Auto Industry Notes - May 1910

These attachments contain two articles published in the Indianapolis Star in May 1910.
 
Attachment AutoNotes050810 (published May 8, 1910) like the other article, is a digest column of quick notes about various players in the automotive world, particularly in Indianapolis. Here are the highlights:
 

• An effort to once again (as with the previous year) host the annual convention of the Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM), the foremost national motorcycle organization, in Indianapolis, was pronounced a failure.
• The Inter-State Motor Sales Company of Muncie established an Indianapolis branch at Tenth Street and Ft. Wayne Avenue. E.E. Short was appointed manager.
• The Co-Auto Motor Company (a dealership) was notified by the Jackson Automobile Company of Michigan that they planned to enter cars in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway races later that month. One of the cars was reportedly the same one that was the center of controversy as the leader of the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy when the race was cancelled due to accidents and hazardous driving conditions at the Speedway's first major auto race meet in August 1909.
• Harold O. Smith, president of the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company the previous week made a trip to New York to the regular monthly meeting of the Licensed Automobile Manufacturers Association (LAMA). Smith planned another trip back to New York for a meeting of the National Association of Automobile Manfacturers (NAAM).
• Art Newby, one of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway founders and the cheif executive at the National Motor Vehicle Company attended the Atlanta speedway race meet. The article notes that the accident that involved driver Johnny Aitken in that Thursday's 200-mile contest occurred as he was leading by over a lap during mile 49. Regardless, his team met with significant success including Tom Kincaid's 200-miler triumph.
• Richard Bacon Jr. was announced as a new hire in the sales organization of the Hudson Motor Car Company.
• Herbert H.H. Rice, sales and advertising manager for Nordyke & Marmon also attended the Atlanta race meet. He was reportedly "jubilant" over the success of the Marmon racing team both in Atlanta and at Play Del Rey the previous month.
• Newell Motsinger was named as driver of the Empire "20" for the May 1910 race meet at the Brickyard. Motsinger had practiced on the track the previous day.
• Here's a very interesting item: manufacturers were growing increasingly concerned about the supply of Hickory, the wood of choice for constructing wooden wheels for both cars and horse-drawn conveyances. According to F.A. Davis of the Jackson, Michigan-based Jackson Automobile Company, "Fully 150,000 board feet are used every year for spokes, rims, axles, vehicle bodies and other parts of the automobile. About 200,000,000 feet are made into lumber. Hickory comprises only two to three percent of the total standing timber in the hardwood forests of the United States. The total mill value of the hickory use in the United States last year was about $12,000,000.
• Mayor Edward Hull Crump of Memphis, Tennessee is cited as an example of the growing trend of municipal officers acquiring automobiles. He recently purchased a six-cylinder, 60 HP Premier touring car described as the largest one he could find in the city. It reportedly accommodated seven passengers. Crump reportedly liked its speed as well.
• Franklin automobiles, famous for their air-cooled engines, reported that it recently ran one of their models for 48 consecutive hours without adjustment.
• The Chicago Motor Club announced two gold medals for competitors in a circuit stretching over public roads between Cincinnati-Dallas-Chicago. One medal was for cars entered in what was referred to as a "Glidden Class," the other for a field of roadsters and toy tonneaus.
• An interesting item noted that two 100-mile motorcycle races were scheduled for eight o'clock that morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• An executive referred to as "Traffic Manager Moore" of the United States Motor Company is credited with negotiating for a new passenger and freight station at Newcastle, Indiana where one of four Maxwell automobile factories was located.
• F.A. Davis of the Jackson Auto Company reported that farmers had by that time purchased 76,000 automobiles. Half the 10,000 automobiles in Iowa were owned by farmers. Davis' report also indicated that Kansas farmers spent $3.2M for automobiles during 1909 and $2.75M in 1908. He added that in one Nebraska town, population 800, there were 40 automobiles purchased in 1909.
• Kate Gleason, a marvel of success for women in the male-dominated age, is credited with designing a "marvelous and intricate mechanism" for cutting bevel gears as large as 18 inches in diameter. Her machine had been installed at the Columbia Motor Car Company at Hartford, Connecticut. Gleason's apparatus was called an automatic generating bevel-gear planer. Note that not only was Gleason the first woman to become a member of the American Society of Engineers and today the Rochester Institute of Technology's engineering school carries her name.
• The Vanderbilt Cup race date was announced as October 1.
• F.A. Barker, sales manager of the Overland Automobile Company was in Indianapolis overnight from Toledo, Ohio. He spent time in meetings with industry colleagues at the Claypool Hotel.
• W. McK. White and John Orman of the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company were taking a trip to French Lick Springs that day. This note indicates that the Flat Tire Club apparently made regular runs to French Lick and planned one for the following Sunday.

