History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

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AUBURN Automobile Co.
established 1900​

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Frank and Morris Eckhart established the Auburn Automobile Company in Auburn Indiana. The Eckhart brothers worked at their father's wagon company, the Eckhart Carriage Co., prior to their inheriting the business. Frank and Morris' true interest were with the new horseless carriages being built by other carriage companies. With the desire to build their own automobile, they established the Auburn Automobile Company in 1900.

Their initial offering was a single cylinder chain drive runabout. It was priced at $800. The car did not sell well. It was too expensive to produce and ended up being priced well above the offerings from other manufacturers. In 1903 the Eckharts reintroduced their car with many needed changes. Still a one-cylinder car, they would later offer a two and a four-cylinder model and in 1912 offered a six-cylinder model. The Auburn car company was selling cars, but it was not the success it needed to be.

The company was heading towards receivership, soon to be purchased by a group of Chicago businessmen. The group included William Wrigley of Chewing Gum and Baseball fame. Wrigley and his investors wanted to get into the new and growing automobile business. In 1919, the Chicago group purchased the Auburn Automobile Company from the Eckhart's. Their first new model was the Auburn Beauty Six. It offered many improvements and a streamlined, fender-less body that received a lot of praise. The company made progress, but continued to battle for a position in the growing automobile market.

The 1921-1922 Recession had a negative impact on the Auburn car company, as it did with many American industries. By 1924 Auburn was building only six cars a day. The cars were not selling; there were hundreds of new unsold cars sitting behind the factory. The company needed help again.

Auburn Automobile recruited Erret Lobban Cord to save the company. Mr. Cord, a young man less than thirty-years old, had already earned himself a reputation as an energetic brilliant businessman and salesman. He had started as a salesman with the Moon Automobile Company in Chicago, Illinois at the age of twenty-four. His style and determination led him to become General Manager and Director at Moon in less than five years. By 1924 Cord had made and lost several fortunes. Again, he was sitting on a pile of cash and was looking to buy a small car company. The new owners of the Auburn car company were looking to sell.

Originally Auburn Automobile offered to let E.L. Cord run their Company. Mr. Cord countered their offer. He ask for little or no salary, 20% of the profits along with total decision making powers and the guarantee to be able to purchase the company once he returned it to profitable status. The Chicago Investors reluctantly agreed to Cords offer.

Cord immediately started making changes. He began by selling off the 600-700 unsold Auburn cars. The cars were plain and not very exciting. He had the cars repainted bright two tone color combinations and plated many of the trim parts in nickel. Once all of the cars were reworked, he had them all moved to the town square. He then invited dealers to view the cars along with offering them huge discounts. Within months Cord had sold off the entire old stock and associated parts. Under Cords management Auburn Automobile was now offering exciting powerful cars that were more inline with Cords personal taste and style.

By mid 1926 the Company was profitable. Cord, now thirty two-years old, purchased the company. Under his new leadership young exciting designers like Alen Leamy and Gordon Buehrig were being employed. That same year, Cord partnered with the Duesenberg Company. The Duesenberg brothers were building racing cars and winning races at that time. Duesenberg was to be used as the platform for Cord's new line of performance oriented luxury cars and his new front wheel drive L-29 Cord (the industry's first front wheel drive automobile).

Auburn, Cords and Duesenbergs (ACD) came to be known for their advance engineering, performance and beautiful styling. The Rich and Famous owned these cars around the world. They were a symbol for success. Despite all of their attributes E.L. Cords automobiles were just too expensive and could not overcome the Great Depression. It would have a devastating affect on Mr. Cord's car companies. The Depression and the fact that Cord had started neglecting his car business, caused profits to start falling by 1932. At that time, Cord was one of the richest men in the world. The ACD Cars are what he is best known for, but Cord owned a transportation empire. He owned airlines, ship lines, ship building companies, aircraft companies, foundries and communication companies. He would later make more fortunes in real estate, mining and oil refining.

The Auburn Automobile Company would continue to bleed red ink. Auburn production stopped after the 1936 models and Cords were built into 1937. On August 7^th 1937, the Auburn Automobile Company closed its doors. A Great era of building Classic Cars had come to an end.

In 1938 the Company was sold to a financier by the name of Dallas Winslow. Mr. Winslow purchased the rights to the names, Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg along with all of the remaining parts and the beautiful Art Deco Administration building. (The administration building, on South Wayne Street in Auburn, Indiana, is now the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum). The company was renamed the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Company, from this building Dallas Winslow offered parts replacement and service for ACD cars and later restoration services for the now orphaned cars. The company continued to operate in this manner until a schoolteacher and Cord Restorer by the name of Glenn Pray bought the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Company from Mr. Winslow in 1960. Glenn Pray moved everything to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Glenn Pray later went on to build Second Generation Auburns and Cords out of his Factory in Broken Arrow from 1966 through 1981. Glenn still offers parts and restoration service. You can contact Glenn through our "Favorite Web Links" page or use the contact information found on our "Second Generation Auburns" page.

