Remembering the pioneers

Some found fame, many did not – but all left an imprint

THERE were motorised bicycles and vehicles with four, six and even eight wheels. They were powered by steam, gasoline, kerosene, electricity … even oversized clock springs and compressed air.

They began as a manifestation of eccentricity and scientific curiosity but soon morphed into side show curiosity and promotional gimmick.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the automobile was a multimillion-dollar industry.

Names became brands. Streetscapes were transformed with gas stations, garages, electric vehicle charging stations, billboards, and dealerships. Society was transformed. The world of transportation was transformed. Our lexicon was transformed with the addition of words like motel. Generational businesses were decimated. Time honored careers were transformed into historic footnotes.

In 1872 Studebaker based in South Bend, Indiana was billed as the largest manufacturer of wheeled vehicles in the world; wheelbarrows, freight wagons, prams, carriages, surreys, ambulances, buckboards. In 1897 the company built the first of several prototype horseless carriages, and in 1902 their first production models, an electric designed by Thomas Edison, rolled from the factory. The company continued producing horse drawn vehicles until 1920 albeit in ever smaller numbers as the company evolved into one of the largest automobile manufacturing companies in the United States.

In 1889, Elmer Apperson and his brother Edgar opened the Riverside Machine Works on Main Street in Kokomo, Indiana. As the brothers were talented machinists and blacksmiths, they prospered and development a reputation for quality workmanship. This was the reason that an eccentric Kokomo businessman named Elwood Haynes retained their services to install a Stintz marine gasoline engine in a carriage. That horseless carriage took to the street on the Fourth of July 1894. From these humble beginnings the Apperson Brothers Automobile Company was launched. Even though it is largely unknown today, the company continued producing automobiles until 1926, and pioneered an array of developments.

Clinton Woods lacked the business savvy needed to attract investors or successfully form a corporation. But he was a visionary obsessed with a simple idea; the horseless carriage was the future and the future of horseless carriages was electric vehicles. In 1899 financier Samuel Insull and several board members of Standard Oil purchased Woods designs and patents, and with an astounding $10 million in capital stock launched the Woods Motor Vehicle Company.

The company immediately began producing an electric Hansom Cab that sold well in New York and other cities. In 1900 they began producing a Victoria that was displayed at Chicago’s first auto show. It was here that the manager of the Honolulu Iron Works saw a Woods, placed an order, and imported the first automobile into Hawaii.  

The company enjoyed moderate success even though the electric vehicle was being quickly eclipsed by gasoline powered vehicles. But the companies crowning achievement was the Woods Dual Power introduced in the summer of 1916. The car used a Woods designed four-cylinder engine as an auxiliary to the electric motor. At speeds under 15 miles per hour, the gasoline engine idled and the car was driven by the electric motor. Faster speeds were obtained by using the gasoline engine with the electric motor as an auxiliary. The Woods Dual Power was a hybrid!  

Alexander Winton established the Winton Bicycle Company in 1891, and five years later took his first experimental horseless carriage for a spin. On March 1, 1897, he organized he Winton Motor Carriage Company, and to promote his new vehicle, proceeded to drive from Cleveland, Ohio to New York City. By 1899, with the production of 100 vehicles, he became the largest manufacturer of horseless carriages in America. That was also the year he turned away a young mechanic as he was turned off by his ego and launched a rivalry that would last for years. That mechanic was Henry Ford.

Winton played a pivotal role in the launching of one of America’s most famous automobile manufacturers. In 1898 car number twelve was sold to James Ward Packard who proved to be a very dissatisfied customer. During the drive from Cleveland to his home in Warren, Ohio, his new machine broke down numerous times and was eventually towed by a team of horses. Packard confronted Winton and made several suggestions for improvements. Winton was heard to say, “Mr. Packard, if you are so smart, why don’t you make a car yourself.” And so, Mr. Packard launched the Packard Automobile Company in 1899.

The establishment of automobile companies in the first years of the 20th century was a tsunami. But the market was very finite. This and a major economic recession in 1907 decimated the industry. An increased demand for vehicles, advancements in production and a growing middle class fueled another gold rush in the industry before WWII.

The post war recession and the growing dominance of major manufacturers including General Motors, Ford, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, and Packard forced many companies to close or merge. And then came the Great Depression, and the industry that was birthed with such promise for the independent thinker was forever transformed.

Before the launching of Tesla by Elon Musk, only one man was able to successfully launch an American automobile manufacturing company after 1925 – Walter Chrysler.

  To read more by Jim Hinckley go to jimhinckleysamerica.com

From horses to horsepower

After the horse fell out of vogue, carriage-makers had to adapt – and fast. Some did well.

 THE dawning of the automotive age was the death knell for countless carriage building companies. And yet the infancy of the American auto industry was also an era of unbridled opportunity for the owners of carriage manufacturing concerns - if they had vision.

Counted among the companies that successfully made the transition from horse drawn to horsepower was an outfit based in South Bend, Indiana: Studebaker. The company’s origins were as a simple blacksmith shop. Then came the manufacture of wheelbarrows in the California gold fields. By the mid-1880s this was one of the largest producers of wheeled vehicles in the world, prams, freight wagons, surreys, coaches, gun carriages, and ambulances. At the dawning of the 20th century the company took a tentative step toward automobile manufacturing with the production of electric car designed by Thomas Edison. The rest, as they say, is history.

