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

Many factors contributed to the monumental failure of FoMoCo's "all-new" Edsel, the chief one's being, not styling, but ill-timing and over-pricing.

For 1960, arranging a graceful exit for the Edsel was out of the question for Ford. Had the much-ballyhooed Edsel debuted in late-'56 for the '57 model year, the story may have turned out much differently! But bowing during a major recession is quite a problem for an overpriced, over-hyped car.

However, the Edsel was given another, final, shot for 1960. Costs were cut by sharing many components with the Ford Fairlane (surprise!). When sales of the new Edsel-nee'-Fairlane failed to materialize, Ford execs decided to shoot the horse, rather than call a veterinarian.

'60 Edsels are rare enough, regardless of body style, what with only 2,846 finished when the plug was pulled September 14 of 1959. Edsel convertibles, though, are quite interesting, as only 76 got built -- officially. At $3,000 originally, a mint copy recently auctioned for $47,000.



Howard Harris of Cedar Hill, GA, owns this Edsel 'vert. Only 76 were built.
Today, Harris' near-mint Edsel would bring $50,000. Given rarity and value,
no surprise that counterfeits do show up! (Shades of the Hemi 'Cuda!)

 

These, of course, fall into that category of "NEVER-WUZ" cars.
The Edsel Comet, as the name and pix would indicate, was an
idea to lend the make a compact for that fast-emerging market.
When the Edsel was mercifully put to sleep in mid-September
1959, the new compact (one step up in size, price & appointments
from the Ford Falcon) was adopted by Edsel's M-E-L sister division,
Mercury. Those designs that reached full-size protoype stage were
shaved of Edsel badging and became Mercury Comets. The rest,
as they say, is history.


One of the 1960 Edsel COMET protypes. SHADES of Pymouth Valiant and Pontiac Tempest, eh?



These images come from www.edsel.net/proto.html. Well worth
the time for any car nut wanting to know the fascinating behind-
the-scenes stuff about how the Edsel came about AND how it ended
up! Goes all the way back to original 1954 Edsel concepts when the
whole thing got started.

 

Here is a fairly stylish update of the Edsel for 1960 --
which might just have flown, as it would have been
competitive with the looks of some other models on the
market. You'll note the obvious influence of the
Packard Predictor show car, though the central grille
"blade" works better here than it did on the ostentatious
Predictor.





These images come from www.edsel.net/proto.html. Well worth the time
for any car nut wanting to know the fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff about how the Edsel came about AND how it ended up! Goes all the way back to
original 1954 Edsel concepts when the whole thing got started.

 

Pretty in Pink

Mary Kay Inc. Loves Cadillac, and the Feeling Is Mutual





A 1956 pink Cadillac Sedan de Ville is on display at Fox Automotive in Rochester, Michigan.

By BRETT CLANTON
The Detroit News

<!-- /BYLINE --><!-- PUBDATE -->
Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 6:33 a.m.
<!-- /PUBDATE -->DETROIT - Right now, hundreds of thousands of Mary Kay cosmetics sellers are competing for a unique trophy that has distinguished the best among them for nearly 40 years -- the keys to their very own pink Cadillac.


The honor of producing the Mary Kay Cadillac has not been lost on General Motors Corp., which through the years has fought to keep the account amid competition from suitors and a slump at its Cadillac brand during the 1980s and 1990s.
But the relationship may be equally important to Mary Kay, whose brand identity has been tied to the luxury car marque from the cosmetic company's earliest days. Rewarding top sellers with, say, a pink Lexus just wouldn't be the same.
While the pink is not so pink anymore and GM is not the same company it was when the program began, the pink Cadillac has endured as the ultimate prize for the Texas makeup purveyor as the company has grown into a global empire.
Along the way, the pink Caddy has also become an American icon, immortalized in songs by Bruce Springsteen and Aretha Franklin, dropped in movies and used as a ride for Barbie. But it is perhaps best known as an unmistakable symbol of the self-made businesswoman.
So, every few months, as it has for years, GM gets the call to build a new batch of big pink sedans. Workers at GM factories in Detroit and Lansing, Mich., retrieve a special vat of paint marked "OGU," pink Cadillacs roll down the line, sandwiched between white, black and red models, and the tradition continues.
The ritual traces its history to 1968, when, as the story goes, a young and ambitious woman named Mary Kay Ash strode into a Cadillac dealership in Dallas with an unusual request.
Pulling a compact out of her purse and pointing to the "Mountain Laurel" pink blush inside, she said she wanted a car in the same color.
The dealer complied, painted the car on-site, and Ash had a rolling advertisement for the small cosmetics business she had started five years earlier at the age of 45 with $5,000 -- her life savings.
The following year, with her sales team growing and business taking off, she rewarded her top five sellers with a 1970 model year Cadillac Coupe de Ville -- bathed in bright pink paint.
Today Mary Kay Inc. rakes in more than $2 billion in annual sales and has 1.6 million employees from Uruguay to Ukraine.
But the United States, where 700,000 of Mary Kay's "independent beauty consultants" are based, is still the company's biggest market -- and one of only a few nations where a pink Cadillac is still the top prize.
"It's the car that everyone hopes to receive," said John DeLuna, a Mary Kay marketing and sales analyst who works with the car reward program.
GM has built about 100,000 pink Cadillacs. The attention the automaker shows the Mary Kay account is on full display at GM's large car factory in Hamtramck, Mich.