What happened to the "Auburn Automobile Company" name? As it turned out, neither Dallas Winslow nor Glenn Pray ever used the original company name. At some point in time, a restoration shop in Auburn, Indiana incorporated under the name "Auburn Automobile Company". The restoration shop closed after many years of operation. In August 1995 another restoration shop incorporated using the again available name. This shop closed in 1997. In June of 2001 Jack Randinelli purchased the 100+year old name, "Auburn Automobile Company", and he became the new President and CEO. Jack says he has no plans to start building cars again; he just "enjoys being President of his own Car Company

Sincere Thanks to Milestone Motorcars for the above article.

 

Dallas Winslow Keeps The ACD Shops Running...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHKVf5eH0gk

 

You're killing me!
I paid full price in 2008 when the author was at the Buffalo Transportation Museum.
But mine's autographed!

 

[SIZE=+3]When it wasn't cars, it was car parts
[/SIZE]
By LEE SAUER



[SIZE=+3]O[/SIZE]ne word describes early Auburn industry:

Automobiles.

If turn-of-the century technology wasn't pushing an entrepreneur into building his own motorized vehicle, it pulled him into building a business which supported automakers.

Very few of these companies survived, but they laid the foundation for the area's current industry.

* * *

In his "History of DeKalb County, Ind.," local author/historian John Martin Smith eloquently points out how several factors converged in Auburn to jump-start automobile manufacture.

The population of Auburn in 1900 provided skill and ambition. Many immigrants were highly refined craftsmen from Germany and England. The times encouraged them to use their individual talents to pursue the American Dream. Only the year before, author Horatio Alger had died, but he left behind a prolific output of rags-to-riches stories for inspiration.

The area's earliest industry provided manufacturing infrastructure (see box). Before Indiana's virgin forest completely disappeared, skilled craftsmen turned easily available lumber into horse-drawn vehicles. By the time lumber had to be shipped in from Michigan, a large carriage industry employed much of Auburn's labor. Carriage making, in turn, lent itself to automaking. Early cars, after all, were simply "horseless carriages."

Trains provided necessary transportation. Major railroads met in Auburn. Carriage makers used the tracks to bring in needed parts and materials; once empty, the train cars loaded up with carriage makers' finished products for delivery to customers. Only recently has this area once again enjoyed "next day" service in the manner trains routinely provided 100 years ago.

Trains also provided technology. In nearby Garrett, the large Baltimore & Ohio Railroad shops attracted and trained craftsmen with the skills to build steam engines. This supplied a knowledgeable workforce capable of producing the next generation of power plants, gasoline engines.

Finally, Auburn was home to far-sighted (some of their contemporaries might have claimed fool-hardy) community leaders who believed in the potential of automobiles. Some area bankers were willing to put their funds where their faith lay, and provided the capital for the emerging industry (in one case at least, the banker was also the manufacturer). The Auburn Commercial Club provided invaluable service in nurturing companies: for example, it bought the Model Gas Engine buildings in 1906 and three years later leased them to Auburn Automobile Co.

The charges had been placed and set.

When a nation-wide recession ended in 1905, Auburn virtually exploded with automobile activity. The city council considered action against the high number of test drivers who careened around city streets. The test drivers, however, couldn't bear to slow down. Up to 21 different brand names of automobiles were constructed in the city in the first four decades of the new century!

A closer look at the phenomena provides perspective. The number of brand names can be made more manageable by deleting companies that made only one or a handful of vehicles. The models that remain can be attributed to just four companies. Take away one more brand name ** "Model" automobiles and trucks, which were made by the Model Gas Engine Co. in Auburn for only three years or less ** and you're left with the town's own Big Three automakers: Auburn Automobile, McIntyre, and Zimmerman.

Of the three, Auburn Automobile Co. had the largest impact. So large, in fact, that it warrants a separate story. The company had a hand in producing a startling number of "classic" automobiles (an official designation decided upon by the Classic Car Club of America for automobiles built from 1925 through 1948). Although it closed its doors for good in 1937, the company continues to widely impact Auburn today and could conceivably have an even larger effect on the town's future.

Just as E.L. Cord provided much of the success at Auburn Automobile Co., the driving force behind the W. H. McIntyre Co. centered in one man. The company's namesake ran his endeavor with vision and daring.

William H. McIntyre purchased a portion of the W. H. Kiblinger Co. when its founder died in 1894. The Auburn business made ** what else? ** buggies.

Three years after becoming an owner, McIntyre began tinkering with automobiles. In early 1907, the company completed a prototype and orders poured in. McIntyre began marketing automobiles under the brand name Kiblinger.

In 1908, a patent-infringement lawsuit resulted in DeKalb Circuit Court renaming the business W.H. McIntyre Co. The name of its automobiles changed as well.

For the next seven years, McIntyre reigned as Auburn's largest automaker. The company belched its products out of five separate plants, including the two original Kiblinger buildings along Jackson Street and the former Auburn Wagon & Buggy Works building (see story at lower left).

McIntyre proved to be a business pioneer. He used electricity in his manufacturing process as early as 1908. From 1912-1915 he cashed in on America's first small-car craze by building the Imp Cycle Car.

