Unsolved Mysteries: The First Talking Car

There are many famous “talking” cars such as KITT, Herbie, and Mater. One you may not have heard of, however, and likely the first of its kind, was a Chevrolet named Chevee.

Chevee appeared in salesrooms across the United States and Canada from 1924 to 1927. It was sometimes referred to as “Blue Chevee,” so it was likely a Chevrolet Deluxe Touring which was introduced mid-year 1924 and was gray-blue in color with cardinal striping. The gray-blue color scheme was carried out in both the upholstery and the steel disc wheels with which the car came equipped. This beautiful 1924 Chevrolet Deluxe Superior Touring located at the Museum of Automobiles in Morilton, Arkansas, provides a good idea of what Chevee looked like.

Photo credit: Aaron Headly, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chevee could talk, sing, laugh, and whistle. It called people by name and said, “How d’ya do?” when meeting someone new. It could answer questions asked at random about anyone or anything and could identify items pulled from the pockets of spectators. Chevee even told fortunes.

Chevee would light its lights upon request and would wink flirtatiously at the women in the audience by blinking its lights. Chevee played music in a phonographic voice even though there was no phonograph to be found, and people did try to find one. In fact, they were encouraged to try. The car was mounted on four wooden jacks so that skeptics could crawl under the car looking for answers. Truth seekers were allowed to look under the hood and floorboards and even remove the seats.

The Shreveport Journal reported that the voice sounded like it was coming from under the motor, but no one inspecting it could locate any connecting wires or other apparatus there, under the seats, or anywhere else on the car. There were also no wires connecting the automobile to anything else.

Chevee was wildly popular and often had to be held over to accommodate the sizeable crowds it drew. In Kenosha, it reportedly drew such large crowds that police had difficulty keeping South Street clear in front of the Chevrolet dealership.

Everyone detests an unsolved mystery, but I could find no subsequent explanation of how Chevee functioned. The answer clearly lies with the man conducting the shows, a vaudeville comedian by the name of Billy Van Duzer, as he miraculously appeared with a talking Essex, a talking Dodge, and even a talking Durant the following year. The Chevrolet was the first, however, and the only one graced with a name. The act was apparently played out by the end of 1928, because there were no more appearances made by Van Duzer with Chevee or any other communicative automobile.

Sources:

Advertisement. J. V. Baldwin. Los Angeles Evening Express, 10 Feb 1926, p. 27.

Advertisement. Robertson Motor Co. Imperial Valley Press, 15 July 1924, p. 2.

Advertisement. Roberts Motor Co. Valdosta Daily Times, 17 Feb 1925, p. 2.

Advertisement. S-W-S Chevrolet Co. Dayton Daily News, 29 Mar 1925, p. 54.

Advertisement. The White Chevrolet Co. The Times Recorder [Zanesville], 15 April 1925, p. 2.

“Big Crowds Hear Talking ‘Chevee’.” The Flint Journal, 19 Dec 1924, p. 3.

“‘Chevee’ Stays Here Three More Days.” Kenosha News, 13 Oct 1924, p. 7.

“‘Chevee’ Talks at Roberts Motor Co.” The Valdosta Daily Times, 18 Feb 1925, p. 3.

“Chevrolet Deluxe Models Appear.” Blairsville Dispatch, 2 Sept 1924, p. 7.

“Educated Durant Puzzles Audience.” Corpus Christi Caller Times, 26 Oct 1928, p. 8.

“Explanations Easy for ‘Talking’ Chevee.” Decatur Herald, 12 Feb 1925, p. 7.

“Famous Talking Chevrolet to be Displayed Here.” The Pittsburgh Press, 25 Jan 1925, p. 79.

“Man Who Can Make Auto Talk Arrives in City.” Corpus Christi Caller Times, 19 Jan 1928, p. 7.

“Mystery Shrouds Uncanny Dodge Performance.” McAllen Daily Press, 14 Mar 1928, p. 1.

“Talking Chevrolet Mystifies Visitors to Brownlee-Wells Co.” The Shreveport Journal, 26 Jan 1926, p. 7.

Mopar’s Iconic “Forward Look” Logo

1958 Plymouth emblem, part number 1682578

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.”

1956 Plymouth
1957 Desoto
1955 Dodge

1955-56 Dodge

The cars of the 1950s were long, wide, covered in chrome and topped off with an exotic hood ornament. It was the golden era of colossal hood ornaments, but the largest of the large has to be those found on the 1955-56 Dodges. The one pictured above is off a ’56, and here it is sitting in front of an average Border Collie for a size comparison:

The doggie model is my lovely Lily (and her size is the ONLY thing about her that is average). The hood ornament measures an exceptional 36 inches in width, big even by the standards of the Fifties. Here is a ’55 Dodge with a slightly different but equally imposing front end:

The hood ornament wasn’t the only impressive aspect of these Dodges; they were also powered by hemi engines. The hemi had debuted a few years earlier with the 1951 Chrysler Firepower engine, and for both the ’55 and ’56 Dodge, the Super Powered Super Red Ram V8 engine was available as optional equipment on all V8 models. It was a 315ci engine (3.63 bore and 3.80 stroke) and the “special power equipment” included single or dual 4-barrel carbs and dual exhaust. I think the hood ornament resembles a hammerhead shark, and that is probably no coincidence because that hemi would eat your lunch.

* * *

1956 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer
1956 Dodge Royal

1941 Dodge Tow Truck

We spotted this old beauty while driving through a small town the other day:

In 1941, Dodge was already using the iconic “job-rated” term to promote its trucks, explaining that the phrase meant “a truck that fits your job”. The company advertised a complete line of trucks (1 1/2 ton to 3 ton) that were powered and sized to meet “97% of all hauling needs”.

That was probably true as the ’41 Dodge trucks were available in 112 standard chassis and body models on 18 wheelbases and with six different engines, both gas and diesel. Dodge also offered 23 different frames, 17 different rear axle gear ratios, six brake combinations, 10 basic spring combinations and eight rear axles. With all those options, Dodge almost certainly had a truck to fit the job!

So many steering wheels . . . .

We recently had someone ask us if we would be interested in a bunch of old steering wheels hanging in their barn. We are always interested, so we went there to take a look and left with ALL the steering wheels. This is what 55 steering wheels look like crammed into the back of a van:

And this is what my dog looks like when she is not happy about being forced to share her van space with a mountain of steering wheels:

Some are not in the greatest of shape but have horn rings that can be salvaged like these 1955 Oldsmobile and 1959 Dodge horn rings:

A few of the others we have cleaned up so far:

1940s Chevy Fleetmaster
1953 Chevy
1955-56 Chevy
1960-66 Chevy Truck
1967 Dodge C Body

New (Old) Grille

We finally found an original grille for our ’48 Dodge that didn’t have any cracks or breaks. It was heavily pitted, however, so we took it to Ace Irrigation in Kearney, Nebraska, and had them sandblast and paint it. We chose the color “nickel” to blend in with the flame job, and they did great work. We are really pleased with the finished product and happy to have a new (old) grille!

The Dodge Brothers and Henry Ford

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.


John Dodge

Horace Dodge

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.

Henry Ford

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

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