In Hamtramck, a pink Caddy is pampered in a way that the Buick Lucerne and other models made on the same assembly line are not.
A special tri-coat paint job takes more than twice as long as the normal 3-minute treatment. And the cars get some exterior components, including rearview mirrors, delivered to the plant in Mary Kay pink by parts suppliers.
"At one point, making these vehicles used to be a big disruption," said Gregory Pratt, paint area manager of GM's Hamtramck plant.
But GM factories are much more flexible today than they once were, so Pratt and his team can respond to a Mary Kay order in seconds, rather than minutes and hours.
Through the years, the appearance of the Mary Kay Cadillac has also changed. No more fins. No more de Ville, which was phased out last year to make way for the DTS.
And, most surprisingly, no more pink. Or at least not much of it.
Mary Kay pink has been updated six times in four decades, evolving from bubble-gum pink in the early years to a "pearlescent" shade today that is pink only in the right light. The rest of the time, a Mary Kay special might look like just another white sedan.
"There were some people out there who wanted it a little pinker," DeLuna said.
So in 2000, the company rolled out a pinker pink to placate the miffed vendors.
Today, Mary Kay is working on a seventh-generation pink for upcoming award cars. GM says the new hue will be closely guarded until it is unveiled.
An interesting thing about the Mary Kay pink: Regular customers cannot buy a pink Cadillac from GM, nor have one painted by a GM dealer. It is an exclusive shade owned by the cosmetics company.
In addition, winners of a Mary Kay Caddy must return the cars after a two-year lease expires, at which time the company repaints them and sells them at auction. Those who choose to buy the pink cars must agree not to resell them to anyone other than approved dealers.
Keeping the Mary Kay people happy may be more important to GM now more than ever. After losing $10.6 billion last year, GM is trying to scale back sales to image-killing rental car agencies, and beef up profitable fleet sales to corporate customers like the well-known cosmetics firm.
Beyond the sales boost, though, GM and the Cadillac brand benefit from being connected to one of the best-known corporate award programs in the world, said Siobhan Olson, head of non-traditional marketing for Frank About Women, a consultancy in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"What brand wouldn't want to be known as a reward?"
In two weeks, thousands of Mary Kay sellers will gather at the Dallas Convention Center for the company's annual meeting, known as "Seminar," and a new crop of vendors will get their first pink Cadillacs.
The winners will be called to the stage. Music will play. Tears will flow. And the dream that drove them to this point will be fulfilled.



All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.

Tom Rohner’s 1993 Mary Kay Pink Allanté<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O> ​

</O>

 

muscle in the pink – what’s up with that?

<SMALL>Monday, June 23rd, 2008</SMALL>

Greg Clark left a message on the Hemmings Forum lately asking if anybody could help him out in tracking down the history of his pink 1967 Firebird. Yes, pink.

I just recently purchased a 67 firebird,with all the custom options you could have in 67, air condit., auto trans, custom inter., and it’s pink. The data plate says special order, it was sold in West Los Angeles, Ca., I’ve been trying to do some research on the car to complete its history, any help would be appreciated.
​

He sent us the picture above, with the explanation that the paint has been sun-bleached over the years, though we can still clearly see that it’s not a typical color. A quick check against the relevant paint chip chart confirms that Pontiac offered no such color in 1967.
So, what, was it a Mary Kay car (probably, but we don’t know for sure)? Did somebody lose a bet? It preceded Dodge’s Panther Pink (and Plymouth’s Moulin Rouge) by a few years, so it clearly wasn’t inspired by the competition.
I have another theory, though it’s a bit far-fetched.

