A road trip (especially one in a ’48 Olds) is sounding awfully good about now, isn’t it?
1948 Oldsmobile Advertisement
Victory in Europe Day (75th Anniversary!)
This is a WWII GMC model DUCW, a 2.5-ton 6×6 amphibious vehicle that used six wheels on land and a propeller when in the water. Essentially sea-going trucks, they were crucial for ferrying supplies from ship to shore. The vehicles were naturally nicknamed Ducks, and Canadian war correspondent Dick Sanborn reported this incident in 1943:
During the invasion of Italy, when hundreds of ducks plied their way back and forth carrying anti-tank guns, mortars and ammunition across the Messina straits, a British destroyer raced cockily past one group. From the bridge twinkled a signal lamp in Morse. Deeply offended, the officer in charge of the ducks translated the message: “Quack, quack.”
Sources:
Sanborn, Dick. “Amphibian Wins Spurs in New Canadian Push.” The Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1943, p. 1.
The Greyhound Murphy Cap
The iconic greyhound pictured above is adorning a 1929 Lincoln. Of all the hood ornaments and radiator caps ever produced, the greyhound might be the one most reproduced. It is definitely “buyer beware” when it comes to the greyhound as even sellers frequently don’t know what they have. I picked up this greyhound radiator cap years ago:
The underside of the cap is marked “THE MURPHY CAP MFG BY RUPERT DIECASTING CORP KC MO.”
Rupert Diecasting was located in Kansas City until moving to Kentucky in the 1960s. I have been told that this cap was only produced in 1933, which makes it pretty rare. I haven’t been able to verify that, but it makes sense as I recently found a copyright infringement lawsuit that was filed against Rupert by Franklin Diecasting in 1933 regarding Franklin’s copyrighted “Greyhound Combination Ornament and Radiator Cap”. If you have any additional information on the Murphy Cap, I would love to hear from you. Contact me at americancarhistorian@gmail.com.
“Mobile Flame Throwers”
From 1951:
Ball Players Are Motor Enthusiasts
Early promotional stunts in the automobile industry were often quite inventive, involving things like a “master of endurance” driving for days on end without sleep, driving cars back and forth on a huge teeter-totter and conquering the Grand Canyon. A more conventional method involves the use of athletes as spokesmen, and Velie used this option in 1914 when they hired Major League ball players to drive their cars across the country.
Velie’s story is an interesting one that I have written about before. Its founder, Willard Lamb Velie, was a grandson of John Deere and the Velie automobile was even sold through John Deere dealerships. In November of 1914, Velie hired a few “prominent ball tossers” to engage in some transcontinental touring in order to draw attention to their brand. All stopped off at the Velie plant in Moline before taking various routes to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. They included Ivy Olson and Fred Carisch of the Cleveland American League Team and Walter Leverenz of the St. Louis Browns.
The ball players were driving 1915 models, and those were available in a Big Four, a Big Six and the Biltwel with a higher (40) horsepower 6-cylinder Continental engine.
Carisch is the best-known of these players. In 1923, he was coaching for Detroit alongside the legendary Ty Cobb and ended up playing in a game against Cleveland. Cobb had to resort to using the 41-year old Carisch as catcher after the third and last Detroit catcher was ejected from the game. Unfortunately, Detroit still lost to Cleveland, 10-7.
A Beast of a Bumper-Grille
When Buick restyled the beautiful ’49 Buick for 1950, it made a change that continues to inspire strong emotion, both positive and negative. Buick replaced this beautiful grille . . .
. . . with this toothy beast:
The sales brochure referred to the new design as a “bumper-grille”, and it consisted of heavy-duty vertical bars that were attached to the bumper so that they both formed the grille and served as bumper guards. The bars, according to Buick advertisements, were heavy enough to absorb “normal impact” and individually replaceable to save money in the “unlikely event of damage” (now note the damage to the grille shown above).
Unfortunately, the bars each had a different part number and were not at all interchangeable, and that made stocking and replacing them relatively expensive. This diagram showing the part numbers and prices was found in the 1958 edition of Motor’s Flat Rate & Parts Manual:
Buick had advertised the bumper grille as “something that makes so much sense that it’s safe to say that it will start a new trend in styling,” but no such trend materialized and even Buick abandoned the idea for 1951.
More on the Dodge Brothers . . . .
Recent events related to the coronavirus pandemic have put me in mind of the Dodge Brothers, two of the most talented, and historically under-appreciated, car manufacturers of America’s early automobile industry.
