The Motor Parade in Ten Years

Glancing Backward Over a Decade Reveals Many Interesting Facts

GEORGE NW. SUTTON, JR.

IOOKING back over the intervening years, we are forced again to the conclusion that human memory is a short-lived thing. In checking over the events that have transpired in the motor world, we have run into an amazing array of facts and figures which had completely slipped our mind. To those who make it a hobby to follow motoring affairs, some of the following items may prove interesting.

Did you know, for instance, that late in 1913 D. McCall White, formerly of the British Daimler Company and later designer of the Napier, left the Crossley Motor Company to come to America, where, as his first big achievement, he was largely responsible for designing the Cadillac V-type eight-cylinder car, and later the Lafayette?

Did you know that American automobile manufacturers built only 485,000 cars and trucks in 1913, while their production for the year just past was 4,005,230?

Do you remember that, early in 1914, more than fifty companies were organized to build those funny little things called cvclecars which were then so popular in Europe and that a few months later, after the European war had begun, there was hardly one of these companies left in the cyclecar business?

Do you remember Henry M. Leland? It was Mr. Leland who, born in 1843, and having been a manufacturer of tools for rifle making during the Civil War, organized in 1902 the Cadillac Automobile Company, where he built the first Cadillac in a shop near the shed in which Henry Ford was working on the first Ford? Many years later Mr. Leland designed and produced the Lincoln car. When the Lincoln Company got into financial difficulties, a couple of years ago, it was purchased by Mr. Ford and is now being operated by him with his son Edsel as president, while Mr. Leland is enjoying a well earned rest. It was just ten years ago that Mr. Leland was elected president of the Society of Automobile Engineers, as it was then called.

Do you recall that, early in 1914, the first Lincoln car appeared as a Detroit product at $500? It had no connection with the present Lincoln and soon passed into oblivion.

Do you remember the prices we used to pay for those inefficient old cars of 1913? Then the average price of American cars was $2347. Today the average price of our cars is $811.

In those days there were approximately 145 active car manufacturers. There are now about 85.

Do you remember how we used to view with growing concern the tremendous increase in automobile traffic which, in 1914, consisted of 1,711,339 cars and trucks.

Little did we dream that in ten short years the registration of motor vehicles would jump to its present total of 15,281,295, or one car for every 7.2 persons.

DO you remember that Fourteenth Annual Automobile Show of 1914, held by the one-year-old Automobile Chamber of Commerce at the Grand Central Palace? The Chamber had just been formed by a consolidation of the National Association of Auto Alanufacturers and the offshoot of the old Association of Licensed Automobile Alanufacturers. In that Show were displayed 75 cars, 13 motorcycles and 6 electrics. In the 1924 Show there were 66 cars, six taxicabs and no electrics or steamers—the first all-gasoline show. You will certainly get a thrill of memory out of the names of some of the 1914 exhibitors no longer in existence—Lozier, White, Regal, Krit, Pathfinder, Imperial, Great Western, Pope Hartford, Briggs-Detroiter, Speed well, Havers Six, Pullman, Henderson, Cartercar, Alarion, Vulcan, Empire, Palmer-Singer, Herreshoff,Keeton, Saxon,Metropol, Cameron, Allen, Abbott-Detroit, McIntyre, Ohio, Briscoe, Metz, Lyons-Knight and Partin-Palmer.

Some of the cars which were displayed as important elements of the automobile industry at that time are still among the most popular American automobiles. They include Franklin,Cadillac,Oakland, Buick, Locomobile, Maxwell, Paige-Detroit, Winton, Apperson, Peerless, Stearns, Hupmobile, Chalmers, Hudson, Overland, Cole, Studebaker, Reo, Yelie, Pierce-Arrow, Packard, Mercer, Stutz, Fiat, Auburn, National, Moon, Willvs-Knight, Alarmon, Oldsmobile, Moline-Knight (now the R & V Knight), Case, Haynes, Chandler and King. At the 1914 Show, R. Al. Owen and Company displayed the Entz electric transmission for the first time in America. It was installed in an Austrian Daimler car. This was the beginning of the ill-fated Owen-Magnetic car.

A new name in the industry at that time was Willvs-Knight, which was just being introduced by John Willys and his associates. In 1923 the combined production of Overland and Willys-Knight cars established a new record of 200,604 and plans for 1924 call for 300,000.

In February of 1914 a trade paper said: "The public is still in the dark as to the exact type of car Dodge Brothers will put on the market when the present arrangement for supplying parts to the Ford Motor Company expires." Now, in 1924, the public is no longer in the dark and more than 1,000,000 Dodge cars have been manufactured. The present president of Dodge Brothers, Fred J. Haynes, was formerly high in the councils of the Franklin Company.

IT was early in 1914 that Charles S. Mott, Mayor of Flint, Michigan, announced his candidacy for re-election on the Independent ticket. He was then president of the WestonMott Company. Now he is one of the leaders of General Motors.

And, speaking of General Motors, what has that amazing and enormous organization done in ten years? Its accomplishments have been wonderful. The 1913 production of General Motors was 52,000 cars and it was stated at the end of that year that the company could make 60,000 cars the following year with the addition of a few new buildings and machines. In the one month of December 1923 General Motors made and sold more cars than it manufactured in all of 1913—59,000. The total 1923 production was 796,000 cars, of which 483,432 were Chevrolets. The rest were Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Cadillacs and Oaklands and G. M. C. trucks.

Some of the men who were at the head of companies which they are continuing to lead ten years later were Colonel Charles Clifton of Pierce-Arrow, Elwood Haynes of Haynes, Roy Chapin and Howard E. Coffin, of Hudson, and Alvan Macauley and Jesse D. Vincent of Packard. Samuel Miles was then, as now, Manager of the National Automobile Shows. Alfred Reeves had just started in as General Manager of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce.