In 1968, AMC congratulated Angela Dorian, the Playboy Playmate of the Year, by handing her the keys to a brand-new AMX, powered by a 290 and painted pink. Yes, pink. The dash-mounted serial plate (#362335) was custom-made to reflect her measurements. When down in Florida at the 40th anniversary celebration of the AMX earlier this year, I met Brandy Burgard of Inverness, Florida, who had her father-in-law clone that pink Playboy AMX for her. The real one remains with Dorian, who has since repainted it black.
Could Pontiac have done something similar the year before? We don’t see any evidence for or against that theory, but we’d welcome any input.
UPDATE (18.September 2009): Eddie Stakes emailed me the following:

On pink cars, the trend with pink cars probably started before Mary Kay, as Playboy called their color ‘Playmate Pink’ on the Playmate of the Year car given away in 1964. There is a file on my site with photos of Angela Dorian aka Victoria Vetri who was the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1968 and got a brand new….pink AMX. Unfortunately she hated the color and it would end up being brown, grey then black as time went on, but she still owns it.
There are some uber rare photos of Victoria in ther also and AMC’s involvement in the MISSION AMX program with dealers. And pink AMXs!
Here is a list of PINK CARS given to Playboy Playmates starting in 1964:
1964 – Donna Michelle – Ford Mustang
1965 – Jo Collins – Sunbeam Tiger 260V8 Ford engine
1966 – Allison Parks – Dodge Charger 383 4 barrel
1967 – Lisa Baker – Plymouth Barracuda fastback 273V8
1968 – Angela Dorian – AMC AMX 290V8, AT
1969 – Connie Kreski – Shelby GT-500 fastback 428 Cobra Jet
1970 – Claudia Jennigs – Mercury Capri
1971 – Sharon Clark – Spectra 20 Ski Boat
1972 – Liv Lindeland Mercury – DeTomaso Pantera 351cid
1973 – Marilyn Cole – Volvo Sports Wagon
1974 – Cindi Wood – Mercedes 450SL
A boat one of them got a boat!
​

Posted in Daniel Strohl, HMM, Lost and Found, pink, shows, exhibitions and events

 

The famous Playboy Pink Tiger wasn't the only pink car in Playboy, it seems! I present the lovely Miss Marilyn Cole, with a very handsome Volvo P1800....



And the original... I wonder, does anybody know where she is these days? Ahem. The Tiger, I mean. And I wonder... does Playboy still give a new, pink car to each new "Playmate of the Year"?

 

The pink Playboy Pantera. This Pantera with a custom "pink" paint job was given to the Playboy Playmate of the year 1972 &#8211; Liv Lindeland

 

Playmate of the year 1966 &#8211; Allison Parks &#8211; Dodge Charger 383 4 barrel

 

I think I'll be the one to go for a cigarette now (and I don't even smoke!).


(BTW, I ALWAYS thought the de Tomasso Pantera was/is a masterwork
of styling! John Z. DeLorean, eat your heart out!)

 

Before we leave Edsel altogether, HERE's another one from the
"NEVER-WUZ" vault!!! Everybody knows Edsel had its own version
of the Ranchero, right??? Yeah, RIGHT. We do know that car guys
like to customize stuff, and several around the country have interpreted what they think an Edsel Ranchero-like truck might have looked like. They turn heads at shows!!!

 

Given the plethora of colorful, well-appointed and lower-cost
choices available in the mid-'50s, one might reasonably assume
(especially in retrospect!) that the once-dynamic Hudson line
(around since 1909) was -- er, uh -- DOOMED! One would be
right.

In reality, true Hudson-made cars were gone after the '54 model
year, though the famous Hornet 308 engine remained an option
for '55 and '56 Nash-made "Hudsons." The ever-cruel media even
went so far as to label the rehashed Hudson-badged Nash cars --
YIKE! --HASHes. Anyway, senior Nash and Hudson models
soldiered on, though the Rambler line had finally come into its
own -- and buoying up both Nash and Hudson by the time 1957
dawned. But, officially, there would be no more senior Nashes
after '57 -- and NO Hudsons at all.

