The fascinating history of American cars . . .one story at a time.
Author: Deb Tracy
I am a reformed attorney who has returned to my first loves, American history and classic cars. Raised in a family of automobile fanatics, my Dad is one of those guys who can look at a set of tail lights and tell you what car they belong to and follow that with a story about one he owned. Forget the “new car” smell, I love the smell of old cars and old garages. My husband (retired law enforcement and former U.S. Marine) and I turned our hobby into a business a few years ago and now happily deal in classic cars and their various parts. We live in rural Nebraska with our amazing teenage daughter and a houseful of border collies.
Here is another interesting steering wheel that was part of our recent haul. The ship logo gives away its Plymouth brand, and this 1950 Suburban is one of the models that it would have been found on:
1950 Plymouth Brochure
Unlike the pre-war woodies, the Suburban featured an all-steel body with a box-type steel frame. Not exactly a speed machine, it was powered by a 217.8 cubic inch six cylinder L-head engine that generated 97 hp @3600 RPMs.
According to ads, the seats were upholstered with “luxurious, long-wearing plastic” and were completely washable. Behind the rear seat was 42″ of cargo space. The rear seat was able to be folded down, however, with the metal back forming part of the floor. In that position, the cargo space was 68″ long, 55″ wide and 36″ high.
1951 Plymouth Brochure
This is an interesting 1950 ad for the Suburban. The dealership is uncertain when it will have access to more Suburbans due to “work stoppages in coal and in automobile plants”.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a table of “Annual work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers from 1947-2018”. According to that table, work stoppages in 1949 resulted in 43,420,000 days of idleness or .38 percent of total working time. That percent was only exceeded in 1959. Workers in diverse industries throughout the country were demanding better wages, insurance and pension plans, and the automobile industry was no exception. In 1950, the “Big Three” automakers, GM, Ford and Chrysler, all reached agreements with the UAW. Chrysler’s agreement only came after a particularly painful stoppage that began just as the production of 1950 models approached top volume and which lasted more than 100 days.
In 1950, LA TImes editors drove this new Suburban down the coast to Ensenada for the “Travelogue of the Week”.
Sources:
“All Purpose Plymouth Suburban.” Detroit Free Press, 18 June 1950, p. E-8.
“Chrysler Strike Idles 112,000 Auto Workers.” Mount Pleasant News, 25 January 1950, p. 1.
“Continued Picketing May Delay Reopening of Chrysler Plants.” The Kokomo Tribune, 5 May 1950, p. 1.
Lawrence, David. “Chrysler Strike Shown to Have Been a Blunder”. Alton Evening Telegraph, 25 May 1950, p. 6.
Plymouth. Advertisement. The Daily Missoulian, 19 February, 1950, p. 12.
Rogers, Lynn. “Contracts Depicted in Baja California.” The Los Angeles Times, 10 September 1950, p. V-8.
This eye-catching baby-blue 1959 Ford with a Continental Kit is a rare Skyliner convertible with a retractable hardtop.
Ford had the first mass-produced American-made retractable hardtop in the Skyliner, manufactured for model years 1957-1959. Touted as a “miracle car”, the Hide-Away Hardtop was fully automatic. With the press of a button, the all-steel top would slide into the enormous trunk where it was completely concealed. The entire operation took about 40 seconds to complete and, for safety purposes, the mechanism would only operate when the car’s transmission was in neutral and the ignition key was turned to the “accessory” position. With one car you had the best of both worlds or, as this ad phrased it, “It’s the world’s only 2-in-1 fine car . . . a snug steel-top and a breezy convertible.”
These days, it is common for households to have more than one vehicle, especially in my part of the country. In our family, we’ve got to have a van for the business, we’ve got to have an F-150 for when our country roads are a muddy mess, we’ve got to have something reliable and economical for our daughter to drive to school, and we’ve got to have a classic because, well, we’ve just got to. Families didn’t always have a vehicle for every purpose, however, and I wondered when the idea of “two cars in one” got started. Turns out, it started very early. This ad from 1914 is for a KisselKar with a detachable top, making it “a summer car and a winter car”:
Hupmobile also featured a detachable top that year, making it a “two in one car”:
Ford had carried everything a step further in this 1912 ad, however. At that time you could convert your Model T from a summer car to a winter car by using interchangeable bodies to go from a roadster to a coupe:
As for the Skyliner, the retractable top was an expensive engineering marvel. Citing the costs of retooling it every year to make it adaptable to other styling changes, Ford dropped it from the 1960 lineup.
Sources:
Burk, John. “Automotive Views.” Courier-Post [Camden], 24 November 1959, p. 8.
Ford. Advertisement. The Des Moines Register, 7 January 1912, p. 3.
Ford. Advertisement. The Salt Lake Tribune, 13 May 1958, p. 5.