Jacob J. Deal established a blacksmith and wagon repair shop in Jonesville, Michigan in 1858. In 1865, with a workforce of twelve men, he initiated the manufacture of wagons, buggies, and sleighs. By 1890, as one of the largest manufacturers in the upper Midwest, the company was turning out hundreds of carts, freight wagons, surreys, carriages and sleighs each year. For the company’s owners the automobile the automobile represented new opportunity and by the early 1900s Deal was a major supplier of commercial van bodies for fledgling automobile manufacturers in nearby Jackson and Hillsdale.

By 1908 even a company as successful as Deal could no longer ignore the increasing dominance of the automobile. And so, the company was reorganized and diversified to include automobile manufacturing. By all accounts, the automobile was as quality a product as the carriages and wagons that rolled from the factory. Still, it proved to be a short-lived endeavor and the company abandoned automobile production, returned to the manufacture of wagons, and then quietly closed its doors in 1915.

The McFarlan Wagon Manufacturing Company of Connersville, Indiana was established in 1856. As with Deal, the company prospered, expanded, and by the late 19th century was a leading manufacturing of horse drawn transportation. But unlike Deal, McFarlan successfully made the transition from wagon manufacturer to the manufacturer of luxurious automobiles that became an industry standard.

A key to the company’s transition was the vision displayed by the owners in 1886 when they established a modern industrial park. The McFarlan park provided immediate access to the railroad and cheap energy as McFarlan also owned a natural gas company. By leasing property to manufacturers and suppliers of carriage and buggy equipment, and furniture companies, McFarlan was able to lower their production costs. In the early 20th century the park would be dominated by the manufacturers of automotive components, and this too would work in McFarlan’s favor.

In June 1909, there was a simple, short announcement in a trade journal, “The McFarlan Carriage Company of Connersville, Indiana has announced that they will soon begin manufacturing a motor buggy.” The company was embracing the future but with the crippling mindset of the 19th century. Just as Henry Ford was on the cusp on launching mass production to lower the cost of each vehicle, the McFarlan business model centered on manufacturing two hundred vehicles per year for the “discriminating buyer.” As a result, the company began pricing themselves out of the market almost from the beginning. The first models had a factory list price of $US2000 (a Ford was $850) but by 1918 prices were surpassing $5000.

The first McFarlan’s rolled from the factory in late 1909 and were immediately track tested at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In the first race, they claimed third and fifth place, and in the second race, fourth and fifth. Surprisingly, even though the car continued to earn recognition through racing, the decision was made to focus exclusively on the production of luxury cars, and in 1913 wagon manufacturing was abandoned.    

During the teens the three “P” s – Packard, Pierce Arrow and Peerless – dominated the luxury car market, but McFarlan was in a league all its own. Before the company closed its doors in 1928, the company had established a reputation for the limited production of huge luxury cars with ostentatious body work that appealed to movie star, gangsters, and oil men. The list of owners included boxer Jack Dempsey and Virginia governor E. Lee Trinkle. Al Capone bought a McFarlan for his wife, Mae, in 1924 and bought a second one in 1926 for his use.

As an example of the companies over the top luxury appointments, in 1922 a special model was built for display at the Chicago Automobile Show. Standard models made extensive use of nickel plating. On the display car this was replaced with 24 carat gold! It was purchased by a wealthy Oklahoma oil tycoon as a gift for his wife for the princely sum of $25,000. 

Initially the company used engines produced by a variety of companies including Buda, Continental, and Brownell. For the line of commercial cars developed in 1920, the company would continue its association with Continental but in the cars built for the discriminating buyer the engines were produced by McFarlan. This included the monstrous 573-c.i.d Twin Valve Six with triple ignition and three sparkplugs per cylinder that was rated at 120-horsepower. Quirky options, often trouble prone, were also a part of the cars appeal. These included vacuum assist starting, heated steering wheel, and front and rear heating, and self-lubricating chassis.

By 1922, the company’s best year with production of 235 vehicles, the proverbial handwriting was on the wall. The company was in dire financial condition. The post war recession had crippled a number of auto manufacturers and a company such as McFarlan was in no position to compete. They were still using the antiquated T head engine, and their prices now ranged from $6,300 to $9,000.

With no money for restyling the company soldiered own in a valiant attempt to remain solvent. By contracting with Lycoming, the cars were updated mechanically but the styling was increasingly dated and ever more luxurious interiors, and gadgets, were not enough to maintain even mediocre sales. Then in 1924, Harry McFarlan fell ill and turned over management of the company to Burton Barrows. The final blows came in 1928. Both McFarlan and Barrows died within weeks of each other. And this was shortly after the company was forced into receivership.

The final chapter in the McFarlan story was written by E.L. Cord, the swashbuckling entrepreneur behind the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg empire. In 1926 Cord began building his automotive empire by trading Auburn stock for a controlling interest in Duesenberg. The following year he gained control of the Lycoming Engine Company of Pennsylvania and bought major auto plants in the McFarlan industrial park, the Lexington Automobile Company and the Ansted Engine Works. Then in 1928 he acquired the Central Manufacturing Company followed a few months later by the acquisition of McFarland. He then consolidated the factories and transformed 82 acres of the park into a manufacturing complex for Auburn.

By 1930 McFarlan was on the fast track to becoming an historic footnote. With no resale value as a used car, McFarlan’s were relegated to the back of car lots, to salvage yards and were converted to trucks. Survivors were consumed by the scrap drives during WWII. Today only nineteen cars are known to exist, and they seldom change hands. Each is a tangible link to a bygone era, a time when an automobile company could cater almost exclusively to the rich and famous and turn a profit.

 To read more by Jim Hinckley go to jimhinckleysamerica.com