THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

May 7, 1992

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

Let us step into your brand new automobile of your choice, start up the motor, put it in reverse and back up in time, back to when the automobile was just making its appearance.

            In May of 1908, while Sam P. Godfrey and C. Kreunen were running ads for farm machinery, buggies and surries, and N.P. Peterson and Sorenson and Pederson advertised hose shoeing and repair, A.M. Hansen was running ads for Maxwell cars.

            The May 21, 1908 ad read as follows:  “The Rambler Model 31.  It is the car for the farmer.  It is a car for the businessman.  A.M. Hansen’s new machinery hall.  Price $1,400.”

            Within a year the Nelson Painting Company advertised to paint buggies and automobiles at a fair price.  The location that they gave was northeast of the Courthouse Square.  In 100 years from now people will be asking, just where was the Courthouse in 1908?  Northeast of the Courthouse stood a tall, two-story wooden building.  This building stood in what is now the vacant lot adjacent to Verna’s, Inc. at 195 Jefferson St.  The building burned to the ground in 1920.

            On a nice spring day in May in 1942, Alton Hansen took the opportunity to do some shop cleaning when his father, A.M. Hansen, was home sick.  After 30 years of accumulation, the office was spick and span again with varnish and new paint.  In the process of the cleaning up job, there was unearthed old printed brochures of the birth of the automobile industry – pamphlets and pictures from 1910.

            A test officially sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, according to the pamphlet, showed that a Maxwell car costs less to use than a horse and buggy.  The itemized expense account showed hay, oats, straw, shoeing and axle grease in one column.  The figures showed that a salesman using the horse and buggy could cover only 197 miles in a six-day work week, while the salesman using the Maxwell Runabout was able to cover 457 miles in the same six days.

            The Maxwell won with a mileage cost of 3-1/2 ¢ per mile against 5¢ per mile with the hay burner.

            Also from the Hansen office cleaning was found a rare volume – a motor car directory for 1909.  The 1909 directory listed 183 manufacturers of gasoline-propelled pleasure vehicles, five steam-propelled manufacturers and 13 companies with electric-powered vehicles.

            The cars in the pictures of the 1910 brochure were not as streamlined as they were in 1942, many of the cars being only buggies or surries with gasoline motors concealed under the seat in the space intended for a halter, lap-robe and a sack of oats.  The horsepower, too, wasn’t much greater with the gasoline engine, than with old dobbin.

            There was the Bendix, priced at $650, which had a 12-horsepower, two-cylinder engine, chainbelt drive with 1-1/2 inch solid rubber tires.

            The Invincible Schacht, model K, had the same specifications, except that it developed 18 to 20 horsepower.  The $680 model had a 74-inch wheelbase and a genuine 72-inch Corning buggy spring. The driving power was chains, one to each rear wheel.

            For $750 you could buy a McIntre two-seater, with 34 by 1-1/2 inch solid rubber tires, 24-horsepower motor, two forward speeds and real roller bearings in the wheels.

            The International Buggy had high surrey wheels and a top that covered both seats. It cost $850 and developed only 14 horsepower.  Like 100 other makes that year, it had but two cylinders.

            The Hobble Accessible had 46 by 1-1/2 inch solid rubber tires, two cute little kerosene lamps on the dashboard, two cylinders, dry cell current supply and double-side chain drive.  The cost was $850.

            When you wanted 30 h.p. model you got into big money, with the brass plated two-seater, custom made by Premier Motors, selling for $2,500 to $3,600.  It was a four-cylinder, with 34 by 3-1/2 inch inflated tires, Bosch magneto, forced fed lubrication, multiple disc clutch, doors that enclosed the rear seat, and left-hand drive.

            It seems as if the list went on for over 150 more names showing the wide variety of experimenta-tion which went on before Walter Chrysler, Henry Ford and Alfred P. Sloan, who, 30 years later, controlled 95% of America’s 800,000 new units per year.

            The Waupaca Record for May 5, 1910, gave the names of the owners and the automobiles they owned.  There were seven Fords, five Reos, four Cadillacs, four Buicks, two Ramblers, two Masons and one Maxwell, for a total of 25.

            Here is a partial list of automobile sellers in the past that you might remember.  These names were found in old newspaper ads:

            April 1, 1909, the Cadillac “Thirty,” at the Waupaca Garage, F.L. Hoaglin, Prop., 200 North Main Street;

            Godfrey Auto Company, at 111 West Union, Studebaker-Packard dealer since 1915;

            March 11, 1914, just received a carload of Overlands, Van Nelson Company, 200 North Main Street.

            Yes, 200 North Main Street was N.P. Peterson’s blacksmith shop before F.L. Haoglin purchased it on January 12, 1912.

            April 13, 1916, Van Nelson sold the Jeffery at 200 North Main Street;

            March 16, 1916, Wm. Koenig was agent for the Allen, at 106 East Union Street;

            May 25, 1916, W.M. Wolcott, sold the Chevrolet 490 model with electric lights and starter;

            May 4, 1916, Salverson and Gunderson received a carload of Fords and a carload of Reos.  “Come and see us at the old Public Garage, located on the corner of Jefferson and Badger Streets.”

            July 13, 1916, the Modern Garage at 217 Jefferson Street, Tom Salverson, G.S. Gunderson and Sherman Salverson, prop. “Gasoline at 20¢ per gallon, oil at 30¢ per gallon, all Ford supplies and accessories always on hand.”

            In late 1928, after 20 years, Henry Ford came out with a new conception for his Ford.  This was known as the Model A.  There were quite a few sold in 1928, but 1929, was the first full year of production.

            In the Waupaca County Post, for May 23, 1929, S.E. Sanders, Inc. ran his ad for the new Ford at the Ford Garage.  S.E. Sanders built this garage in 1920.  This exact location is where the First National Bank stands today.  In 1932 Ford came out with is first V-8; this was known as the Model B.

            In the Waupaca County Post, for August 4, 1932, J.C. Opperman Inc. ran an ad that had an appli-cation blank for people to fill out if they wished for a demonstration ride in the new V-8.  Then on November 10, 1932, J.C. Opperman ran an ad for a 1932 Ford V-8 tudor demonstrator, with a new car guarantee. Opperman operated his Ford agency at a different location, other than with S.E. Sanders.  This Model B ended by 1934, when Ford came out with a new version from his first V-8, which ultimately led to the great success of the Ford, Mercury and Lincoln cars of today.

Here are the names of some of the makes of cars that have come and gone through the years:  The Oakland, Durrant, Willys Knight, LaFayette, Nash, Hupmobile, Marquette, Auburn, Graham-Page, Victory 6, by Dodge Bros., Star, DeSota, Essex, Whippet, Packard, Terroplane, Hudson and Studebaker.

            Whether it be Ford, Chrysler, General Motors or any other, they all had from time to time various models that did not fare so well.  Here are three makes of automobiles that did not make the grade, at least here in Waupaca.  The Kaiser-Frazer came out in 1946 and the Henry J. came out in 1950.  Hetzel and Nelson, at 300 West Fulton Street, had the dealership, and the biggest disappointment of all was perhaps the Edsel, by Ford, which I understand did not have a dealership in Waupaca.

            In 1948, there was the “Tucker Torpedo,” a car that most people never heard of, and very few ever saw, because less than 50 ever came off the production line.  IT was the fastest sedan available in America in 1948, capable of reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour.  This car weighed in at 4,200 lbs., with a modified six-cylinder helicopter engine mounted in the rear.

            I believe that it would be interesting to do a story on the different automobile dealers and what lines of cars that they sold, all within walking distance of Main Street in the past 30 years.