Auburn's largest automaking company of the time would unfortunately die quickly. McIntyre misread the demand for small cars and put too much of the company's resources into the cycle car market. The fad passed, as did McIntyre's fortune. In August of 1915, lenders forced his company into bankruptcy.

A similar short story explains Zimmerman, the smallest of Auburn's Big Three.

Franklin T. Zimmerman founded Zimmerman Co. in 1873 (the business changed its name to Zimmerman Manufacturing Co. in 1886). From making building materials, the company branched out into the manufacture of church furniture, windmills and water tanks.

The diversification trend struck significantly twice more. In 1890, the company began building buggies. This product soon overwhelmed the others. Then, like its fellow carriage makers, Zimmerman evolved into automaking. Its first model appeared in 1907.

Zimmerman never built much momentum with its automobiles. Although it would have some success over eight years, the company began fading soon after its first cars were born. Franklin died in 1910. His brother, John, built cars under the family name until 1915, then discontinued the business and joined Auburn Automobile Co.

In only a dozen years or less, Auburn's varied auto industry arrived, thrived and died. Only Auburn Automobile Co. lived beyond 1915. Yet the town's automakers left a legacy of area industry that continues to this day.

* * *

Like individual threads, industries that supported the auto manufacturers were woven into the fabric of Auburn's economy.

Every car needs four tires. The Double Fabric Tire Co. began production in a plant at West Ninth Street in 1913. Its first product appears to have been an accessory called an "Interlock," which helped prevent damage to a tire tube. In the days before steel-belted radials, Interlocks held wide customer appeal. Ads claimed the product could double the mileage of tire service.


To survive, the company needed to grow and adapt. Early on it moved to West Eleventh Street and began manufacturing tires. In the 1920s, the business reorganized under the name Auburn Rubber Co. With the area automotive industry suffering and the tire industry consolidating, Auburn Rubber refocused its product line on rubber parts needed by industry. For example, during World War II, the company made gaskets for Rieke Metal Products Corp.'s military gas can closures.

Then a whimsical side line brought the company fairy-tale success. Around 1935, the company's largest stockholder ** A.L. Murray ** brought a toy soldier he'd bought in England to the plant. The figure was made of lead, but why, Murray wondered, couldn't similar toys be made out of rubber?

Workers made the necessary molds. Rubber toy soldiers were poured. Toy buyers were shown the results and presto! A new, wildly popular product line was born.

After soldiers, Auburn Rubber made toy sports figures, small-scale cars, tractors and trucks. The ubiquitous figures were marketed in "5-and-Dime" stores across the country. And the fascination continues. Today, collectors pay top dollar for the rubber figures.

Unfortunately, this fairy tale wouldn't include a happily-ever-after. Plastic toys challenged the rubber toy market. The local owners of the company wanted out. In 1960, the town of Deming, N.M., bought the business and Auburn's own toy story came to an end.

But manufacturing rubber products continues. Mere months after Auburn Rubber moved, Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. bought the Auburn plant. That corporation still operates at the site as one of Auburn's largest employers.

Nor do the reverberations stop there. Auburn Rubber Co.'s toy business led to the creation of another Auburn industry. Three company employees ** David Sellow, Glenn Yoquelet, and Clarren Boger ** founded SYB, Inc., in 1940. Their sole customer at the beginning was Auburn Rubber, for which they made aluminum molds used to pour rubber toys.

In 1947, plant supervisor Walter H. Ball bought the company. He initially called the business W.H. Ball Aluminum Castings Inc., but after expanding the product line changed the name to Ball Brass and Aluminum Foundr, Inc.

Originally, the company operated out of the building now used by Foley Pattern Co., 500 W. Eleventh St. In 1945, it built and moved into Ball Brass' present location on Hazel Street.The Ball family sold the company in 1979.

The City of Auburn's oldest family-owned business is another metal casting company. Auburn Foundry cut its teeth doing work for the town's automotive industry.

By 1912, a long succession of gray-metal foundries had failed in Auburn. Three different attempts were made establish a foundry in the complex of buildings that became home to Auburn Automobile Co. in 1909 ** four attempts, if you count Model Gas Engine Works, which made castings in addition to manufacturing engines and gas-powered vehicles.

For two years after Model Gas Engine moved to Peru, Auburn desperately cast about for some businessperson to start a foundry. In 1908, versatile Frank Borst answered the call. Borst would provide the capital while an associate, Fred Payne, would provide the practical foundry know-how. The two men had done their homework. Before stepping into their new venture, they visited Auburn industries to gauge the need for castings.

What they found was encouraging. On May 7, 1908, the Auburn Courier recorded the visits and reported: "The Kiblinger factory alone has been buying about thirty five tons of castings a month since the first of the year and the Auburn Automobile Company, the Eckhart's the Zimmerman's and the McDowell's also use castings in large quantities. These institutions expressed their willingness to patronize a home foundry if the quality of work is as good and the service as prompt as can be obtained elsewhere."

