The fascinating history of American cars . . .one story at a time.
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 . . . . . .
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.
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.
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.
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:
Wishing you much peace, love and joy this Christmas!
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 . . . .
This year marked the 100th anniversary of both the end of World War I and the influenza pandemic that was fueled, in part, by the large troop movements that accompanied that war. From 1918-19, the deadly flu virus infected approximately a third of the world’s population and was more deadly than the war itself, killing at least 50 million people. The casualties of the pandemic included two giants of the automobile industry, John and Horace Dodge. They are better known as the Dodge Brothers, and their deaths were a terrible loss.
I am frequently surprised at what is remembered, and what is not remembered, by history. For instance, when the charge up San Juan Hill is mentioned, most people immediately think of Teddy Roosevelt. He is certainly worth remembering, but fewer people know that a group of Buffalo Soldiers also fought valiantly there, led by “Black Jack” Pershing. The press’s fervent desire to mold history, not just report on it, is not a new phenomenon. In the case of the Dodge Brothers, a quick search on Amazon reveals only two or three books written about them compared to countless tomes written about Henry Ford. The irony is that Ford’s success is due, in no small part, to the efforts of the Dodge Brothers.
In Charles K. Hyde’s book titled The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars and the Legacy, the author describes the relationship between Ford and the Dodge Brothers in great detail. According to Hyde, Ford launched his third company in late 1902 and asked the Dodge Brothers to become his major parts supplier. The Dodges spent many thousands of dollars in equipment and materials to begin producing “running gear” for Ford, which consisted of the engine, transmission and axles, all mounted on a frame. The Dodge Brothers kept the blueprints for these early Fords, and buyers placed orders by visiting the Dodge plant. In a 1916 lawsuit filed by the Dodges, Henry Ford admitted that the Dodges made the entire Ford except the body, wheels and tires and that they also risked much financially while Ford himself invested no money or property and contributed only his experience and the design. Hyde also notes that no Ford investors or officials had any mechanical or manufacturing abilities other than Ford himself and the Dodge Brothers.
Ford had difficulty paying the Dodges for their work at first. In June of 1903, the Dodge Brothers agreed to write off $7,000 in overdue payments and to extend an additional $3,000 in credit to Ford in exchange for 10% of the Ford stock. The Dodge Brothers had given up other promising contracts to work exclusively for Ford, and their gamble did pay off handsomely. The Ford automobile was hugely successful and the money they earned providing parts, combined with the huge dividends paid on their Ford stock, made the Dodge Brothers very wealthy men. John Dodge was also a VP and director at Ford, and, by 1913, both Henry Ford and the Dodge Brothers were becoming uncomfortable with their dependence on each other.
To be continued . . . .
The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford, Part 2
The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford, Part 3
Octagonal shapes were used by Locomobile to stand out from the competition and it is a feature that makes them distinguishable. One place this octagonal shape was seen was in the headlamps:
According to a 1918 story in the New York Herald, Locomobile developed this model for the use of General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, and his staff, in Europe where Pershing was serving as the commander of the American forces during World War I.
According to the story, after observing British commanders using Rolls Royces and French commanders using Renaults, General Pershing requested a vehicle from Locomobile which would be representative of America and be able to meet the physical challenges of being driven 200-300 miles per day over war-torn roads at high speeds. Locomobile first shipped two of these automobiles and they were used simultaneously, one following the other, so that the General could change cars without losing any time in the event of a blown tire.
The Locomobiles successfully met the challenges, and then more units were supplied for the use of the General Staff. The automobile company wasted no time including this information in their advertising:
You can’t blame Locomobile for being proud of its association with General Pershing, a great general as well as a good and decent man. He still holds the distinction of being the only active-duty six-star general in American history. For more information on this man, I highly recommend a documentary created by University of Nebraska professor Barney McCoy called “Black Jack Pershing: Love and War,” which is available on Amazon Prime. If it doesn’t make you shed a tear, you better check your pulse.