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the Dodge Brothers, Horace and John, from complications related to another pandemic, the Spanish Flu that caused at least 50 million deaths worldwide. In January of 1920, the brothers attended an auto show in New York. While there, they both contracted influenza, and it developed into pneumonia. John died in his hotel room at only 55 years of age. Horace, only 52, struggled with health complications until dying in December with cirrhosis of the liver listed as the official cause.
After the death of his brother, Horace wrote a letter to dealers in which he said, “The passing of my dear brother, Mr. John F. Dodge, is to me personally a great loss, so great that I hesitate to look forward to the years without his companionship, our lives having been, as you all know, practically inseparable since our childhood.” The brothers were very close and supportive of each other and, unlike many family members that go into business together, they stayed that way until the end.
Short articles sprinkled throughout the early newspapers give additional insight into what type of people the Dodge Brothers were. One story from 1916 relates how John Dodge, now a very wealthy and successful automobile manufacturer, was visiting the Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co. plant when he recognized a man, Otto Thrun, that he had worked with years previously. Dodge greeted the man and shook his hand, whereupon the man addressed him as “Mr. Dodge”. Dodge replied, “You can’t call me Mr. Dodge any more than you did when we worked side by side.”
The brothers were civic-minded and, unlike many of their peers, were active in the community. John served as water commissioner and as a member of Detroit’s Board of Street Railway Commissioners. Horace Dodge served as under-sheriff. At Christmas time, 1917, he was touring the jail with the mayor and sheriff. A man named Dubbs, who was a former patrolman, was being held on manslaughter charges. When Dodge found out that Dubbs was a former employee at the Dodge Brothers plant, he immediately bonded him out so that he could go home for Christmas. A story from the next year, 1918, describes how Dodge personally shook every prisoner’s hand (there were about 200 of them) and wished them each a Merry Christmas. The handshake was particularly welcome as Dodge had a dollar bill concealed in his palm which was pressed into the hand of each man as Dodge left for the next cell.
Both John and Horace were very philanthropic, making large donations to a variety of causes such as the Salvation Army, The Detroit Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the engineering college at the University of Michigan and the Protestant Orphan Asylum. They also donated to many churches. According to Charles K. Hyde in his book titled The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars and the Legacy, the brothers also donated to the churches that their employees attended such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Hamtramck Polish Catholic Church.
Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Dodges very astutely maintained complete ownership of their business so that they never had a board or stockholders to answer to, and they also never borrowed money from banks. They weren’t just smart businessmen however, they were also just plain smart, and the genius of the Dodge Brothers is effectively illustrated by their contribution to the war effort during World War I.
Weapons using spring recoils were used during the first part of the war but were constantly out of commission due to broken springs, so the US Government adopted French heavy artillery including the 155 mm howitzer (the Schneider) and the 155 mm gun (the French Filloux). These weapons utilized a fine, intricate hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism that was more reliable but very difficult to produce.
It was reported at the time that the Germans had captured many of the French guns but had been unable to replicate the recoil mechanism. The French factories had only been able to produce five per day. It was also reported that two large American manufacturers had tried and failed to produce the intricate parts. It was suggested that, if anyone could succeed, it would be the Dodge Brothers.
The War Department contacted the brothers in the fall of 1917, and John and Horace accepted the challenge. According to author Charles K. Hyde, John met with Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and a group of French manufacturers. When they offered to send French machinists to Detroit to teach the Dodge brothers how to manufacture the mechanisms, John responded that he and his brother needed only the blueprints (which consisted of 42 and 71 pages, respectively, for the howitzer and gun mechanisms). Within 24 hours of reaching an agreement, the Dodges began working on the new plant. It was designed to house 11 acres under its roof and the first section was ready for use by January. The plant was valued at $10,000,000 and employed 8,000 people.
The Dodge Brothers also designed and built much of the machinery including 62 new machines for drilling and reaming the borings. The industry practice had been to revolve the gun barrel while the cutting tool was held stationary. The Dodges’ design revolved the tools and used six drills at one time. Before long the Dodges were completing 35 recoil mechanisms per day, seven times what the French had been able to produce. Just think how quickly the brothers would be cranking out ventilators, if only they were here today!
Read more: The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford
Sources:
Advertisement. Kopac Brothers. Schuyler Sun, 6 March 1919, p. 8.
Advertisement. Hooper Motor Co. Selma Times, 25 July 1916, p. 6.
“County Prisoners’ Christmas Merry.” Detroit Free Press, 26 December 1918, p. 3.