“Ford Making Models With Retractable Steel Tops.” The Daily Record [Stroudsburg], 31 December 1956, p.9.
“Ford to Drop Hardtop; Retractable Convertible.” The El Paso Times, 31 May 1959, p. 6-D.
Hupmobile. Advertisement. The Scranton Truth, 7 November 1914, p. 9.
KisselKar. Advertisement. The Evening Journal [Wilmington], 12 November 1914, p. 8.
We recently had someone ask us if we would be interested in a bunch of old steering wheels hanging in their barn. We are always interested, so we went there to take a look and left with ALL the steering wheels. This is what 55 steering wheels look like crammed into the back of a van:
And this is what my dog looks like when she is not happy about being forced to share her van space with a mountain of steering wheels:
Some are not in the greatest of shape but have horn rings that can be salvaged like these 1955 Oldsmobile and 1959 Dodge horn rings:
I’ve seen articles giving Detroit credit for the first one-way radio communication with patrol cars, but according to 1928 newspaper stories, those honors should go to the police department in Berkeley, California. In January of 1928, they were the first police department to be fully equipped with radios in patrol cars:
“To Berkeley California, goes the distinction of operating the first police fleet which is completely radio-equipped. In line with his policy of providing every scientific aid for his men, Police Chief August Vollmer, well-known criminologist, sponsored installation of fixed-tune short wave sets under the rear decks of these Buicks, thereby combining quick communication and speedy pursuit in a manner which greatly increases the odds against crime. In support of Chief Vollmer’s methods, it is pointed out the Berkeley requires the smallest police force in the country, population considered.”
That’s not too surprising as Chief August Vollmer has been called the father of American policing. Apparently, a high power vacuum tube transmitter was installed at police headquarters, and this transmitter worked in conjunction with fixed tune receivers installed in the rear of the patrol cars. A red light would come on when there was a message for the police officer, and a concealed loud speaker unit would allow the desk sergeant to communicate instantly with any or all of the officers simultaneously. Tests at the time showed that the system worked perfectly at 50 mph.
Another story said Vollmer was of the opinion that the combination of radio equipment and fast pursuit machines would vastly increase the odds against crime. The “fast pursuit machines” to which he referred were a fleet of new, 1928 Buick coupes.
For 1928, Buick introduced a new hemispherical combustion chamber to allow for higher compression. Two inline sixes were offered, the Standard Six with 207 cubic inches and the Master Six with 274. One story mentioned that the Berkeley police cars were 2-passenger coupes, so they would have had the Standard Six, but with room for only two passengers I guess they were calling the paddy wagon to haul the bad guys.
Sources:
“Berkely Has Radio-ized Police Fleet.” The Arizona Republican [Phoenix], 18 March 1928, sec. 5 p. 6.
“Berkeley Police Force Complete Radio System.” Modesto News-Herald, 5 February 1928, p. 10.
“Berkeley Police Get Radio Sets.” Asheville Citizen Times, 1 April 1928, p. B-7.
“Berkeley Police Use Radio Equipped Cars.” Oakland Tribune. 22 January 1928, p. O-3.
“New 1928 Buicks Come With Standard Gear Shift.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 13 August 1927, p. 3.
“New 1928 Buicks To Be Put On Display Monday Evening.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 6 August 1927, p. 2.
Before there were fright-inducing cars like the 1958 Plymouth Fury in Christine and the 1971 Lincoln Continental in The Car, there was a haunted automobile in Geneva, New York, terrifying mechanics. The year was 1917, and newspapers printed stories like this one about the cursed car. Happy Halloween!
“A ‘Haunted Car’ Shatters Nerves of Geneva Garages.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 6 August 1917, p. 9.
This Model A is too “new” to be the one in the 1917 story, but it still has a ghostly look about it!
The initials on this hubcap, REO, belong to a man who was a true trailblazer for the American automotive industry, Ransom Eli Olds. He had two different automobiles named after him, first the Oldsmobile and then the Reo, and you would be hard-pressed to name someone more deserving of the honor.
Olds started Olds Motor Works Inc. in 1899 with financial backing from Samuel Smith. After disagreeing with Smith and his sons about the direction of the company, Olds left and used his knowledge and reputation to form Reo in 1904. This Reo ad from 1905 illustrates the importance of Olds’ experience, describing him as the “man who knows how”.
That Olds paved the way for those who followed is evidenced by the many “firsts” in the automotive industry that he was personally responsible for. Olds built his first “horseless carriage” in 1886, and this was the first one to ever appear on the roads of Michigan. He built an improved version in 1892 (both were powered by gas-burning steam engines) and a London company paid Olds $400 for it. The purchaser wanted to use it to promote business in India and shipped it to Bombay in 1893, making this the first automobile ever sold for export.
As previously mentioned, Olds started Olds Motor Works in 1899. Prior to that, however, he had formed Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in 1897. That 1897 company was the first company in Michigan organized for the exclusive purpose of manufacturing automobiles.
Olds was also the first quantity producer of automobiles, manufacturing nearly 4,000 of the popular “curved-dash runabouts” in 1903. In 1905, Reo was producing one car every 40 minutes. Henry Ford is often given credit for the assembly line, but the Olds plant was the first to use conveyors for assembly line production. In 1941, Alfred Reeves of the Automobile Manufacturers Association called Olds “the father of mass production in the motor industry” and said he was basing this statement on the fact that Olds had used the progressive assembly system to produce 5,000 of the 22,000 cars made in 1904. Ford and Olds were lifelong friends and Ford was a frequent visitor at the Olds plant where he got the idea for low-cost mass production.
Olds was also responsible for America’s first cross-country trip from Detroit to New York in an automobile. It took 21-year-old Roy Chapin (who later co-founded Hudson) a week to make the trip, performing a multitude of repairs along the way. Oldsmobile also took part in the first transcontinental trips in the summer of 1903 (along with a Packard and a Winton). Two drivers took an Oldsmobile from San Francisco to New York in 1903, taking 74 days to complete the trip.
These trips were good promotions for Oldsmobile, and promotion was another area in which Olds led the way. Olds was the first to advertise nationally in 1902 by taking out an ad in the Saturday Evening Post. Olds also hired a famous songwriter of the day named Gus Edwards to write a song about the Oldsmobile. The result was “My Merry Oldsmobile” and it was a hit. The lyrics were included in ads like this one, and they are surprisingly suggestive for the early 1900s (I guess people started making out in cars as soon as they were invented)!
Many songs have been written about cars since (check out this list as voted on by Hot Rod readers a few years ago) but the Oldsmobile ditty was likely the first about a particular automobile. And then there were promotional events like a parade in which Teddy Roosevelt rode in a Reo, or stunts like this one at Grosse Pointe in 1901:
According to a story in the Detroit Free Press, these cars were giving a novel demonstration of control on a huge teeter-totter: “Running first forward and then back, the chauffer worked the teetering board up and down with the greatest ease and balanced it perfectly.”
In 1944, a celebration took place to observe Olds’ 80th birthday. It was noted then that the pioneers of the automobile industry were quickly disappearing. Dave Buick and Frank Duryea were gone, as was Josiah Dallas Dort, John and Horace Dodge, Henry Leland and William Durant. Roy Chapin was gone, too. Charlie Nash was able to make it to the party, but an ailing Henry Ford was absent. Olds lived another six years, and by the time he passed away in 1950 he had outlived almost everyone. The headlines at that time appropriately proclaimed him the “Last of the Auto Pioneers”.
In this ad from 1927, the Reo company is still making sure everyone knows that “REO” are the initials of Ransom Eli Olds.1928 REO 1 1/2-ton truck at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. Photo credit: Delaney Tracy1928 REO 1 1/2-ton truck at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. Photo credit: Delaney Tracy
Sources:
Advertisement. Oldsmobile. The Detroit Free Press, 18 June, 1905, p.9.
Advertisement. Oldsmobile. The McPherson Daily Republican, 8 May 1909, p. 1.
Advertisement. Reo. Honolulu Star Bulletin, 27 May 1929, p. 4.
Advertisement. Reo. The Illustrated Buffalo Express, 12 March 1905, p. 10.
“Cross Country in Automobile.” The San Francisco Call, 18 September 1903, p. 2.
Darling, Birt. “Yen for Tinkering Brought Fame and Millions to R. E. Olds.” The Lansing State Journal, 26 June 1955, p. 17.
“Evolution of the Automobile.” The Detroit Free Press, 10 October 1901, p. 4.
“Gus Edwards of Gaslight Era Agreed to Write Famous Melody.” The Lansing State Journal, 28 April 1955, p. 10-G.
“His Home is Chapin’s Hobby.” The Muncie Evening Press, 22 August 1932, p. 3.
“History of Reo Closely Linked with Growth of Lansing.” The Lansing State Journal, 28 April 1955, p. 14-G.
“Illness is Fatal to Roy D. Chapin.” The Detroit Free Press, 17 February 1936, p. 2.
“Long Life of Ransom Eli Olds, Last of Auto Pioneers, Had Many Highlights.” The Lansing State Journal, 27 August 1950, sec. 3 p. 4.
“Lucky Lansing Gets Big Automobile Manufacturing Company.” The Detroit Free Press 18 August 1904, p. 7.
Palmer, Paul G. “Researcher Gives Fresh Insight on R. E. Olds.” The Lansing State Journal, 9 December 1962, p. F-1.
“Pioneer Motor Maker Sees End of Steam Power.” Oakland Tribune, 17 May 1924, p. AA-5.
Vance, Bill. “Olds Left Behind Legacy of Innovation.” The Star Phoenix, 16 January 1998, p. C-7.
