If you are in the market for a Hudson project, check out this internet auction from Vandertook Auction. It closes March 30, 2022.
The Lincoln Journal Star published a story you can refer to for more info:
Hudsons on the Auction Block
Deciphering the Markings on a Vintage US Military Gas Can
We trekked over to Hastings, Nebraska, last weekend to check out the Military Relics & Weapon Show. I was hoping to find some Jeep parts, but there were none to be had. They did have this M38 on display, but that only served as a reminder that I had many unfinished projects waiting at home such as fixing the paint job on this vintage military gas can:
I am married to an old jarhead and liked the fact that this can was stamped “USMC.” Unfortunately, this particular “USMC” apparently stands for the manufacturer, U. S. Metal Container Company. According to the website jerrycan.com, the first line is the standard the can conforms to, the second is the initials of the manufacturer, and the last line (on my can) means 20 liters-5 gallons and the year manufactured. If it was a Marine Corps can, the USMC would be found on the side of the can. Mine says “US,” so what I have is an army can that was manufactured in 1968. I guess I will go ahead and paint it olive drab and then go fill it up before gas prices get any higher.
Using a Model T to Fight Grasshoppers
From the January 30, 1921, issue of the San Bernardino County Sun:
When Buying a New Willys-Overland Made the Papers
When the automobile industry was young, buying a new automobile was a newsworthy event and the newspapers of the early 1900s are full of such mentions. I was recently researching my great-grandfather and discovered he bought several new automobiles during this period of history.
From 1923:
And 1926:
Oops, also 1926:
My great-grandfather emigrated from Westphalia, Germany in 1881 when he was 13 years old and settled in Kearney County, Nebraska. Later, during World War II, there were many German POW camps in Nebraska, and he helped by reviewing prisoner correspondence at one of those camps, Camp Atlanta. He was a farmer and, like many in that vocation, embraced the new automobile trend with enthusiasm. His car of choice in 1918 was an Overland Light Six:
The seller, Lars Gundersen, was born in Norway and came to the United States in 1889. Originally a blacksmith, he entered the automobile business around the turn of the century and was the first mechanic and automobile dealer in Kearney County. By 1918, he was a Willys-Overland dealer and found a buyer in my ancestor. The newspaper doesn’t mention a body style, but that year the Light Six was available in a 5-Passenger Touring Sedan, a 3-Passenger Touring Coupe, a 5-Passenger Touring Car, and a 3-Passenger Roadster. This was just part of the full line offered by Willys-Overland in 1918:
The Overland was advertised as “The Thrift Car,” and a lot of them were made and sold. So many, in fact, that from 1912 through the war years, Willys-Overland was second in production only to Ford (a distant second, but second nonetheless).
1937 Graham Supercharger on the Auction Block
If you are looking for a new project, here is a rare find:
It is located in Minatare, Nebraska and is being auctioned off by BigIron. See more here: BigIron March Classic Car Auction
The First Dodge Dealer
From the December 23, 1934, issue of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat:
Mystery Grille
We spend lots of time (and dollars) at auctions, and we don’t always know exactly what we are buying. That was the case with this old grille. Do you recognize it?
You could still see the shape of the radiator badge, which allowed me to quickly narrow the search. It soon became apparent that this grille originally belonged to a 1935 Dodge DU.
DUSicnag, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Dodge was restyled for ’35 and called the “New Value” line:
Offered in eight body styles, the ’35 Dodge was powered by the 87-hp Red Ram engine with 3-1/4″ bore and 4-3/8″ stroke. It also featured improved hydraulic brakes, synchro-shift transmission, and a new synchromatic front suspension that incorporated a rigid front axle, soft, thin-leaf springs, double-acting hydraulic shock-absorbers and a rubber-cushioned synchronizing mechanism called the “ride levelator.” The “levelator” was described this way:
“The action of the Dodge “levelator” does away with the tendency of the car to sway or roll and makes possible the use of very flexible front springs. As the front wheel on one side passes over an obstruction, the soft spring on that side compresses. The swaying motion of the body that would result is promptly counteracted by the “levelator” which, connected to both sides of the car frame, causes disturbances occurring to one wheel to be “leveled out” not merely by the spring action on the affected side, but by the combined spring action, rubber-cushioned “levelator” action and shock absorber action – on both sides.”
The result, according to Dodge engineers, was an ideally soft ride, the Dodge “Airglide Ride”:
Now I’ve got a grille, and I’m pretty sure I have a hood ornament somewhere, but I do wish I had the rest of the car to go with it. I am rather partial to Dodges, after all!