But, of course, plans had at least been drawn for '58 Hudson
and Nash models. With a recession unfolding, AMC gave into
market realities and folded the tent on senior Hudsons and
Nashes. In the U.S. market, AMC would only offer Rambler-
badged automobiles for 1958. In one serious sense, it was
the end of BOTH the Nash and Hudson marques. Some hard-
bitten Nash/Hudson fans, though, insist that as long as AMC
carried on (even if sold to Chrysler eventually), Nash and
Hudson still live on. MoPar clubs generally agree.

Now, all of THAT is PROLOGUE to my question on this
thread. Rumors still circulate that a Hudson-badged
Rambler model (longer wheelbase) DID appear on the
auto market for the '58 model year. AND, we know
that a similar "HUDSON" car sold pretty well in Australia.
SO, ANYBODY HAVE A PIC OF ONE OF THESE RARE
(OR, NON-EXISTENT) BIRDS???


1957 Hornet Series 80 4-Door Sedan. NOT a '58, and the real thing
(if it exists) would more have resembled a re-badged Rambler, not
a real senior AMC model like this.

 

WOW!! Didn't realize I would start such a search for Pink cars. LOL All very interesting though. Definitly a female color. I actually don't dislike the color. Looks good on some, not so good on others. But then, "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder"

I could see where there might be a resemblance in the '59 Pontiac and the '60 Edsel. "Beware of the '60 Edsel", especially if it's a convertible! Could very well be a '60 Ford with Edsel trim. But isn't that what they were in the first place???? Since the '58 Edsel was controversial for unmentionable reasons, I wonder what the reaction to a Pink '58 Edsel would of been on the show room floor????

I've seen a few Edsel Rancheros built over the years. Here's a couple links to '58 Edsel Rancheros.

http://home.pacbell.net/drakcap/EdRan.htm

http://www.ranchero.us/forums/archive/index.php/t-4103.html

Ever notice that some Edsel collectors can't have just one???? I know one guy who has 40, another who has 17, and I think there was a fellow in ND that had over 200.

 

The museum is looking for any info on the vehicle, picture, who is pictured with the vehicle, or where it was taken.​

 

Excerpt from Wikipedia;

Factory styling photographs show designs for a 1958 Hudson (and Nash) line based on a longer-wheelbase 1958 Rambler. Front-end prototype photos show separate Hudson and Nash styling themes.

AMC President George W. Romney came to the conclusion that neither Hudson nor Nash brand names had as much positive market recognition as the successful Rambler. The decision to retire the Hudson (and Nash) brand names came so quickly that preproduction photographs of the eventual 1958 Rambler Ambassador show both Nash and Hudson badged and trimmed versions of the car.

Eventually, however, something close to the Hudson design was chosen for the 1958 Rambler Ambassador. Hudson fans will note the triangular grille guard and 1957-like fender "gun sights" and the fast-selling 1958 Rambler Customs wore 1957 Hudson-styled front-fender trim.

Picture courtesy of Steve Levy from Springbrook, Australia

 

1937 Ford Greyhound Bus

This bus was built in Brisbane, Australia and it used a Ford Chassis

 

For the 1958 model year the Nash and Hudson brands were dropped. Rambler became a marque in its own right and the mainstay of the company. The slow-selling British-built Nash Metropolitan subcompact continued as a standalone brand until it was dropped after 1962. The prototype 1958 Nash Ambassador / Hudson Hornet, built on a stretched Rambler platform, was renamed at the last minute as "Ambassador by Rambler". To round out the model line AMC reintroduced the old 1955, 100-inch (2,500 mm) wheelbase Nash Rambler as the new Rambler American with only a few modifications. This gave Rambler a compact lineup with 100-inch (2,500 mm) American, 108-inch (2,700 mm) Rambler Six and Rebel V8, as well as the 117-inch (3,000 mm) Ambassador wheelbase vehicles.

 

Nice work, SunRoofJim! Such a quest probably seems silly to non-Hudson folks.
But I had a 262 Hudson Super 6 from 1950, so I have a soft spot for Hudsons. Sad
way to go for a make that was once one of the top 3-4 makes in the U.S. Not to
mention this surely doesn't much resemble the Hudsons Herb Thomas, Tim Flock,
Marshall Teague and Speedy Thompson once dominated NASCAR with for 3.5
seasons!!!


