Just in time for Memorial Day, this amazing 1922 Dodge Brothers touring car appeared on the streets of downtown Kearney, Nebraska, all decked out in red, white, and blue.
In 1922, Dodge Brothers had two series; the First series were “low hoods,” and the Second series “high hoods” that also featured other changes like outside door handles, lower rooflines, and buttonless upholstery. Both series had the famous Dodge Brothers all-steel body and a 3-speed transmission, and both were powered by an L-head four-cylinder that displaced 212.3 cubic inches and generated around 35hp.
Unfortunately for the car-loving public and the Dodge Brothers company, both of the brothers, Horace and John, had died in 1920. With the company faltering in the wake of their deaths, their widows became among the richest women in the world when they sold the company to New York banking syndicate Dillon, Read & Company in 1925 for $146 million. At the time, this sale was the largest cash transaction in Wall Street history, and the check made out to Dodge Brothers was the largest ever drawn in a commercial transaction. For that reason, it made all the papers:
The company continued to struggle, and the brilliant Walter P. Chrysler, recognizing a win-win proposition when he saw one, purchased the company in 1928 for $170 million, thereby obtaining a ready-made network for distribution of his relatively new and immensely popular Chrysler automobile. The Dodge Brothers name continued to be used into the 1930s as seen in this advertisement from December of 1930.
Original Dodge Brothers parts are hard to come by, but we still purchase them whenever we find them.
Supply is down but so is demand for much of the early stuff as each generation tends to want what its members drove as young people. We appreciate the owner of this gorgeous Dodge Brothers car for preserving it and for keeping history alive in a most laudable fashion.
This 1930 photo shows famed heavyweight wrestler John Pesek, known as the Nebraska Tiger Man, purchasing a new car in Grand Island, Nebraska. Even though the publication was titled “Automobile Topics,” the editor committed the grievous error of failing to note the type of car being purchased. Luckily, those distinctive triangle shapes to the Tiger Man’s right make this car easily identifiable.
The triangles are actually pennon louvers, named as such because they are pennant shaped, and they graced the early 1930 models of the Chrysler Series 70 and 77.
In addition to the pennon louvers, Chrysler proudly introduced a whole slew of innovations with descriptive terms to the motoring public in 1930. One interview with Chrysler distributor Carl H. Wallerich began with Wallerich quoting the philosopher Diogenes (who was quoting Myson): “Things are not made for the sake of words, but words for things.”
Wallerich explained that when a new thing comes into existence, it demands a new label. He then proceeded to give many examples of words associated with the First World War, words like dud, barrage, tank, flying pig, camouflage, dug out, whizz bang, and zero hour, that had been previously unknown, or at least unfamiliar, but quickly became part of the popular lexicon. Similarly, Chrysler’s mechanical innovations required new terms such as “multirange gear shift,” explained this way:
“It renders control of the car far more simple, more effective and safer than ever before. Starting Range has a top speed of more than 40 miles an hour. Acceleration Range has a pick-up at all speeds up to 60. A floating Speed Range is used for driving. In addition there is a Heavy Duty Range for deep mud, and sand or steep hill-climbing. Shifting back and forth between Acceleration and Speed ranges is accomplished without clashing or grinding of gears. Reverse Range is in the conventional position.”
Another feature, “down-draft carburetion,” took its name from the fact that the gas was drawn down into the carburetor, aided by the force of gravity, rather than sucked up. The carburetor was mounted above the intake manifold instead of below it, and both a carburetor with a larger throat and larger intake passages were used, giving the engine greatly increased breathing capacity and increasing the volumetric efficiency of the engine.
“Architonic body” was used by Chrysler to describe the car that was “the essence of master craftsmanship,” and the term “chromium architraves” was borrowed from architectural phraseology to describe the molding around the windows. “Synchronized power” was used to tell the story of the new Chrysler power plant, engineered as a single unit, not a group of connected parts but one smoothly operating and carefully synchronized whole, and the parking lights were called “sconce-type” due to their similarity to a bracket candlestick attached to a wall. Finally, “paraflex spring suspension” was used to refer to springs mounted parallel to the wheels to eliminate side sway, absorb tortional strains and stresses, and control rebounds by checking the impulses and shocks. Many of these new descriptors are found in this advertisement:
Maybe the pennant-shaped louvers made the car popular with figures of the sports world, because Pesek was not the only one seen driving the new Chrysler. Pictured below is Coach Ralph Coleman, the “Silver Fox” who led the Oregon State University baseball team for 35 years.