1947 Packard Advertisement
Back when advertisements were effective and not just revolting:
Packard Hood Ornaments By Year – 1940s
I get lots of questions regarding the very complicated world of Packard hood ornaments, so a while back I attempted to put together a list (by year). I started with the 1950s, which you can find here. Below you will find my stab at the Packard heraldry of the 1940s. If you see any mistakes, feel free to email me at americancarhistorian@gmail.com.
1949
1948
1947
1946
1942
1941
1940
A Gutsy Broad and a 1908 Stearns
The Stearns Automobile was THE performance car during the first decade of the 1900s and was piloted by the likes of Barney Oldfield as it was used to rack up wins in speed, endurance and hill-climbing competitions.
However, there was another driver setting records in a Stearns; a woman by the name of Kathryn Otis. In 1908, Otis lived in Cleveland and was the wife of a millionaire named Kenneth Otis. In July of 1908, a week after winning a hill-climbing contest in her Stearns Four, she set out to break the record for driving from Cleveland to Buffalo. She was well-equipped with the Stearns, powered by a massive 536-ci 60-hp T-head engine, and a terrific memory; Otis was said to have the ability to remember all the twists and turns of a route after being taken over it one time. She opted to make the trek on a Monday because farmers filled the roads with market wagons on most other days of the week. She also carried two big revolvers that she reportedly slammed down before the clerk at the Lafayette Hotel while remarking, “I guess they won’t hold me up when I carry these.”
The Cleveland to Buffalo trip was 204 miles, and Stearns reached speeds of 60 mph over what must have been wretched dirt roads. In addition to the timing of the trip and the weapons to deal with highwaymen, Otis did one more smart thing to prepare for her trip. She announced her route ahead of time and then took a different route with worse roads, but no constables, because all of the lawmen were posted along the route she had made public.
When the dust settled, Otis rolled into Boston with a new record of six hours and 10 minutes, beating the previous record by 26 minutes. When one reporter asked if she had been scared, she replied, “Scared! Why, it was perfectly glorious!”
The following September she attempted to break the Cleveland-Toledo record but fell short by five minutes. In February of 1909, during severe weather, she set what was described as a women’s endurance record by making the trip from New York to Boston and back during severe and snowy weather. As a matter of fact, her trusty Stearns was the only vehicle that had passed over the roads since the snowfall. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported: “Every kind of rough going was encountered. At many points on the route Mrs. Otis had to plow through mud with treacherous holes, slush and ice, snow that seemed impenetrable and ruts that menaced the plucky driver at many points.”
Outside of Boston, she was arrested for violating an ordinance prohibiting the use of skidding chains on the Metropolitan Parkway at Watertown. She was finally allowed to make bail and barely missed having to spend the night in jail. She paid her fine at 10 o’clock the next morning and headed back to New York where she was greeted with great fanfare.
I don’t know when she tired of competing as I couldn’t find any mention of her beyond 1921. That was the year she was charged with smuggling liquor. At the time she was living in Montreal but had a summer home at Rouse’s Point in New York. It was alleged that customs officials found “a large quantity of liquor in the seat which Mrs. Otis occupied in the Pullman Car.” Bail was set at $500 on this occasion. I am not sure whether the aforementioned Pullman Car is referring to the train or the automobile by the same name. Either way, her mistake was not driving herself. She should have just backed the old Stearns out of the garage, loaded it up with booze and outran the coppers.
Aileen’s Pics, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources:
“A Woman Breaks Motor Record.” The Hutchinson Gazette, 4 Aug 1908, p. 2.
“Cleveland Woman Makes Fast Time Between That City and Toledo, Ohio.” Los Angeles Express, 26 Sept 1908, p. 10.
“Found Liquor in Car.” The Montreal Gazette, 12 March 1921, p. 62.
“Mrs. Kenneth R. Otis on Her Two-Day Boston Run.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 7 Feb 1909, p. 11.
“Mrs. Otis – She Smashes Auto Records At 60 Miles an Hour.” The Sacramento Star, 21 July 1908, p. 6.
“Woman Driver Coming.” Los Angeles Sunday Times, 20 Sept 1908, p. 2.
“Woman Driver Fools Country Constables.” The Fort Worth Telegram, 11 Oct 1908, p. 21.
“Woman Sets New Record.” The Buffalo Express, 14 July 1908, p. 7.