Borst and Payne jumped at the opportunity. They bought land on the west side of Auburn (Auburn Foundry's current Eleventh Street site) and contracted for construction of a building.

Despite all the positive signs, Borst and Payne's partnership failed. By April of 1912, it appears production at the plant stopped.

In December of that year, a company savior appeared. Burr O. Fink bought the plant. The business immediately started a slow but steady upward climb. No definitive evidence exists, but Fink probably picked up where Borst left off in supplying the city's Big Three auto manufacturers.

Of course, in less than three years two of Auburn's auto plants would be shuttered.

The foundry didn't need to worry. Fink showed a talent and willingness to adapt. In 1921, in response to an annual slowdown in customer orders, he formed the Auburn Stoker Corp. The company made a line of home and business heating products. Not coincidentally, those products used lots of Auburn Foundry castings.

Through Fink, another Auburn industry weaves its thread into this story. In 1923, under the direction of the Auburn Commercial Club, Fink traveled to Chicago to evaluate a fledgling company interested in moving to town. Upon his return, Fink told the club that what Ted Rieke lacked in capital and equipment, he made up in spunk and determination. Rieke's invention of a closure for oil barrels could turn into a successful business, said Fink. On B.O.'s word, the Commercial Club paid for the construction of Rieke's first building in Auburn on Hazel Street.

Threads weave together. In 1931, Rieke moved its operations into the former Auburn Wagon & Buggy building, which was also the former McIntyre Imp Cycle Car building. Although there have been multiple additions, the building is still part of the Rieke complex on West Seventh Street.

One more thread can be tied up. Ball Brass eventually bought the original Rieke building. Today it is part of Ball's Hazel Street complex.

* * *
Out of the breakup of Auburn Automobile Co. in 1937, two area industries emerged.

Dallas Winslow bought the company's beautiful administration building (the current Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum on South Wayne Street) in 1938. Winslow built an entrepreneurial empire on a simple premise: he bought what remained of companies that had gone out of business and kept their brand-name products alive through repair and replacement services.

For example: Winslow bought the extra parts of the Rototiller company. Then, when customers broke down, they could ship or bring their garden machine into the old administration building where Winslow's workers would affect repairs. Or, if customers wished to make their own repairs, Winslow's company would mail replacement parts.

With what remained of Auburn Automobile, Winslow formed the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Co. His repair and replacement part services contributed to keeping many of E.L. Cord's classic cars alive and led, ultimately, to the formation of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum (see story, pg. ??)

Winslow died in 1963 and his estate eventually sold the administration building. Only a small remnant of his businesses remains on Auburn's south side. Stanley Liddell Sr., a manager under Winslow, bought several of his boss's brand names and continued servicing their products through a company now called Frazer Farm Equipment, Co., 1921 W. Wayne St.

The administration building was only one small part of the Auburn Automobile complex of buildings. The vast manufacturing space was bought by Borg-Warner Corp.

On April 8, 1938, the corporation opened its Warner Automotive Parts Division in Auburn. The division served as the central hub in a large distribution system to make parts available to the corporation's consolidated auto-related industries.

In 1961, the company built a new plant south of town and moved out of the old Auburn Automobile buildings. These symbols of the town's automotive glory years didn't last long. The City of Auburn tore them down in 1962.

Over the years, Warner phased out its replacement parts business and focused on building original equipment. In 1982, George E. Callas of Detroit bought the plant. He changed the name to Auburn Gear, Inc. It still operates out of the plant Warner built at 400 E. Auburn Drive.

 

Wasn't meeting the author and getting his autograph worth the extra $$$$???? LOL.

 

Not a problem! I wasn't REALLY givin' ya a hard time about it, but I have to do SOMETHING with all this info saved in this brain of mine!

Actually that Peirce is one of my favorites......But the New York to Paris Thomas takes the top spot for me.

The Thomas is the ONE car I would give almost anything to be able to drive for just a day...and not a run around the block... just me, the Thomas and the open road for a day....

("Old Number 16" falls under that category too.... a strait stretch of highway so I could open her up and see what she'll REALLY do! )

 

Warehouse Jewels

<!-- Writer --> Hemmings Classic Car - MAY 1, 2007 - BY JIM DONNELLY

<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=hemmingsnews"></script> <!-- AddThis Button END --> Durant. Graham. Hupmobile. Could this be the world's biggest stash of parts?

Take a minute, and contemplate some nameplates from the past as we toss them your way. First, there's Hupmobile. Next, there's Graham. Now, mix two even more seldom-seen brands into the stew, Durant and Star, both born of the fabled Billy Durant's mania for expansion. Next, try to think of the last time you've seen any of these cars in person, unless it was on a show field. Never. Right? Or you just can't recall? Good, that's what we figured. Then, try to imagine looking for parts for a Hupmobile, or for that matter, parts for a Durant. You probably start thinking about trudging through the aisles at Hershey while the cold October rain pelts down, peering from underneath your hood at a bewildering array of slick-wet parts underneath tarps inside sodden cardboard boxes more numerous than you could ever hope to count.

