What would Buffalo Bill drive? Well, if the notation on the back of this photo is correct he would drive a 1904 Michigan, a vehicle manufactured in Kalamazoo.This obscure automotive manufacturer was a partnership between the Blood brothers, leading manufacturers of bicycles and pioneers in the development of the automobile, and the Fuller brothers, a manufacturing family that specialized in broom sticks and similar wooden items. By late 1906 the city of Kalamazoo was swamped with companies manufacturing an automobile under the Michigan name.
The Kalamazoo Buggy Company hoped to profit by the rise in automotive popularity by motorizing one of their most popular buggies. This vehicle was marketed under the Michigan name.
The Blood and Fuller partnership dissolved. The Blood's began producing their own automobiles that were marketed under the Blood and Michigan name. The Fuller's continued with production of the original Michigan.
The connfusion was short lived. By 1907 the Fuller's had abandoned automobile production and the Blood's followed soon after. The Kalamazoo Buggy version of the Michigan continued until 1913 though the company was plagued with lawsuits, fraud, scandal, and theft.
J. Walter Christie - Automotive PioneerFor every Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, or David Buick there are several hundred automotive pioneers who have been obscured by the misting of time with the passing of years. In consideration of the vast contributions made by these individuals the obscurity is quite surprising.
J. Walter Christie transformed the Christie Iron Works into the Christie Direct Action Motor Car Company early in the 20th century. His primary automotive focus was the development of a viable front wheel drive automobile.
As with most early automotive manufacturers he turned to racing to promote his developments, patents, and automobiles. These photos are, left to right, the 1906, 1907, and 1908 racers built for these promotional efforts.
His earliest endeavor was tested in January of 1904 at Ormond (Daytona) Beach in Florida. This automobile was an engineering marvel that featured a 30 horse power, four-cylinder engine mounted transversely with the crankshaft supplanting the front axle. The wheels were turned by flywheels and leather faced clutches, telescoping universal joints at each end.
A front wheel drive Christie was the first American built entry in the French Grand Prix. This car also has the distinction of having the largest engine of any vehicle ever entered in this prestigious race; a 19,881 cc V-4.
Racing soon consumed Christie's time as well as well as the companies resources. As a result production of vehicles for sale was extremely low.
The primary revenue for his endeavors was derived through the invention of a tractor unit that allowed horse drawn fire fighting equipment to be motorized. Other contributions by Christie include a small, front wheel drive taxi for use in congested urban traffic settings, development of aircraft engines, and tank components for military application.
In the market for a collector car? Would you like something a bit out of the ordinary, something not often seen at car shows or on the highway? May I suggest the often overlooked De Soto manufactured by Chrysler?
From show quality restorations and low mileage originals to barn finds and neglected derelicts they are still available and often at a surprisingly reasonable price. From left to right; 1955 De Soto sedan near Hackberry, Arizona, along Route 66, barn find 1929 sedan engine and the grill on the same car, and 1949 sedan at the Route 66 Fun Run in Kingman, Arizona.
For more information about these forgotten monarchs of the highway, informative discussion, assistance in locating parts or vehicles, or for technical advice look no further than De Soto Land.
For the novice or expert this handy little tome is an excellent reference source for any automotive engine rebuild project. With this as an introductory or refresher course as a corner stone the restoration of any automotive power plant will go much smoother.
The concise text, detailed photography, and expertise of the author are manifest in each section and on every page. If your automotive library were a tool box this book would be a set of 3/8 inch sockets in metric and standard configurations.
Selling the Sizzle -
Much has been written on the early technological development of the automobile, the visionaries who moved it from circus sideshow curiosity to necessity, and the dramatic societal changes wrought by abandonment of the horse and buggy. Curiously, a key component in this transition and the acceptance of the automobile has received little more than cursory examination. 
Initially advertisement designed to promote the automobile displayed less excitement than that created for the sale of patent medicines. It was often wordy and dry with little in the way of illustration or succinct to the point of sterility.
An advertisement for the Porter Stanhope of 1900 begins with a banner headline proclaiming this“The Only Perfect Automobile.” A small pen and ink portrayal of the vehicle, notation of weight and price, and several hundred words – “A handsome, stylish vehicle which can be started instantly and without previous laborious or lengthy preparation, can be stopped promptly can be run at any speed up to twenty five miles per hour …” follows.
An advertisement from 1903 is more than stark in its simplicity. “The Jaxon – Steam is Reliable and Easily Understood” Another from 1903 presents a side view illustration of the car, the address of the manufacturer and, “Wanamaker Automobiles – The New Searchmont.”
Many leading proponents of the automobile openly questioned the need for manufacturers to advertise at all. Edward Goff, editor of the The Motorcycle in 1897 asked that question in the May issue and answered it by saying, “…it would require volumes to produce arguments in its favor. The manufacturer of the motorcycle is in a position to take advantage of more free advertising than any other industry.”