1958 Hudson, Australian production version

 

SunRoof, I might add that, unlike some other Hudson fans, I'm not a Romney basher, for the most part. The worst I'll say is that George was, first, a businessman. From that standpoint, I have to say it was the right thing to drop the shopworn Hudson and Nash names -- despite the rich history of BOTH makes! One dated from 1909, the other, debatably from 1916 or 1901 (if you include the Jeffrey Co., which Charlie Nash took over).

And BOTH make significant contributions to auto tech and consumer comforts. Hudson pioneered the shift from open to closed cars, all-steel construction and had the first mass-produced unit-body designs, and Nash/Kelvinator pioneered the version of air conditioning which virtually ALL cars -- of any make -- use today.

Good things, though, often come to an end -- like it or stuff it, as Johnny Carson would say!

 

My WAG would be -- HMMMMM?!?!?! -- it was WINTER, somewhere near
Buffalo, NY, and that looks a lot like a propeller on the back! Nyuk, nyuk !
<HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->

​

 

1948 Hudson Commodor Woody Wagon - Or is it? Well almost.

This 1948 Hudson Commodor Woody Wagon was created by it's owner.

 

1949 Hudson Pickup Prototype 01

 

THE WORLDS LARGEST COLLECTION OF HUDSON CARS

Explore the history of Hudson Cars and their influence on the style in our history at our Hudson museum. At one of the best Indiana museums, enjoy our exciting collection of over 50 classic Hudson cars, race cars, hot rods and early models displayed throughout 50,000 square feet of museum space. Buy an Hudson-related souvenir in our gift shop, enjoy an old fashioned soda or banana split at the Ice Creamery next door, or take a few pictures next to your favorite Hudson cars!

http://www.hostetlershudsons.com/

 

Not the Pierce-Arrow but interesting nontheless. Do you have a date on that postcard?



Fred Jones was born on May 17, 1893 in Covington, Kentucky. His father was a white railroad worker of Irish descent and his mother was Black. It is believed that his mother died while he was young and Fred was raised by his father. When Fred was eight years old, his father took him to Cincinnati, Ohio to where they visited St. Mary's Catholic Church rectory. Fred's father urged Father Edward A. Ryan to take Fred in in order to expose him to an environment where he might have a better opportunity for gaining an education. Fred performed chores around the church in return for being fed and housed, cutting the grass, shoveling snow, scrubbing floors and learning to cook. At an early age, Fred demonstrated a great interest in mechanical working, whether taking apart a toy, a watch or a kitchen appliance. Eventually he became interested in automobiles, so much so that upon turning 12 years of age, he ran away from his home at the rectory and began working at the R.C. Crothers Garage.

Initially hired to sweep and clean the garage, Fred spent much of his time observing the mechanics as they worked on cars. His observation, along with a voracious appetite for learning through reading developed within Fred an incredible base of knowledge about automobiles and their inner workings. Within three years, Fred had become the foreman of the garage. The garage was primarily designed to repair automobiles brought in by customers but also served as a studio for building racing cars. After a few years of building these cars, Fred desired to drive them and soon became one of the most well known racers in the Great Lakes region. After brief stints working aboard a steamship and a hotel, Jones moved to Hallock, Minnesota began designing and building racecars which he drove them at local tracks and at county fairs. His favorite car was known as Number 15 and it was so well designed it not only defeated other automobile but once triumphed in a race against an airplane.

On August 1, 1918 Jones enlisted in the 809 Pioneer Infantry of the United States Army and served in France during World War I. While serving, Jones recruited German prisoners of war and rewired his camp for electricity, telephone and telegraph service. After being discharged by the Army, Fred returned to Hallock in 1919. Looking for work, Jones often aided local doctors by driving them around for housecalls during the winter season. When navigation through the snow proved difficult, Fred attached skis to the undercarriage of an old airplane body and attached an airplane propeller to a motor and soon whisked around town a high speeds in his new snowmachine. Over the next few years Fred began tinkering with almost everything he could find, inventing things he could not find and improving upon those he could. When one of the doctors he worked for on occasion complained that he wished he did not have to wait for patient to come into his office for x-ray exams, Jones created a portable x-ray machine that could be taken to the patient. Unfortunately, like many of his early inventions, Jones never thought to apply for a patent for machine and watched helplessly as other men made fortunes off of their versions of the device. Undaunted, Jones set out for other projects, including a radio transmitter, personal radio sets and eventually motion picture devices.

In 1927, Jones was faced with the problem of helping friend convert their silent movie theater into a "talkie" theater. Not only did he convert scrap metal into the parts necessary to deliver a soundtrack to the video, he also devised ways to stabilize and improve the picture quality. When Joe Numero, the head of Ultraphone Sound Systems heard about Fred's devices, he invited Fred to come to Minneapolis for a job interview. After taking a position with the company, Fred began improving on many of the existing devices the company sold. Many of his improvements were so significant, representatives from A.T. & T and RCA sat down to talk with Fred and were amazed at the depth of his knowledge on intricate details, particularly in light of his limited educational background. Around this time, Fred came up with a new idea - an automatic ticket-dispensing machine to be used at movie theaters. Fred applied for and received a patent for this device in June of 1939 and the patent rights were eventually sold to RCA.


At some point, Joe Numero was presented with the task of developing a device which would allow large trucks to transport perishable products without them spoiling. Jones set to work and developed a cooling process that could refrigerate the interior of the tractor-trailer. In 1939 Fred and Joe Numero received a patent for the vehicle air-conditioning device which would later be called a Thermo King.

This product revolutionized several industries including shipping and grocery businesses. Grocery chains were now able to import and export products which previously could only have been shipped as canned goods. Thus, the frozen food industry was created and the world saw the emergence of the "supermarket."

In addition to installing the Thermo King refrigeration units in trucks and tractor-trailers, Jones modified the original design so they could be outfitted for trains, boats and ships.

During World War II, the Department of Defense found a great need portable refrigeration units for distributing food and blood plasma to troops in the field. The Department called upon Thermo King for a solution. Fred modified his device and soon had developed a prototype which would eventually allow airplanes to parachute these units down behind enemy lines to the waiting troops.

For the next 20 years, Fred Jones continued make improvements on existing devices and devised new inventions when necessary to aid the public. Jones died on February 21, 1961 and was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Technology, one of the greatest honors an inventor could receive. Jones was the first Black inventor to ever receive such an honor.

 

1913 michigan, the only pic i could find of it on this computer.
in a friends collection

 

Michigan 40 Model R Touring Car 1913

Sold by RM Auctions August 2nd, 2008. Several Pictures at link below;

http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=MB08&CarID=r198

40-46 hp, 298 cu. in. L-head four-cylinder engine, four-speed manual transmission, front and rear semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension, two-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 118"

The annals of automotive history tell the story of the Twentieth Century American Dream; the belief that anyone with an ounce of sense and some technical and management knowledge could start an automobile company. Transportation industrialists, the makers of bicycles and wagons, were especially well-placed and many of them prospered: bicycle maker George Pierce of Buffalo and Kenosha, Wisconsin&#8217;s Thomas Jeffery, manufacturer of the Rambler cycle, for example, and Dallas Dort of the Flint, Michigan, Dort Road Cart Company. But for every Pierce, Jeffery and Dort there were dozens of equally eager but less competent, or sometimes just unlucky, entrepreneurs. The most fortunate of them managed to sell out before times got too tough, others had to watch their empires crumble around them. So it was with Victor Palmer, Henry Lane and George Lay of the Michigan Buggy Company of Kalamazoo.

The Michigan Buggy Company made its first attempt at selling an automobile in 1904. A vehicle was constructed by adding a single-cylinder gasoline engine to one of the company&#8217;s buckboards, and offered for sale at a price of $450. Production and sales of the car, which was sometimes called &#8220;Kalamazoo,&#8221; other times &#8220;Michigan,&#8221; were sporadic. In 1911, however, the principals decided to enter the automobile business in a serious fashion. They organized the Michigan Motor Car Company and hired W.H. Cameron, formerly chief engineer for Willys-Overland and Flanders Manufacturing Company. Cameron&#8217;s task was to design a new 40-horsepower four-cylinder car. A body designer by the name of John Campbell was also engaged; Campbell was said to be &#8220;America&#8217;s foremost body designer,&#8221; and to have created &#8220;the finest equipages of the late King of England&#8221;&#8230;, the Sultan of Turkey and &#8220;many of the most distinguished families in Europe and America.&#8221;

The new Model B Michigan was available in touring or roadster form, priced at $1,750 and $1,650, respectively. A less-expensive 33-horsepower model was added for 1912, selling between $1,150 and $1,400. The 40-horsepower car, now on a longer 116-inch wheelbase, had been reduced to $1,500 for either the touring or runabout body style.