So far, solid. After digesting all that, let your mind switch to a famed automotive city in Indiana, the home of some of motoring's greatest marques, where a lot of the old architecture is cemented together from old brick. Inside one old warehouse in the historic automobile town of Auburn, Indiana, are new parts for the cars mentioned above. Tons of parts. Enough of them to fill bins that reach almost to the ceilings. So many, in fact, that the guy who keeps them all in the warehouse has no idea, admittedly, of exactly what he's got, other than the fact that his family's been accumulating them since the companies that produced them went kablooey so many moons ago.

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</td></tr> </tbody></table> "Picture the warehouse being 800 running feet long, with the whole length of it lined with bins that are 9 feet high, and all of them full of stuff. That's what we've got. It's just unbelievable how many parts are in there," Stan Liddell described.

You've got to feel for the guy. Here's someone who's a self-described car guy, whose dad had a front-row seat to the great industry shakeout of the Depression, whose debris became some of the family's prized holdings. And yet Liddell is almost helpless to describe what he's got, other than the fact that it's dominated by pieces that were supposed to be installed on new Hupmobiles, Grahams, Durants and Stars, only the referees of economics decided to start throwing flags on the field. You name it, and it's probably stacked somewhere in the long, dimly lit hallways of the warehouse: fenders, dashboard instruments, engine blocks, superchargers, springs and shackles, fasteners, even ignition and door keys. They're all around as you step through the place in bewilderment. It's more than just a trove of parts, it's a tribute to some long-forgotten makes. Almost a monument, really, reminiscent of the ancient Egyptians piling up trinkets to honor departed pharaohs inside their tombs.

This off-the-wall story goes back to the 1930s, and starts with a guy from Detroit named Dallas Winslow, who is probably best described as a financier, the kind who scarfed up the remains of the many companies that saw their customer bases erased after Wall Street crashed. Winslow roamed around the Northeast and Midwest, buying up the assets of the ever-growing number of dead car companies for dimes on the dollar after they'd ceased operations. As Liddell told the story, Winslow was involved in the dismantling of companies including Auburn, Cord, the American arm of Rolls-Royce and the Frazer Roto-Tiller Company, which was headed by an ex-Chrysler executive named Joe Frazer, who later became one-half of Kaiser-Frazer. Liddell's father, Herbert Stanley Liddell, worked for Winslow for many years, handling the liquidation of crippled companies that Winslow had acquired. One of them was Franklin, which is why Liddell was born in Syracuse, New York, Franklin's home, in 1937.

To make a long story short, Liddell's father ended up owning the galaxy of Hupmobile and Graham parts when he liquidated the companies for Winslow after the desperate merger finally collapsed into a heap in 1941. Added to this were surviving parts from the inventories of Durant and Star--the two brands formed by Billy Durant after he was canned by General Motors for the second and last time--which folded in 1932 and 1928, respectively, with the Star briefly transformed into an entry-level Durant. Winslow, who Liddell described as "being to the automotive business what Howard Hughes was to aircraft," ended up owning the remaining assets of those drowned brands, as well. The elder Liddell was tapped by Winslow to manage what was left of Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg, which Winslow had also acquired, until Winslow's death. Because Herbert Stanley Liddell was the executor of Winslow's estate, the collection, if that's the right word, ended up in the hands of Liddell's mother, who then sold it to Liddell and his siblings, whom Liddell ended up buying out.

Liddell definitely had the means to do it. He has holdings in shopping centers, restaurants and nightclubs, including one billed as the Midwest's largest. He also has a lot of holdings in real estate across northeastern Indiana, and owns a hotel and casino in the Dominican Republic. As a result, his daughter Tish handles most of the contacts from the outside world when it comes to the obsolete parts trove. Liddell once owned an eight-cylinder 1934 Graham Model 69, and still retains ties with the community of Graham owners. Under the direction of his father, the inventory originally included most of the remaining parts stocks of Auburn and Cord dating back to when both great marques breathed their last in 1937, but most of these pieces have long since been sold off to collectors.

What remains are tons, literally, of parts for the other ex-Winslow properties, with Graham and Hupmobile goodies apparently the most numerous. That said, it bears repeating that, off the cuff, Liddell only has a general idea of what comprises the full inventory. He tried to describe it, telling us, "Let's say you're talking about a 1936 Graham. There might be 200 bumpers there in the warehouse, and literally a million piston rings. I've sold parts for these cars all over the world, even in East Germany before they tore down the Berlin Wall. If someone out there owns a Hupmobile or a Graham, they know where we are, and who we are. I own all the existing original parts, plus the blueprints, patterns, stock certificates and so forth. I also have some original drawings from Auburn for Lycoming engine parts. Of course, being the original drawings on linen cloth, each one would be the only one in the entire world. That's a lot of history in that building."

 

Glenn Pray got 95% of the Auburn and Cord parts when he bought Auburn and Cord from Winslow in 1960. However, there were lots of ACD parts mixed in with the Graham and Hupp stuff back in the late 50s and 60s that you could pull out if you knew what you were looking for.