Competition, dramatic technological evolution, and a rapidly changing public perception of the automobile did little to change either school of thought in regards to automotive advertisement, at least initially. However, a few astute businessmen, such as Ernest Elmo Calkins, felt that the establishment of artistic standards as well as tailoring promotion to target a select market would benefit a manufacturer thus giving them an advantage over the competition and the company that provided this service the potential for great profit.
In 1908, Calkins & Holden, upon acceptance of the contract to design promotional material for Pierce-Arrow, became the first advertising agency to focus almost wholly on automotive advertisement. The work of this agency elevated the business of advertising, especially automotive, above the perception it was a pulp mill for wordsmiths incapable of earning a living as a writer or artists who need an income to supplement that derived from the painting of penny post cards.
Active recruitment of artists for promotion of the Pierce-Arrow by Calkins & Holden was the first step towards establishment of the artistic standards envisioned by Elmo Calkins several years before. Among the renowned artists who lent their talents to the promotion of Pierce-Arrow for the agency were Edward Borein, a master of western art in the style of Remington, and Ludwig Hohlwein, the leading German poster painter of the time. Other artist included Newell Convers whose illustrative work for the books penned by Robert Louis Stevenson had made him legendary, and Joseph Leyendecker, famous for this Saturday Evening Post covers.
The resultant work was stunning, capable of conveying the message that Pierce-Arrow was not an average automobile for the average buyer with few or no words. In an instant, the Victoria era of advertisement became antiquated and dusty.
What Calkins & Holden did for art in automotive advertisement Edward “Ned” Jordan did for colorful, concise, inspiring word pictures. Jordan began honing his skills at automotive advertisement in the summer of 1907 for the Thomas B. Jeffery & Company, manufacturer of the successful Rambler, a company owned by his wife’s family.
In January of 1916, Jordan announced his resignation from Thomas B. Jeffery & Company and that he would soon be forming a company for the manufacture of automobiles. The resultant Jordan was a fine automobile that would most likely have faded in to obscurity with the hundreds of other fine cars built during this period if it had not been for the advertising and marketing genius of the company’s namesake.
In a brilliant move, the first advertisement for the Jordan appeared jointly in Motor Age and The Automobile with neither giving the identity of the company other than the Jordan Arrowhead in bright red. The advertisements were old fashioned with no photos, just concise well-chosen words that stirred the imagination. Footnotes that inquiries for purchase or dealership opportunity were to be forwarded to either publication followed. The next week’s advertisement featured the Jordan name and an eight-page insert entitled, “The Realization of a Great Ideal.”
This format of teaser followed with full-blown descriptive promotion would become a hallmark of Jordan advertisement. However, the true legacy of Ned Jordan is the advertisements composed of stunning word pictures designed to stir the imagination.
“Smart Designs for Smart Folks” “The Jordan Silhouette – Women, with a natural appreciation of comfort, atmosphere and poise …” “Some day in June, when happy hours abound, a wonderful girl and a wonderful boy will leave their friends in a shower of rice …” “Somewhere west of Laramie there is a bronco busting, steer roping girl who knows what I’m talking about …”
Cadwallader Kelsey, the brilliant sales manager for Maxwell-Briscoe, laid the next foundational stone for the development of automotive specific advertisement. Stunting for sales had been an integral part of automotive promotion at least since the Duryea of 1896 received top billing over the albino and fat lady at the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Kelsey honed and perfected this into a veritable art form. In Philadelphia, location for his first agency, Maxwell automobiles drove up the steps to the classiest restaurants in town, on a thousand mile trip up and down Broad Street, and countless other stunts with banners flying. Then he added a modern twist with the hiring of Lubin Film Studios to capture the stunts for showing at nickelodeons, the filmed automobile commercial was born.
Completing the foundation of modern automotive promotion was the development of slogan usage. Initially these slogans focused on a cars ability to overcome the difficulties of the pioneering motorist. As a result, they today serve as wondrous time capsules.
For the Jackson “No Hill Too Steep, No Sand Too Deep” and the Pope-Toledo was the “Quiet Mile A Minute Car.” The Allen was “The King of Hill Climbers.”
With the establishment of customer loyalty and standardization of the industry, the honing of slogans and jingles into messages that provided instant association for a manufacturer became an integral part of any promotional campaign. Cadillac has been “The Standard of the World” for almost a century. “Ask the Man Who Owns One” left little doubt that Packard owners were satisfied customers. The Lozier was, “The Choice of Men Who Know.”
Quantum leaps in automotive technology made cars dependable and less costly to operate than a wagon and team. This in turn gave way to a rise in the supportive infrastructure needed for automotive usage to be practical beyond the confines of urban areas.
The development of automotive advertisement, however, was the key in the transformation of the automobile from a luxury to necessity, from sideshow curiosity to a multimillion-dollar business, and from an eccentrics dream to a reality of steel and glass. It was automotive advertisement that encouraged people to “See the USA in a Chevrolet,” and to think about the “Ford in Your Future.”
