointly in the propulsion of the vehicle.

“Another distinguishing feature of my present device is the clutch mechanism of the transmission gear, whereby I am enabled to throw either or both engines into and out of operative connection with the running gear of the vehicle so that the vehicle may be propelled by either the steam engine or gas engine alone, or both may be combined to transmit power to a single shaft which makes it possible to use this combination in the propulsion of boats as well as wheel vehicles.“

These are the drawings included with Hess’s patent:

In addition to operating two engines with the same amount of fuel required for one, Hess pointed out other advantages to his design such as eliminating the open flame commonly used with steam and obviating the need for exhaust mufflers. Unfortunately for Hess, steam mostly fell by the wayside with the invention of the electric start for the internal combustion engine and the production of Henry Ford’s affordable and plentiful Model T. A search of old newspapers indicates that Hess may have gone on to become a building contractor in Syracuse. It does not appear that he ever found success in the automobile industry, and that is a shame because he had so many innovative ideas.

1922 Ford Model T Coupe
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Another Early Anti-Glare Headlight Lens

The very modern problem of headlight glare has roots going back to the earliest days of automobile travel. Companies such as Osgood and Liberty developed some interesting lenses in an attempt to alleviate the problem, and Warner-Patterson also took a stab at it with this unique lens that looks like it is covered with bubbles:

The company called it a Warner-Lenz, and it is marked with a 1912 patent date. The following description of the lens appeared in a 1917 issue of the Automobile Trade Journal:

On the front of the Warner-Lenz are rows of small lenses and on the back are similar rows which overlap so that all the light coming from the lamp is diffused in a spray which covers almost 180 deg. with a gradual reduction of intensity toward the sides. The light is thrown all over the road and on both sides so that everything in front of the car may be clearly seen for from 300 to 500 ft. in front of the car.

The New York Secretary of State officially declared the Warner-Lenz to be legal, according to this 1918 advertisement. The square in the middle of the page also contains the names of makes that were using the lens as standard equipment with Packard and Stutz topping the list.

The ad also claims there were more than a million pairs of these lenses in use at this time. Whether that statement is truth or hyperbole, there do not seem to be too many survivors. There are currently only a handful of listings on eBay with prices ranging from $59 to $299.

1920 Stutz Bearcat Series H Roadster with Warner-Lenz headlight lenses
Attribution: Sicnag, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Ford Spyder Hubcaps

We have a guide for early Ford V8 hubcaps that you can access by clicking here, and I am going to add to it with this recent find:

This is an original 1937 Ford dealer accessory wheel cover that is unofficially referred to as a Spyder, or sometimes Spider, hubcap. Officially, Ford called it a “Hub and Spoke Cover” as seen in this 1936 Genuine Ford Accessories brochure:

Similar versions were offered for the years 1936 and 1937, although the markings were recessed for ’36 and raised for ’37. This is what one looks like installed:

Attribution: nakhon100, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. This photo has been cropped.

For 1938, the wheel covers were revamped with a larger V8 symbol:

The 1938 version was carried over for use in 1939, as well. All three versions have been reproduced, but the originals were made of stainless steel and were of good quality. This 1936 advertisement includes them in some gift ideas for those lucky enough to own a Ford V8. Notice the catchy poem!

Photo from the 1937 Ford brochure