 

Any idea of the location where these cars were found? The crazy farmer with the airport sounds alot like a local that passed away a few years ago. The background in the pictures looks way to much like part of what we call the "rosa". Crazy stuff. Anymore info would be greatly aprecated.

 

Not all that rare (around here, anyway) but certainly not that common in the States, unless it was imported Look closely.

 

Jeez, WHO'S killin' WHOM??? This thread should be declared SINFUL for us car nutz ! What a day! You guys have ALL presented great info (not necessarily heard before on this thread) and shown some fantabulous cars!! If I die tomorrow, I really think the last year on the HAMB has been one of my best.

THANKS, everybody.

 

Frontenac was a Governor of New France in the latter 17th century. His name was used on a Canadian car built by Durant in 1931. When Ford of Canada introduced a compact car for 1960, it seemed strange that they chose a name used by another company. But after 29 years, only the oldest of car trivia fanatics would remember.
<HR>
1960 Frontenac, sold by Canadian Mercury dealers. Replaced in 1961 by the Comet,

The Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited was keeping quite a level playing field for its two dealer chains. For just about every model the Ford branch sold, the Mercury-Meteor branch had a comparable model to sell.
So when the compact 1960 Falcon appeared in Ford showrooms across Canada, Mercury dealers displayed the Frontenac. It was their compact car, and an alternative for the buying public. The Frontenac was a make in its own right--not a Mercury, not a Meteor. It was a Frontenac.
Its grille had two sections with many vertical bars. Each was rocket shaped and pointed to the centre. At the centre was a chrome disc with a red maple leaf on it. This plate was attached to grillwork by a long horizontal bar on each side.
A chrome dart on front fender also had a red maple leaf. Three chrome windsplits, one over the other, were near the end of the rear fender.
The chrome lock and handle on the trunk also included a red maple leaf. An interesting variation from Falcon's tail-lights used a small red lens. Though much smaller than Falcon's lights, it appeared to be just as large when illuminated. A wide multi- bevelled rim reflected the light from the protruding lens.
At first only 2- and 4-door sedans were available, but later 2- and 4-door station wagons were offered. Like Falcon, there was only one line, but DeLuxe trim was optional.
Frontenac was mechanically the same as Falcon. Of course that included the 90 hp 144 cid 6-cylinder engine.
This Canadian variation was a big hit with buyers clamouring for a compact car. Over 8400 were sold during calendar 1960. That put it ahead of Valiant and Corvair. Ford of Canada's combined Falcon and Frontenac sales accounted for 5.23% of the total 1960 new car market.
Despite is popularity, Frontenac lasted only one year. For 1961, Mercury dealers got the Comet to sell. American Mercury dealers had it part way through the 1960 season, but in Canada Comet production did not begin until the 1961 model year.

As far as rare..........I've NEVER seen one in person, and I've been to more than a few shows in Canada

 

When the one-time newsboy told his remembrance of Mae West a few days ago, we had a good discussion of classic-car tie-ins with Mae, a car lover! In searching for her cars, though, I ran across OTHER, quite unexpected ties! It was kinda like that Kevin Bacon deal -- where everything and everybody is linked. LOL

It turned out that stern-faced Jerry Orbach (Dr. Houseman, Baby's dad in "Dirty Dancing," plus Law & Order" and many others) was once a struggling would-be actor biding time waiting for his break. To make ends meet, he served for some time as Mae West's chauffeur!

Okay, so you can't mention "Dirty Dancing" with out mentioning the plethora of period cars at the Catskill resort where the movie action takes place -- and ESPECIALLY Johnny Castle's '57 Chevy Bel Air! (Anybody besides me STILL wince every time he breaks that rear window with a rock?!?!?)

 

SWI, you are SO right about a car name being re-used! We could probably do a whole thread naming car model lables repeated from other, earlier makes and models, eh? E.g., being a DeSoto fan, I was surprised to find some months ago that the ere was an EARLIER, NON-Mopar DeSoto. Then, there were two iterations of Ramblers. Several different cars called Mercury. etc., etc.!!!

 

Okay, maybe some of the old hands around here who've taken Hemmings, Old Car Weekly, etc., for years already know this. But maybe some younger folks will find it cool, especially with the nice pix. This car was auctioned a while back on the internet, so I can't imagine anyone would mind me running a few of the shots here.

It's a 1930 Windsor Model 8-92 "White Prince" roadster, made by Moon Motor Car Co. of St. Louis in a last-ditch measure to stay in the auto business -- which was everything but self-destructing in the early '30s! (4 million cars were built in 1929, only ONE million in 1932! You see what I mean!) The other measure, as I recall was to build the new Ruxton luxury car for a group of New York investors. Of course, Moon had built the beautiful Diana for some years, but sales never met expectations. The pictured Windsor features a straight-8 Continental and a 4-speed tranny. A roadster with 92 horses in 1930? Kinda sounds like a factory hotrod, doesn't it???

Moon's Windsor was only offered in 1929-30, folks, so they must be awfully scarce. Anybody got any knowledge of production or survival?

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[Oh, and there was ANOTHER Windsor, made in Evansville, IN, in 1906! SWI, should we make a list??? LOL]

 

From the History Auto racing 1894-1944 Thread

A friend of mine called me today to say, " Hey Gene, come see the old race I found in a barn yesterday".....well, almost ripped the hinges off the door getting out of here. Here ya go and what is it?
HG








That's a Mercury body for a T (although they DID make them for Chevrolet as well)- FANTASTIC find!!!
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Looking for:
Early Chev 4 parts
Samson Truck engine
21" Chev/GM wire wheels
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Seeing Harley Gene's Merc body reminded me that I took a pic of a Merc bodied Ford at the Glenmoor Gathering several years ago. If you had to drive a Ford from this era it is not a bad way to go-Jim




Here are some Mercury pics- the first is the Chevrolet and the last is the more recent resto:
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Looking for:
Early Chev 4 parts
Samson Truck engine
21" Chev/GM wire wheels
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Another "What Is It?

Here is a picture of Mr. Louis Comfort Tiffany of stained glass fame, at his house, Laurelton Hall, next to his car. Can anyone tell what kind of car it is? Owen Magnetic has been suggested.

 

Dooods! I smell unleaded & HOTRODS!!! SOMEbody needs to repro this body in 'glas for us rodders!!!

 

Why not in steel?

 

Holy, Hanna! I thought we'd touched on all the propulsion systems from the early years! Correct me if I am wrong, but I think SunRoofCord is onto something here. Gang, take a look at the profile and the door config and TELL me, Jimmy didn't get it right with Owen Magnetic. Myself, I'm convinced.

And for the THIRD time in a week, I have to say, ConceptCarz is AWESOME!!! This a 1916 model.

<LI itxtvisited="1">

 

<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" id="AutoNumber1" border="0" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" height="82"><tbody><tr><td colspan="4" align="left" width="100%" height="1">Mercury Body Corporation &#65533; 1920 Lexington, Kentucky; 1920-1926 Louisville, Kentucky; Jackson Body Company 1926, Louisville, Kentucky
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</td> <td class="chart" width="1%">
</td> <td class="chart" valign="top" width="59%">Keeling Gaines Pulliam Jr. and Charles Ellsworth McCormick of Lexington, Kentucky, and Morris Julian Crutcher (Maury Crutcher) of Detroit, Michigan, all graduates of the University of Kentucky at Lexington Mechanical Engineering program and members of the Gamma Iota chapter of the Sigma Nu Fraternity, organized the Mercury Body Corporation in early 1920.

In March of 1920, C.E. McCormick submitted a speedster body design to the US patent office. Approved in November of that year, the patent was assigned to the Mercury Body Corporation of Lexington, Kentucky.

Maury Crutcher served as the firms production manager, K.G. Pulliam, head of sales, and McCormick, chief engineer. The partner sleekprototype speedster was well received and the firm was capitalized at $250,000 with an announcement that production of five bodies per day would commence on September 1st, 1920 in the firms Cincinnati, Ohio manufacturing facility. They also planned on producing a closed body for winter use.

The press release stated that Cincinnati was selected:

owing to the fact that much of the machine work necessary for the construction of the bodies cannot be done here (in Lexington) as the machinery is not available.

Apparently plans for the Cincinnati plant fell through and in early 1921 a new factory was located in Louisville, Kentucky at 2821 Garfield Ave., just down the street from the Louisville rail yard. The New York Times reported that in October of 1922 Mercury Body Corp. was recapitalized for $1,151,000.

Keeling Gaines Pulliam Jr. moved to Los Angeles in 1921 and established a western sales branch at 1220 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Organized as Pulliam & Pulliam (the second Pulliam was his father, Keeling Gaines Pulliam Sr.), Motor West announced that the firm was Los Angeles latest entry in the growing automotive manufacturing field.

Period advertising stated that Pulliam & Pulliam were the manufacturers of the Mercury Sport Body:

ITS A FORD! WITH A PULLIAM & PULLIAM MERCURY SPORT BODY!

Mercury Body Corp. advertising listed Pulliam as the firms Western district manager.

In 1923 Pulliam & Pulliam sponsored Frank Gegoux and his Mercury Speedster "Desert Pal", in a record-breaking 7-day trip from Los Angeles to New York.

Mercury's two-passenger speedster body was originally designed for the Ford Model T chassis, but in 1923 they introduced a slightly modified version for use on Chevrolet 490 Superior chassis.

Although McCormicks original design did not include any doors, the firm's Super Sportabout line included a passenger side door in response to customer requests. Also available were cycle fenders, convertible tops, headlamps, windscreens, lowered frame rails, cast aluminum steps and other body-related accessories. Mercury's products were sold either direct or via regional Ford and Chevrolet dealers in the Untied States and Canada.

Over time, the demand for Mercury's Speedster body declined and the firm turned to producing commercial bodies. A 1925 issue of Operation & Maintenance magazine included a picture of a soda bottle-shaped Nu-Grape soda advertising car with the following description:

This body is guaranteed to make you feel thirsty.