Interestingly, the Nebraska Tiger Man, John Pesek, was also known for raising greyhounds, which is why dogs of that breed are included in this sculpture of Pesek located in Ravenna, Nebraska.
Considering his penchant for greyhounds, one does have to wonder if Pesek switched his automobile allegiance to Ford a couple of years down the road.
In the early days of the automobile industry, it must have been difficult to keep track of the many car and truck brands appearing and disappearing at a rapid rate. Two of these makes are pictured in the above 1914 newspaper photo that was captioned as follows: “Linz & Sanborn Company’s economical way of delivering a Marathon car and a Sampson truck to one customer.” Unfortunately for that customer, one of these companies was already defunct, and the other would not be around much longer.
The four-cylinder Marathon automobile was produced from 1908 to 1914 in first Jackson, and then Nashville, Tennessee, and it was the first car manufactured entirely in the south. According to the Tennessee State Museum, the cars were first called Southerns, but the name had to be changed due to the existence of another automobile by that name. The name Marathon was chosen because anything related to ancient Greece was very in vogue at the time. The company went bankrupt shortly after the above photo was published and was purchased by Herff-Brooks of Indiana.
The Sampson truck, frequently misspelled as “Samson” in the early newspapers, was built by the Alden Sampson Manufacturing Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In 1911, it was purchased by the United States Motor Company, a conglomerate Benjamin Briscoe put together in an attempt to emulate General Motors. This 1911 advertisement refers to the Alden Sampson Manufacturing Company as the “truck division” of United States Motor Company.
The fine print near the bottom of the page explains that the 1,000-pound capacity truck pictured was the smallest Sampson available, and that Sampson also had trucks available in 1-ton, 2-ton, 3-ton, 4-ton, 5-ton, and Motor Train 20-ton capacity. Along with Sampson, other brands under the United States Motor umbrella included Maxwell-Briscoe, Columbia, Stoddard-Dayton, and Brush. The United States Motor Co. failed in 1912, and the Sampson ended with it. Jonathan Maxwell purchased the assets and formed the Maxwell Motor Company, which eventually became Chrysler.
General Motors produced a “Samson” truck, this time spelled without the “p,” a few years later. The production of that truck stemmed from GM’s 1917 purchase of the Samson Sieve-Grip Tractor Company of Stockton, California, all part of William Durant’s bid to compete with Henry Ford’s success in the manufacturing of farm equipment.
After purchasing the tractor company, GM expanded the Samson line to include a truck as seen in this 1921 advertisement for “The Samson Truck – a General Motors Product.”
This truck did not last long either, however, with the entire Samson division closing in 1923. The 1920 Samson pictured below sits at Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, a place where you can find many rare and wonderful examples of cars and trucks from the earliest days of the American automobile industry.
The American auto industry hit the million mark in inventory for the first time in 1960. This story about the new record appeared in March of that year:
Although this article tries to paint a rosy picture, the country was on the precipice of a recession caused in part by industrial overexpansion to meet post-war demand. Another reason for the high inventories in the auto industry was the record output of compact cars which were surging in popularity. During the first week of March, it was reported that the six compact cars accounted for 25.1 percent of the total output for the week. In addition to the AMC Rambler and the Studebaker Lark, the Big Three were offering the Ford Falcon, the Mercury Comet, the Plymouth Valiant, and the Chevrolet Corvair. Chevrolet was outpacing everyone in terms of both production and sales.
Automobile inventories have been in the news regularly for the past few years, due mainly to the lack thereof. It was downright spooky to drive by the empty dealership lots, barren wastelands caused, at least in part, by production cuts during the pandemic and global microchip shortages. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recently published this visual depiction of the fluctuation in domestic auto inventories since 1994.
As you can see from the chart, inventories have started to rebound from the depths plummeted to in February of 2022. Even so, those unpleasant sky-high prices do not appear to be coming down anytime soon.
For comparison purposes, you could buy a new Chevy Biscayne in 1960 for around $2,300. For a couple hundred dollars more, you could get yourself a new Bel Air two-door hardtop Sport Coupe.
