Spotted this car at a local museum, but what’s wrong with it?
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
The Coffin-Nosed Cord
The front end of thiis 1937 Model 812 Cord earned it the nickname “coffin-nosed” Cord. It was powered by a V8 engine and featured retractable headlamps that folded back into the fenders. And if you don’t love the look of this one, you better check your pulse!
1937 Cord 812 Sales Brochure
Charles Brady King
Henry Ford took his experimental automobile for a spin through Detroit in June of 1896, but he wasn’t the first to do so. That honor belongs to Charles Brady King. King and Ford were friends and collaborators, and Ford followed on a bicycle as King drove the very first car ever seen on the streets of Motor City. On March 6, 1896, King left his machine shop at 112 St. Antoine and sputtered up the street in a wagon with a high seat, rudder-like steering lever and a long brake lever on the side. It was powered by a 4-cylinder gasoline engine, the first of the “block” type motors.
In a 1946 interview, King humorously recalled that the noise from his new vehicle didn’t cause his neighbors to even raise their eyebrows because they were used to the noise generated by one of his other inventions, the pneumatic hammer. King was a successful inventor and the owner of many patents for things like transmissions and steam shovels. Many of his patents were purchased and used by other automobile manufacturers. The neighbors may not have noticed, but the police did. He was once arrested on Belle Isle and warned to keep his “infernal contraption” away from there because it scared the horses.
King helped Henry Ford obtain the parts Ford needed for his first car before King left to serve in the Spanish-American war as chief machinist on the USS Yosemite. Ford assembled his creation in the coal shed in back of No. 58 Bagley Avenue. According to King, “It was like the fellow who built the ship in his basement! When he got it done, it was too big to take out the door.” In order to get it out, Ford and friends had to tear out, and then later repair, part of the shed.
King and a partner founded the Northern Manufacturing Co. in 1902 and began building cars including the “Silent Northern”.
While at Northern, King designed the first automobile to have three-point motor suspension and the first with one universal joint between transmission and rear axle. In 1908, Northern merged with another company which was then taken over by E.M.F., but King had already left with the goal of building cars that carried his own name. With that objective in mind, he spent two years in Europe studying the best foreign cars.
King Motor Company was incorporated in 1911. Marketing at the time claimed the automobile was unique because it only had about 450 parts while the average automobile at the time had 1500-1600 parts.
It was initially powered by a long stroke 4-cylinder motor with a 3 13/16” bore and 5 1/8” stroke. The company had financial problems almost from the beginning, possibly due to expanding too quickly. One Indianapolis Star article from 1912 states that the company had already moved twice into larger quarters during its short existence. The company was purchased by a New York man, King stayed on as an engineer, and production continued. A King “8” was introduced, and its tagline was “The car of no regrets”.
The company was sold in 1923, but King had left in 1916 to serve with the US Army Signal Corps as an aeronautical engineer during World War I. During that time he designed the King-Bugatti 16-cylinder airplane engine that can be seen at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website. King had served in two wars, and such service was a family tradition for King. His father, John Haskell King, was a general in the United States Army and served for the Union during the Civil war.
King died in 1957 at age 89. His obituary states that he was a painter and etcher with works exhibited in Washington’s National Gallery, a practicing architect, a yacht designer and an accomplished musician on the flute and a half dozen other instruments. He was also a pioneer of the American automobile industry, and for that he should be remembered.
Sources:
“Builder of Detroit’s First Auto Arrives in City for the Jubilee.” Detroit Free Press, 25 May 1946, p. 9.
“Builder of Detroit’s First Auto Arrives in City for the Jubilee.” Detroit Free Press, 25 May 1946, p. 9.
“Charles Brady King Dies, Designer of Early Auto.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 24 June 1957, p.21.
“Charles Brady King Drove First Car on Detroit Streets.” The Port Huron Times Herald, 15 November 1939, p. 16.
“Detroit Will Have New Auto Factory.” Hartford Courant, 20 May 1911, p. 19.
Kimes, Beverly Rae and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, 1985.
“King Motor Car Company Goes Into Receivership.” The Indianapolis Star, 4 Sept. 1912, p. 7.
“King Motor Car Company Invades Auto Field.” Buffalo Courier, 7 March 1911, p. 21.
“Offer Made in King Motor Case.” Detroit Free Press, 18 Sept. 1912, p. 10.
Stark, George. “Detroit Saw First Auto Just 50 Years Ago.” Muncie Evening Press,4 June 1946, p. 8.
WWI King Ambulances Built for the Marine Corps
This great article appeared in the December 9, 1917, edition of the Los Angeles Times:
The King Motor Company was founded by, and named after, Charles Brady King. He was a pioneer of the automotive industry and was the first to drive an automobile on the streets of Detroit (with Henry Ford following on a bicycle)! More on King next time . . . . . .
Gray Motor Corporation
This rare Gray Touring car is on display at the Classic Car Collection in Kearney, Nebraska:
The Gray Motor Corporation began manufacturing automobiles in 1922 and set a new world’s record for long distance gasoline economy that same year. The record was set by a stock Gray carrying a capacity load. At 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning in September, Mayor Rolph of San Francisco officially started the Gray on its run to New York. The Gray headed south toward Los Angeles on the first leg of its journey, complete with a police escort. The driver was Leo DeClark, and he was accompanied by Captain A. B. Waldon, the official observer for the American Automobile Association.
It could not have been an easy trip considering the state of our nation’s roads, or lack thereof, at the time. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that, “The tour from San Francisco to New York puts a severe test upon any car. Mountains must be climbed and deserts with heavy sandy roads negotiated. Rivers are to be forded, and storms are to be expected. In some parts of the route, the Gray will encounter thick, clayey, gumbo roads that seem actually to grasp the wheels in an endeavor to hold them back.”
In spite of the unfavorable conditions, the Gray made the trip in 26 days and 16 hours. It traveled a total of 4,819 miles and averaged 33.8 mpg. This success was featured in Gray Motor Corporation advertising:
Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep the company in business. They closed their doors in 1926, and that was the end of the world record-setting Gray automobile.
Buick Portholes (I Mean VentiPorts)
Here is an interesting fact about Buick portholes . . . the official term for them is “VentiPorts”. They first appeared on the 1949 Buick and were actually functional at that time. They were used, according to Buick, “for identification and cooling purposes”. The origination of the VentiPort is described this way by the GM Heritage Center:
“The idea for VentiPorts grew out of a modification Buick styling chief Ned Nickles had added to his own 1948 Roadmaster. Four amber lights were installed on each side of the car’s hood which were wired to the distributor. The lights flashed on and off as each piston fired which was supposed to simulate the flames from the exhaust stack of a fighter airplane. Combined with the bombsight mascot, VentiPorts put the driver at the controls of an imaginary fighter airplane. Buick chief Harlow Curtice was so impressed with this styling feature that he ordered that non-lighting VentiPorts be installed on all 1949 Buicks, with the number of VentiPorts (three or four) corresponding to the relative displacement of the straight-eight engine installed.”
After 1949, the VentiPorts were no longer used for cooling, some say because Buick owners were complaining about kids shoving all sorts of unwanted items into the holes. In any case, they became purely decorative like the ones on this 1952 Buick:
This is what the VentiPorts look like off of the car:
The number of VentiPorts helped to distinguish Buick model series with the more powerful Buicks, with more chrome, having more VentiPorts . For instance, only the Roadmaster had four VentiPorts through 1954. Then, in 1955, four were placed on the Roadmaster, the Century and the Super while the Special had only three.
Along with the cars, the VentiPorts themselves were restyled year after year. This is a 1956 VentiPort:
VentiPorts disappeared in 1958 and 1959, but they came back with a vengeance throughout the 1960s with a new rectangular shape. The 1964 Wildcat mixed things up by featuring vertically stacked VentiPorts. This is a VentiPort from a 1969 Buick Sport Wagon:
The VentiPorts continue to be brought back from time to time. Even the compact Apollo had them during the 1970s! Maybe Buick should make better use of them today in order to stand out from a field of cars that all look the same.
100 Million Cars
This article from the November 16, 1948, edition of the Bergen Evening Record [Hackensack] illustrates the importance of the automotive industry to the post-war economy in America.
The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford, Part 3
On November 3, 1916, the headlines of one paper read:
The Dodge brothers, John and Horace, owned 10 percent of the Ford Motor Company stock, and that stock had proved lucrative. From January of 1914 to October of 1915, special dividends of $34 million had been distributed to shareholders in addition to regular monthly dividends of 5 percent. With earnings of around $60 million for the year ending July 31, 1916, it looked like even bigger dividends were on the horizon. It looked that way, that is, until Henry Ford, the Detroit man accused of wild speculation, said otherwise.
Ford announced that there would be no special dividends issued because profits were going to be used, instead, for business expansion. Ford had plans to invest in iron ore mines and to build ships to transport the ore to steel manufacturing plants that would also be built and owned by Ford. The Dodge brothers obtained a temporary injunction blocking Ford’s plans. They accused Ford of engaging in reckless behavior during unstable post-war conditions and of depriving shareholders of a reasonable return on their investments.
For his part, Henry Ford denied the allegations of recklessness and said he was only continuing his successful business model of selling a tremendous number of cars at a small margin of profit. The LA Times quoted him as saying, “They own 10 percent of the stock and I own about 58 percent. I can’t injure them $10 worth without at the same time injuring myself $58 worth.”
The court proceedings were brimming with showmanship and hyperbole. The attorney for the Dodges asserted that much of Ford’s success was due to the mechanical and engineering abilities of the Dodge Brothers and questioned whether Henry Ford was “inventive genius or inventive crank.” He also stated that Ford’s goal was to crowd out all competition, and if he would only admit that purpose he would go to jail. Ford accused the Dodge Brothers of just being jealous competitors. He said the brothers tried to force him to buy them out and threatened to harass him until he did. During the court proceedings, Ford shook his finger at the Dodges’ attorney and said “If you sat there until you are petrified I wouldn’t buy the Dodge stock nor would I buy that of any other stockholder.”