A certain bottling concern hit on a happy idea for advertising its beverage. This body which was built by the Mercury Body Corp. and is used for light deliveries not only attracts attention because of its unique design, but creates a desire in the observer to quench his thirst, especially if the day is hot. Increased sales of this particular beverage are attributed directly to this novel method of advertising.
​

After producing an estimated 1600 bodies the firm was sold and reorganized in 1926 as the Jackson Body Company, but soon after withdrew from business.

The Jackson Body Company of Louisville, Kentucky was unrelated to the Jackson Body Co. of Jackson, Michigan which was absorbed by the Monroe Body Co. in 1906.

Another unrelated Jackson Body Company was organized by Samuel Frank during 1916 to serve as a blacksmith and carriage repair shop. Located in Jackson, Wisconsin at N169W20827 Main St., Frank soon branched out into building wagons, and by the early twenties entered into the manufacture of commercial bodies. Now known as Jackson Truck Body Inc., the 90+ year-old firm continues to manufacture custom-built truck bodies at N168W20640 Main St., Jackson, Wisconsin.



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Model T Mercury Speedsters...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2336831

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z11309/Ford-Mercury-Speedster.aspx

Anyone making Boat-Tail Speedster bodies?

Here's a thread that has some GREAT reproduction Model "T" Boat-Tail Speedster bodies...

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/126473.html?1266875669

 

1926 Mercury Body Ford Model T Speedster

 

<center></center>Boat Tail Speedster

 

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1916 Owen Magnetic O-36 7-passenger Touring Car ​

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Great car, great story.

 

Sa-WEET little hotrod. BUT it predates the coining of the TERM hotrod by some 20 years! Guess it goes to show, it doesn't matter what it was called early on. There were hotrods practically from the beginning.



It reminds me of that little red BRUSH we had on a few months back. You just wanna JUMP IN & take 'er for a spin, eh? Sort of BECKONS to you, doesn't it?

 

Okay, here is a duesy of a head-scratcher (at least I'm in
the dark!). Note the crank up front, too. Any help in HAMBland???


1919 Douglas. But the US or the Brit version??? U.S Douglas was made
1918-22 in Omaha, NE.

 

Thanks to "Flathead Fever" over on the Thread "Who built the first Hot Rod?" for the folllowing;

Nobody seems to know the exact origin of the name “Hot Rod” but it is usually said to be a chopped and channeled version of “Hot Roadster.” A November 5, 1945 issue of Life Magazine is the earliest publication that I have seen the phrase “Hot Rod” used in print. It was obviously around before November, 1945 but probably not by more than a year or two. Life Magazine said, A “hot rod”, also called a “hot-iron” or a “hop-up” or "gow-job,” is an automobile stripped for speed and pepped up for power until it can travel from 90 to 125 mph.

According to a June, 1946 Ford Times, Southern California was the birth place of the hot rod. Here are two-pages from the six-page story.

“ Los Angeles--Nobody seems to know why Southern California should have given birth to the hot rod craze. Maybe it’s the year-round good weather, or the six-lane superhighways you have at every turning out here, or perhaps a stock of old automobiles that is abundant in comparison with other sections of the country.”

“At any rate, the countryside is saddled with the problem, and thousands of timid motorists, policemen, parents of hot rod addicts, and the National Safety Council are wondering what to do about a speed craze that seems ready to sweep the nation.”

“Hot rod, by the way, is the name applied to any car, not too new, which has been worked on to make it faster than other cars. They’re usually owned and driven by extremely mechanical minded youngsters in their late teens or early twenties.”

“As a rule the hot rods run between the models of 1928 and 1938, roadsters whenever that model is available, or hand-worked into an approximation of one. In fact, so many of these cars are of the one-seat, open type that the word “roadster” has come to be a synonym for hot rod. And roadster is a better general name because all of the cars aren’t strictly hot rods. Many of them have been stripped to simulate a hot rod -- fenders, top, and windshield removed, and a young goggled driver at the wheel -- but they lack the mechanical refinements that mark the genuine article. Hot rod owners -- who themselves are known as “hop-ups,” -- refer to these imitation hot rods as “gook wagons,” “crocks.” or “crutches.” A more complete compilation of hop-up lingo is to be found in the accompanying glossary.”

“One newspaper here has estimated that there are more than 1,000 of these roadsters gunning the Southern California highways and byways these days. They range from hopeless baling-wire wrecks not capable of more than 65 m.p.h. to $5000.00 precision jobs that can turn 130 m.p.h.”

“One of the first alarming highway sights for a motorist newly arrived in southern California is the spectacle of a couple of roadster drivers -- they nearly always drive in pairs, nose to tail -- zig-zagging down the multiple lanes nearly twice as fast as the rest of the traffic is moving. For the lay driver, it’s a test of nerves to continue quietly in a single lane while the hop-ups gambol on all sides.

 

4th October 1913: W Douglas at the wheel of the new Douglas cycle car, at the Bristol Motor Car Club speed trials, Western Super Mare

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/3252808/Hulton-Archive

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/3252863/Hulton-Archive