That is roughly equivalent in purchasing power to $26,000 today. There are still some new car options under $30,000 in 2024, but none will give you the same thrill you would get from cruising around in that ’60 Sport Coupe. Let’s hope improving production numbers and rising inventories translate into lower prices and better access for today’s buyers, but even if inventories return to that million mark, buyers will never again have access to the fine and diverse automobiles available the first time it happened:
I happened across a story in a 1940 newspaper about automobile designers making a foray into women’s fashions. The feminine styles were supposed to match the 1941 automotive offerings and were designed by the same men who created those body styles. This was all done to promote the New York auto show. There were pictures to go with the story, but no names, so I had to keep digging. I discovered that the first one was designed by none other than Harley Earl, and this streamlined creation in silver rayon featured wings to mimic the hood emblem on a ’41 Caddy.
The stories I found do not give credit for this stylish jacket with a yolk based on the shape of the Packard grille. Perhaps the designer was Howard “Dutch” Darrin?
This swimming suit is based on the 1941 Chevrolet. You can see the shape of the grille on the model’s midsection, and her shoes were even made out of Lucite!
This ensemble was designed, I believe, by E. T. Gregorie and was meant to complement the Mercury. Notice the belt, which was based on the Merc’s bumper guards, and a purse modeled on the hubcaps.
One article said this coat was made with upholstery plaid, so it must be based on Chrysler’s Highlander. Oliver Clark was likely the one who designed this modish outerwear.
This promotion was done in cooperation with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, and the clothing was actually available to be purchased on Fifth Avenue. I have no idea how well it sold, but I would absolutely purchase all of it today if still available (and I might run someone over to get to that hubcap purse).
This marvelous graphic from the November 23, 1924, Pomona Bulletin shows the favorites going into that year’s Thanksgiving Day race at Ascot:
On the left is legendary Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker, the inspiration for the Cannonball Run. Baker set many records for cross-country rides in the early years of the 1900s including a 1914 sprint from San Diego to New York, made on Indian motorcycle in just eleven days. For the Ascot race, Baker was driving a stock Jewett. The man in the center, Cliff Bergere, had a side gig as a Hollywood stuntman and participated in 16 Indy 500 races including the 1941 race in which he went the distance without a single pit stop. He also served during World War II and was a major in the US Army upon discharge. Bergere was driving for Deusenberg, and so was the man on the right, Frank Lockhart. Dubbed “The Boy Wonder,” Lockhart was a talented and innovative racer and Indy winner who met a tragic end at Daytona Beach in 1928 while making a run at the land speed record in a Stutz Black Hawk Special. Incredibly, video of the crash, blamed on tire failure, can be found here on YouTube.
There was another familiar name there for that Thanksgiving Day race, and just look at this colorful write-up about him:
There were 43 starters in all that day, driving approximately 250 miles before a crowd of 50,000 that included celebrities like Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. The victory went to Lockhart who slid into first place on the 31st lap and drove a masterful race, finishing in 3 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds. He made only one stop with 25 miles to go, and that was to lighten his load by ditching his mechanic. This photo of the action appeared in the LA Times:
The caption above the photo reads, “Photo shows Frank Lockhart, driving his No. 27 Duesenberg, coming down one of the sharp turns with C. A. Chamberlain, at the wheel of the No. 25 Chrysler, close behind. Lockhart, whose speed on the turns won him the race, almost got ruined in this particular instance as Chamberlain was hot on his trail. Inset shows “The Boy Wonder” as he finished the race.”
Cannon Ball Baker had tire problems but managed to cross the finish line on a rim exactly four minutes after Lockhart to take second place. Bergere finished ninth. Unfortunately, there was no mention of what happened to Nebraska’s Noel Bullock, but you can read more about him here: Bullock, Garrett, and the Franklin Mile Speedway: The “Real Stuff” of Nebraska Racing History
We picked up this seldom-seen Highlander emblem the other day, and despite the name, it has nothing to do with Toyota. The lower part of the emblem reads “New Yorker, ” and that gives away its origins as a Chrysler product. Introduced in 1940, Chrysler also referred to the Highlander as the “Scottie,” and described it as “another notable contribution to advanced, original and swanky automobile styling.”
The Highlander featured Scotch tartan plaid upholstery on the pleated seat cushions and seat backs and matching moleskin leather on door panels, armrests and other trim. This 1940 advertisement gives you an idea what that combination looks like:
The Highlander was the creation of Chrysler president David A. Wallace who, like Walter P. Chrysler himself, was born in rural Kansas. While Chrysler hailed from Ellis, Wallace was born in Castleton in 1887. A 1940 story about Wallace in the Detroit Free Press included an interview with Wallace’s first employer, the owner of the hardware store in Castleton. Wallace worked seven hours a day at the store and also lived with the owner’s family. The owner remembered Wallace as a hard worker who pitched in to help with all the farm chores without being asked.