“Dodge Bros. Aid Niles.” St. Joseph Herald Press, 10 February 1919, p. 5.
“Dodge Brothers Have Big Part in Winning the War.” Oregon Sunday Journal, 12 January 1919, p. 49.
“Dodge Brothers Will Continue Same Policies”. Austin American Statesman, 8 February 1920, p. 8.
“Dubbs Out of Jail for Christmas.” Detroit Free Press, 25 December 1917, p. 5.
Hyde, Charles K. The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars, and the Legacy. Detroit. Wayne State University Press, 2005. Print.
John F. Dodge Dies; Horace Improving.” Arkansas City Daily News, 28 January 1920, p. 6.
Kerby, Frederick M. “America Solves Recoil Problem.” Knoxville Sentinel, 25 October 1918, p. 5.
“Mackay Bill Voted Down.” Detroit Free Press, 10 May 1905, p. 11.
“Men Who Aided Dodge to Rise Grieve at Bier.” Detroit Free Press, 14 December 1920, p. 1.
“Michigan News Brevities.” Lansing State Journal, 19 October 1915, p. 7.
“Performing the Seemingly Impossible to Win War.” Miami Herald, 14 January 1919, p. 10.
“Remembers Old Friend.” Fort Huron Times-Herald, 29 May 1916, p. 5.
“U.S. Industry Solves Problem of Making Recoils for Big Guns.” Bismark Daily Tribune, 7 September 1918, p. 8.
“Vision, Genius of Brothers Made Dodge Name Famous.” Detroit Free Press, 12 December 1920, p. 2.
“Horseless Carriage” Isn’t Such a Mouthful
In the early days of the automobile industry there was some disagreement concerning what the new contraptions should be called. The Chicago Times-Herald even held a contest to name them and the winner was Moto Cycle! That is a lot easier to say than this early attempt from the Dutch-speaking people of Flanders as reported in a 1911 newspaper:
This seems like a bad idea . . .
I found this “helpful hint” in a 1931 newspaper:
There must have been a number of people taking this questionable advice, because Ford added this warning to the 1946 Service Manual:
Crazy!
Federal Trucks
One of the truck companies that appeared on the long list of truck manufacturers in 1917 is the Federal Motor Truck Company, a Detroit-based independent truck maker that was founded in 1910. It is not very common to see survivors, but the picture above shows a 1920 Federal truck located near me at the Nebraska Prairie Museum in Holdrege.
Shortly after the company’s inception, a Federal truck won a 1911 Tour called the Chicago Reliability Run. Twenty-eight trucks competed in the 937-mile race from Chicago to Detroit and back. The race took nine days to complete and it rained for four of those days which made many of the roads nearly impossible to travel. One 26-mile stretch in Michigan was virtually impassable and ended the race for many of the trucks. The Federal powered through, taking 7.5 hours to do so. Other companies entered multiple trucks, but Federal entered a single 1-ton truck and it won carrying a load of 2,650 pounds, an overload of 650 pounds above its rated capacity. It also made the entire trip under its own power, the only truck in its class to do so.
Another story from 1917 described Federal’s efficient parts department. The company kept bins full of parts that were monitored so that they never ran out, and dealers were also required to fully stock replacement parts at all times. A complete parts book was given to each purchaser and a record was kept of every truck leaving the factory so that orders could be filled quickly while reducing the possibility of error. This system enabled the company to fill an incredible ninety percent of orders on the same day they were received.
The competitive environment of the 1950s were the end of many car and truck companies, and so it was with Federal. The company was purchased by Northwestern Auto Parts Co. (NAPCO) in 1954. At that time it was reported that there were 50,000 Federal trucks in use worldwide and 300 franchised dealers. Napco moved Federal operations to Minneapolis, but the division lost money and no trucks were manufactured after 1959.
Sources:
Advertisement. Cartinhour-Bowman Co. The Indianapolis News, 12 April 1919, p. 11.
Advertisment. Standard Motor Car Company. Oakland Tribune, 10 September 1911, p. 36.
“Federal Company Assures Service.” The Honolulu Advertiser, 3 June 1917, p. 6.
“Federal Truck Fleet Grows.” Los Angeles Sunday Times, 18 March 1917, p. VI-7.
“Made in Minneapolis.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, 8 January 1956, p. 6C.
Paul, Herb. “City Men Buy Out Detroit Truck Maker.” The Minneapolis Star, 14 September 1954, p. 23.