The Importers' Show, which later became the Automobile Salon, and was held at the Hotel Astor January 2nd to 10th, 1914, at the same time as the National Automobile Show, called forth this comment from Horseless Age, a prominent automobile trade journal of the times: "The day of the clamor of wealthy Americans for foreign automobiles is past, but these machines still hold some of their admirers." This situation has undergone very little change in ten years. Foreign cars still are being imported into the United States to fulfill the needs of those who are determined to have "something different." The importation of these hundreds of European cars has had, and is still having, a splendid effect upon American motoring, especially in the opportunity it affords for the international exchange of ideas.

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At that Importers' Show there were 52 cars displayed, including two American machines. This was the first appearance of American cars at the Salon. They were the Simplex and the S.G.V.

WHAT of Henry Ford? In 1913. Ford made 200.000 cars in Detroit and in his various assembling plants. Ford's production for 1923 has recently been announced as 2.090,959. which does not include 101.889 Fordson tractors and 7,825 Lincoln cars.

It was in the first week of 1914 that Ford announced his startling profit-sharing plan through which $10,000,000 was divided as a bonus among his workmen and the Ford five-dollar-a-day minimum wage was established. At that time the price of the Ford touring car was $500 and the roadster $550.

The Ford bonus plan which startled the business world was announced by James Couzens, at that time VicePresident and General Manager of the Ford Company. Mr. Couzens is now a member of the United States Senate. On the first day that the $5 minimum wage went into effect the police had to turn fire hoses on the crowd of applicants.

The Automobile Show of 1914 witnessed the beginning of the rush toward the adoption of 6-cylinder engines. Hudson, Peerless and Locomobile at that time discontinued their 4-cylinder cars to concentrate on sixes which brought to 34 the number of manufacturers making 6-cylinder cars exclusively. Nineteen companies had joined this group in 1913. The 8-cylinder car was unheard of in those days. The production for 1913 showed 44% of 6-cylinder machines and 55% fours. For 1923 the figures have shown a remarkable reversal, with 70% of sixes, 20% of fours and 10% of .eights.

Just ten years ago the movement to reduce the number of models began. Franklin, Marmon, Case, Auburn, Cole, Hupmobile, King, Kissel, Locomobile, McFarlan, Moon, Oakland, Overland, Packard, Peerless, Studebaker and some others now out of business all made sharp reductions in the number of models they were producing.

To show the close connection which existed in the minds of automobile manufacturers between motor cars and horsedrawn vehicles, it might be mentioned that the cheapest car recorded during 1913 was the Duryea "buggy" at $450 while the "surrey" of the same make brought $500.

Electric lighting, which is now standard equipment on all cars, had made great progress by 1914, and was supplied as standard or optional equipment on 89% of the cars. The remaining 11% used acetylene.

Just as we are now in the midst of a considerable discussion over the adoption of four-wheel brakes and balloon tires, so were they having turbulent arguments in those days. Then it was the contemplated change from right hand to left hand drive. Locomobile offered four models, two with right hand drive and two with left. By 1914 about 67% of American cars were driven from the left side. It may be that the writer is oldfashioned, but he still has a preference for the right hand drive, which is hardly available now on American cars.

At the end of 1913 there were 120,000 cars in California, 135.000 in New York and 60,483 in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of 1924 there are 1,093,660 in California, 1,214,090 in New York and 1,064,625 in Pennsylvania. There are approximately fifteen times as many cars and trucks in the United States today as there were ten years ago.

The late A. L. Westgard, who was then Vice-President of the National Highways Association and later became one of the best known proponents of motor camping and touring, was forced to return late in 19x3 to New York by rail from San Antonio, Texas, because of the impassable condition of Texas roads. Toda}* we have over 450,000 miles of surfaced highways and, through the expenditure of approximately $390,000,000, we are creating one of the finest highway systems in the world. The contributions of the United States Government in the form of Federal Highway Aid to the States is having an important effect on the growth of our good roads

Those who are mechanically inclined will be interested in the changes that have taken place in the types of cylinders used in American engines. In 1914 the proportion was 62% of L-head engines, 28% of the T-head type and only 6.6% of engines with the valves in the head. Owing to a very discernible tendency this year, L-head engines are back again approximately where they were, with 67%. The T-head engine has ceased to be a factor in American automobiles and its place has been taken by the valve-inhead machine, which is now supplied with 22% of our cars. A little over 6% have sleeve valve motors.

The subject of brakes was being discussed in lively fashion even in that dim and distant day and several prominent members of the Society of Automotive Engineers were predicting that electric brakes for automobiles would appear in the near future. They have not yet made their official d6but.

ELECTRIC self-starters were beginning to be quite popular in 1914 and were supplied with 70% of the cars. Another 4% of the cars were equipped with pneumatic self-starters.

In ten years clutches have undergone a revolution in which the cone clutch has almost completely vanished. Ten years ago only 52% of the cars had multiple disc clutches, while 42% had cone clutches and 6% band clutches. The only car made in America today with a cone clutch is the Rolls-Royce.

One could go on almost indefinitely citing the ways in which automobile progress has been made in ten years. The motor car represents the greatest step forward in quick, personal, economical transportation that humanity has ever taken. America is the most motorized country in the world. Of all the automobiles in the world, 85% of them are here in the United States. Naturally, the turning loose of over 15,000,000 automobiles in 25 years upon our streets and highways, which were built to hold only a moderate volume of foot and horsedrawn traffic, has created innumerable and excessively bothersome problems. Such questions as those of public safety, traffic congestion, parking and other vital problems are pressing for solution and it is not difficult to predict that the next ten years will see some revolutionary changes in our methods of dealing with this modern transportation.