The similarities with Walter P. Chrysler continued as Wallace’s next step was going to work for the railroad. After that, he gathered more experience in automobile manufacturing and mining before manufacturing tractors for Hart-Parr. When the war started, Wallace served in the motor transport service of the Army where he was ultimately promoted to captain. As a matter of fact, Wallace was promoted everywhere he went, a testament to his skills and work ethic. After the war he went to work for John Deere where he started as a mechanic and was promoted to superintendent. This is when he came to the attention of the Chrysler Corporation. Wallace went to work for Chrysler in 1929 as a staff master mechanic and was quickly promoted to vice-president of Chrysler’s manufacturing division. He was made president of that division in 1937 and held that position until his retirement in 1953.
Wallace’s extensive experience in manufacturing served him well, and he developed a method of superfinishing bearing surfaces so that defects were no more than two-millionth of an inch. The talented Mr. Wallace held around 70 patents in all. He must have also harbored an affection for his Scottish ancestry, and so it only seems right to end this post with a quote from another Wallace, specifically Malcolm Wallace from the movie Braveheart.
“I know you can fight. But it’s our wits that make us men.”
David Wallace clearly had plenty of those.
The Highlander was brought back post-war; this picture is taken from the 1953 Chrysler brochure.
If you’ve been watching the automobile news, you know that there are now only six passenger car manufacturers in the U.S. – the “big three” and the “little three.”
So, can you name the six surviving car companies of 1954?
The Big Three are easy to identify:
Ford
General Motors
1954 Chevy Corvette
1954 Chevy Bel Air
Chrysler
Recalling the Little Three is more problematic as there was a lot going on in the way of mergers and acquisitions. In no particular order, they are:
Studebaker-Packard – Detroit’s Packard Motor Car Company bought Indiana-based Studebaker in 1954 and became Studebaker-Packard.
1954 Studebaker Station Wagon
1954 Packard Clipper Super Touring Sedan
Kaiser-Willys – Kaiser-Frazer had started up after WWII, riding high on the post-war boom. The company struggled in the early 1950s after a series of missteps, and the Frazer name was dropped. In 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland and, in 1954, the companies merged into Willys Motors, Inc.
1954 Kaiser Darrin
1954 Kaiser
1954 Willys M38A1
American Motors – AMC was formed in 1954 when the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation merged with Hudson.
This nice-looking emblem is one of Mopar’s iconic double-boomerang “Forward Look” emblems that first appeared in late 1954 (in reference to the new 1955 models) and was used through 1961. The concept of the “Forward Look” encompassed the entirety of the motoring experience, all the style, performance and features not found elsewhere. It was all about new and daring styling and engineering for traveling on America’s modern super-highways. Chrysler described it this way in one 1955 advertisement:
“Cars that bring things to you other cars do not yet have. Cars that do things for you other cars are not yet able to do.”
Some of these “things” included the push-button PowerFlight transmission; power steering and brakes; powerful engines like the hemis and the ’56 Plymouth Hy-Fire V8 with PowerPak (special intake manifolds, 4-barrel carb and dual exhaust); swept back windshields; safety features like LifeGuard door latches and optional Safety Seat Belts that met official airline specifications; and the Flight-Sweep design of the bodies which wrapped “up the whole idea of motion with one, clean, aerodynamic sweep from headlight to upswept rear fender,” or, as the goofy “Forward Look” song commissioned by the Chrysler Corporation put it:
“Its beautiful lines are so low, low, low, even standing still, it looks like go.”
I obviously inherited my love for old dealership buildings from my parents, because they snapped this photo the other day while passing through the village of Wilsonville, Nebraska:
Above that amazing arched doorway it reads, J.B. Andre ’07”
I did a little research, and it looks like J. B. Andre moved to Wilsonville from Marshalltown, Iowa in 1903 and opened a blacksmith shop. This 1907 building would have been ideal for that, and you can almost see the carriages rolling in under that beautiful arch.
It wasn’t long before Andre became interested in automobiles. One 1908 story noted that Andre was driving a new Mitchell, which, by the way, made a grand total of five automobiles in town. By 1912, Andre was selling Mitchells. He then moved on to selling Oaklands, Briscoes and Maxwells. By 1930, Andre was a Mopar man, advertising Dodge Brothers trucks in the 1930s and new Plymouths and Chryslers into the 1950s:
Finally, Andre signed off on this interesting bit of history that was published November 1, 1929, just days after the great stock market crash:
