… Characters and Stories
It’s hard for us to understand today how big a deal the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) was when the automobile industry started, but it was huge. What was the ALAM, how did it get started and why was it such a big deal? Glad you asked. Patents During the early industrial revolution patents … Continue
Benjamin Briscoe was as well known in the early automobile world as Prince Harry is today. In the early days of the industrial revolution Detroit emerged as one of the biggest hotbeds of heavy industry in the USA. America’s greatest industry was railroads, and the largest rail car (wagon) manufacturers were concentrated in Detroit, as were … Continue
Earlier we saw how Henry Leland rescued investors from the failed Henry Ford Company which they renamed Cadillac, after Detroit’s founder. Billy Durant, as you no doubt know, started General Motors with the idea of combining the most prominent automobile manufacturers of the time: Buick, Ford, Cadillac, Reo and Maxwell-Briscoe. Cadillac was the only one … Continue
Yes, there was a Mr. Buick. Many people know the story of Henry Ford–how the inveterate tinkerer fiddled with all things mechanical. A pleasant young man he was, so much so that the Detroit Edison company he worked for allowed him to make use of some unutilized space. There and his buddies would mess around … Continue
Prince Charming on his white steed, Paul Revere racing through the night–we grew up on the romance of the horse, didn’t we? Those living in late 1800s America didn’t. Horses were a means, a tool, a necessary evil, the only way to get somewhere without walking. You never gave horses a second thought. Everybody … Continue
Like a botanist intrigued by flowers of all stripe, those around me know I’m interested in all manner of business history and trivia. It’s no surprise then that every new day researching a project like Comeback! presents countless rabbit trails. Why rush to finish when meandering through leafy glades is so delightful? Every day, it … Continue
Speeding is not, as we might suspect, a problem of recent creation, fueled by teenagers on Red Bull. Some might mention the depression-era bootleggers whose speeding led to NASCAR’s creation after World War 2. Others might go back to the pre-Depression era when Hollywood’s leading men dashed about town in their Packards and Duesenbergs. No, … Continue
At no time in human history had so much changed in such a short time. In 1850 most people worked for themselves, mostly in rural villages; by the end of the century most worked at jobs in big cities. Concepts we take for granted today, like commuting and having a job, are not much more … Continue
Contrary to the mighty Henry Ford publicity machine’s doctrine, the father of the American automobile and mass production is not he, but Ransom Olds. Prior Success Like Billy Durant, Ransom Olds achieved success in another business before venturing into automobiles. Pliny Olds, his father, opened a machine shop in Lansing, developing a line of steam … Continue
Actually, that’s wrong. They were the Ford men. It was only when Henry Ford disappointed them the second time they changed Ford’s second company into Cadillac. Who were these men? William C. Maybury Maybury was a well-connected lawyer who served two terms as a Democrat House Representative in Congress. After that he returned to law … Continue