For 1913, the Michigan Motor Car Company announced the &#8220;Mighty Michigan Line.&#8221; Prominence was given to the &#8220;40,&#8221; aimed at what the catalog called &#8220;the middle field,&#8221; what we today call &#8220;medium-priced cars.&#8221; Owners in this segment, it was claimed, wanted &#8220;more power, more room, more appearance, more of comfort and luxury.&#8221; They wanted, in short, &#8220;a man-size car.&#8221; On a 118-inch wheelbase, the 40 boasted of being &#8220;the Only Actually Over-Tired Car in America.&#8221; Today, &#8220;over-tired&#8221; implies being sapped of strength. For the Michigan 40, however, it referred to tires larger than actually needed to carry its weight, and a whole page in the catalog was devoted to explaining the virtues of its 35 x 4.5 inch rubber, rated for more than 120 percent of the car&#8217;s 2,800 pounds. &#8220;Do not make the vital mistake of accepting any car that is under-tired,&#8221; warned the text.

From publicity and catalogs, one might conclude that all was well with the Michigan Motor Car Company and that a bright future beckoned. In fact, it was quite the opposite. With an advertising budget of $350,000, the company widely touted the virtues of &#8220;This Year&#8217;s Wanted Car,&#8221; and claimed &#8220;6,125 sold.&#8221; However, that October a grand jury found that company officials had earned an extra $100,000 from a &#8220;velvet payroll,&#8221; and one of them had disposed of his disposable income at the horseracing track. Another drew a two-year jail term for mail fraud in a stock promotion scheme. There were several attempts to save the company from the developing scandal, including a buyout offer from the Pittsburgh distributor and a move to enlist Hugh Chalmers of Chalmers-Detroit to come manage the firm. In the end it all came to naught. In 1915 the Kalamazoo plant was sold, and it became the headquarters of the States Motor Car Company, makers of the equally short-lived (1914-1916) Greyhound Cyclecar and the later States car (1916-1918).

It is not known exactly how many Michigan motor cars were built, but the claim of &#8220;6,125 sold&#8221; is almost certainly hyperbole. Historian G. Marshall Naul, based on study of serial numbers, has estimated that fewer than 1,200 Michigan cars were manufactured over the entire period from 1911 through 1913. As a minor and largely unknown make, few survived, fewer still complete and sound. This car is a fortunate and notable exception to the rule.

Discovered in central Iowa in 1991 by the late Dr. Art Burrichter, this 1913 Michigan 40 had been stored for 67 years. Originally purchased by a farming family for the then-princely sum of $1,585, it had been used sparingly, driven fewer than 5,700 miles in twelve years. In 1925, after a family disagreement, it was put into storage. Burrichter, a well-known collector and sometime dealer, heard about the car from a client. Investigating, he found it well-preserved and in amazing original condition. His attempts to buy it, however, were stymied by failure to agree on a price.

Burrichter did, however, offer to help advertise the Michigan, provided that he be given an opportunity to better the best offer received from another party. This he did, and was finally successful in acquiring it early in 1992. Because the car was complete and untrammeled, with only the patina of nearly seven decades, Burrichter elected not to restore the Michigan.

Prior to his passing in 2002, however, Dr. Burrichter sold the car and the new owner had the Silver Dollar Restoration Shop of Tampa, Florida commence a complete restoration.

Because of the very solid condition of the Michigan and because no parts were missing, it was a comparatively easy restoration. Finished in black, with black interior and upholstery, the car makes a stunning appearance. In its only showing, at the Romeo, Michigan, Cavalcade of Cars, it received a First Prize award. Today it represents an opportunity to acquire a rare prize-winning automobile of a kind that few people have ever seen.


Cameron's Great Car Michigan "40" auto ad 1913 (From Ebay)

 

this was a local car from what i remember, i believe he has had it for a long time. and it will probably never be sold

 

The one in RM Auctions was a different color. I just edited my the previous post to the RM Auction which has several pictures of the one they sold for $154,000. So, now we know at least two 1913 Michigan Touring Cars exist

 

Wow, it's too bad the folks at the Michigan group didn't take an easier, cheaper route & just use an EXISTING power plant, rather than designing their own. Otherwise, sounds as though they were dead-set to make cars.

 

HJ, that's a fascinating story about Fred Jones. SOUNDS like a ma who should get sainthood on Judgement Day, for sure!