Month: January 2025

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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!