The court eventually sided with the Dodges, and that judgment was mostly affirmed by the Michigan Supreme Court. Ford was ordered to issue dividends in the amount of $19,275,385 with the Dodges getting 10 percent of that. Also, despite the finger shaking, Ford did buy back the stock owned by the Dodges in July of 1919 for $25 million. The long-standing Dodge-Ford relationship had finally been severed.
Sadly, tragedy was about to strike the Dodge brothers. In January of 1920, Horace and John attended an auto show in New York. While there, they both contracted the influenza which had been a world-wide epidemic, and it developed into pneumonia. John never left New York, dying in his room at the Ritz-Carlton. He was only fifty-five years old. Horace continued to struggle with health complications until he died in December of that year with cirrhosis of the liver listed as the official cause. He was only fifty-two years old at his death.
According to author Charles K. Hyde in The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars and the Legacy, Henry Ford and the Dodge brothers maintained a remarkably cordial relationship after the lawsuit. It was well known that Ford was capable of carrying a grudge. For instance, looking back at all he had achieved, Ford once said that he considered his “outstanding achievement” to be defeating George Selden (in the the automobile patent court fight). He did not appear to retain any animosity toward the Dodges, however, and was reportedly very upset when he received the news of John’s death. He attended John’s funeral and both he and his son, Edsel, served as honorary pallbearers at Horace’s funeral.
Unlike many of the showmen in the early days of the automobile industry, the Dodge brothers were not interested in self-promotion. Perhaps that’s why John and Horace Dodge are not names as well-known as Henry Ford and others, and why there haven’t been numerous books written about them. Their goal was simply to build a quality product “that speaks for itself,” their company motto. The Dodge brothers made enormous contributions to the automobile industry and should be remembered accordingly. This ad was published shortly after the death of Horace Dodge, and it is a fitting tribute, short and sweet, and one that surely would have had their approval:
Christmas 2018
Wishing you much peace, love and joy this Christmas!
The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford, Part 2
The Dodge Brothers had been working almost exclusively for Henry Ford, but Ford’s goal was to begin making the various parts of his automobile himself. With the future of the relationship uncertain, the Dodge Brothers informed Ford in 1913 that they would only produce his parts for another year. Then they went to work planning the design, manufacture and marketing of their own automobile.
The Dodge Brothers had an excellent reputation. In his book The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars and the Legacy, author Charles K Hyde quotes the Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record as saying, “The Dodge brothers are the two best mechanics in Michigan . . . when the Dodge Bros. new car comes out, there is no question it will be the best thing on the market for the money.” The Buffalo Times said, “There seems to be a strong undercurrent of feeling that any motor car manufactured by Dodge Brothers should promise something very unusual. Dodge Brothers have one of the best equipped automobile factories in the world, having been engaged on a large scale in the manufacture of motor car parts since the earliest days of the industry.”
This reputation generated great excitement about their new endeavor among both industry insiders and members of the general public. Many had speculated that the Dodge Brothers would be competing directly with Henry Ford and his Model T in the low-priced field, but others had pointed out that hurting Ford would also be hurting themselves as stockholders in Ford’s company. Clarification was provided in November of 1914 when the Dodge Brothers General Sales Manager stated, “In place of building the best car possible at a low price, Dodge Brothers determined to build the best car they knew how to build, and then place a moderate price on it.”
Dealers across the country were clamoring to be among those selling the new Dodge. At the auto show at the 1914 Michigan State Fair, the Dodge Brothers were the only manufacturer that did not exhibit a car, yet their reception room was the busiest spot in the building. During this show alone, 254 dealers filed applications for the sales rights to the new Dodge. There were many more, according to this ad appearing in October of 1914:
When the first Dodge cars reached the showrooms, huge crowds turned up to see the much-awaited and much-speculated-on new car. In Detroit, over 6,000 people made the first-day trek to the showroom. On a rainy day in New York, over 5,000 came to the Colt-Stratton dealership where they offered prizes for the first three sales, and these three prizes were award by 10 o’clock in the morning. Similar crowds appeared across the country in cities like Omaha and Chicago, and people were not disappointed by what they saw:
Built to compete against automobiles like the Buick, Overland and Studebaker, the Dodge was well-made and classy. It was built using Vanadium steel and had a wheel base of 110 inches. It featured a full floating rear axle, self-lubricating springs, and electric lighting and starting devices. Inside, it had a speedometer, oil and pressure gauges, hand pump for the pressure feed gasoline system and carburetor air adjustment. Under the hood was a 4-cylinder 35 hp engine. By the time this ad appeared in February of 1916, the Dodge Brothers had already sold $35,000,000 worth of their cars and were rank fourth in production in the United States:
The Dodge Brothers owned their company and did not issue stock. They were likely relying on the large dividends from the Ford stock to help finance their new automobile, so when Henry Ford announced that there would be no more large dividends and that all funds would be used for expansion, a fight was probably inevitable.
To be continued . . . .