Did You Know?

   Did you know that in America, there has been more than 5,000 individual automakers? And the majority of whom were born and disappeared many years before Pearl Harbor became a household name. Some produced cars for a number of years before fierce competition killed them off, such as the Cleburne Auto Car Manufacturing Co.’s Luck Utility (produced 1911 to 1914). Others were mere pipe dreams that became registered businesses with products advertised, but who failed to assemble so much as a single automobile, such as Frank B. Heatherman’s self named vehicle that missed its 1911 debut and was never heard from again. Cars in the later category are politely described by saying: "Manufacture of a car is doubted."

   They are mysteries, the people behind the short lived companies. Every story seems to suggest 10 more tales waiting to be uncovered-all of which would make a good plot for a novel or movie. Where the men behind the American Silent Motors Company., to whom investors contributed 1 million dollars, lousy businessmen or charlatons? Did George McLaughlin really think himself named 1926 prototype all terrain car would Americans riding across water and pavement from a giant spinning fan? The world will probably never know.

   The names themselves alone provoke laughter in a modern audience. It is easy to see why many of these companies failed; the founders sabotaged their own efforts by choosing seriously flawed- let's call them "charisma challenged" names.

   Some names are acceptable when used in other context, but you would want to drive a car called the Emacipator, Dreadnought, American Juvenile, American Chocolate, or Centaur. Other names suggest the salesman is messing with your mind, such as Crouch, Bugmobile, Dollwet, Waltomobile, Fellwock, and Woonsocket.

   We like car names that have the word "car" in the title, hence one of our favorites includes the Car, Millionair's Car, Mystery Car, Mystery Car Electric, Ner-A-Car (which with only two wheels, it was not Nerly a real car), and a Car Without A Name. Contrary to it's name we would be afraid to ride it in Fear Naught, and we wouldn't be caught dead in a Coffin Steamer. We are not sure how to pronounce Buuttassa, Synnestevedt Electric, Kreigshaber or Ough & Waltenburg. ("Maybe their ad slogan should be Ask the man who owns one...how to pronounce it".)

   The Hall Gasoline Trap sounds like an unpleasant place to spend time. The Church Pneumonic forces, together two words that do not combine well. Coyote Special could be an euphemism for what happens when a cowboy oversleeps and the desert wildlife is is hungry. If the Adams Auotmobile Co., of Hiawatha, Kansas, created an entry level model below it's Average Man's Runabout, might it be called the Below Average Man's Runabout? (We'll never know since the company only sold to the public for one year- 1906).

   The first Desoto was built in Auburn, Indiana, in 1913 and not by Chrysler. Since, the inception of the industry 125 makes of the steam automobile have been built at various times in the United States. Cadillac has been given credit for buidling the first car, to have a steering wheel in 1902. Although, some may say that Packard was the first.

   White steamers were the official cars of the United States presidents. There was once a "Rooselvelt" car built by Marmon before F.D.R. Two cycle engines were very popular in the early day automobiles; they fired every time the piston went to the top of the cylindar and had only four moving parts- the crankshaft, piston, connecting rod, and flywheel.

   There were three Ajax cars built in the United States, an electric one in New York in 1901, and one in Seattle, Washington, and the last Ajax in 1923 by Nash. There were three cars named Chicago. The Gale car built in Galesburg, Illinois, had a tilting body to make it easier to work on the engine, located under the body. There was once a Hudson steamer built in 1901.