 
The second digest column in attachment AutoNotes052210 (published May 22, 1910) the week of the national circuit race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This attachment also had a short article concerning Cole automobile performance. The digest topics were:
 

• W.J. Mead, secretary and general manager of the Olds Motor Works announced the sale of a seven-passenger Oldsmobile Limted to Philadelphia Mayor John Reyburn.
• The Touring Club of America charted a 4,000-mile tour for J.L. Hebberd, described as a "prominent motorist," to travel from his home in El Paso, Texas to Springfield, Massachusetts by way of Denver and Chicago.
• P.D. Stubbs, formerly of Overland, joined the sales staff of the Hudson Motor Car Company. He had also worked with the White company as well as other automotive firms.
• Amateur race driver Art Griener arrived in Indianapolis from Chicago. He had his National "40" on the Speedway practicing for the upcoming national circuit races. 
• W.D. Tousey, another amateur racer, arrived with his National "40" and professional driver Harry Harvey who would also compete in the "open" events.
• H.F. Sundon is noted as a National traveling representative. He was preparing for a trip to St. Louis but planned to return for the upcoming races.
• Employees of the Overland-Marion auto factories were presented with souvenir booklets as a keepsake of a recent employee picnic. An inscription from Vice President Will H. Brown read, "Please accpet this little souvenir with my compliments as I desire thus to express to you, my fellow worker, that I sincerely appreciate your earnest efforts. For co-operation I thank you, and trust that our labor, to make our cars the greatest cars on earth, will be as pleasant in the future as in the past."
• Plans for a hazard race, presented by Overland, are noted. This item indicates that 15 factory test cars would be on hand and "sent through thrilling capers." The drivers were called "motor cowboys," who planned to drive over portable bridges and through the track's creek. All of this, according to the report, was to educate the public on how well a motor car could perform under difficult circumstances.
• Overland again promised to supply visiting newspaper reporters with cars for transportation.
• An item considering the Marion race team is interesting because there is no mention of Lewis Strang whom earlier the company had recruited to play the role of "captain." Strang was struggling to save his marriage at the time and that may have been why he did not (apparently) take the job. The drivers were listed as Gil Andersen and Charles Stutz. Stutz' involvement is interesting too in that he announced his retirement from racing in March. A list of the races the team planned to compete in is provided.
• Overland President J.N. Willys was in Texas and not expected back until the following Monday. He was apparently visiting the Lone Star State because of plans to construct a large assembly plant at Ft. Worth. "Boosters" of that city had visited Indianapolis the previous week and had a private train car for transportation. They used that luxury convenience to entertain Willys and carry him back to Ft. Worth with them.
• William B. Esterley, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company representative to the Indianapolis district was reportedly headed back to the company's Akron, Ohion headquarters for a brief business trip.
• Ray F. McNamara of the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company was on a business trip to Pittsburg.
• W. McK. White is noted as the advertising manager for Premier. He was on a tour to French Lick in a Premier Clubman touring car along with a few colleagues.
• The Flat Tire Club was reportedly planning to move their luncheon headquarters away from the Denison Hotel. The new location would be announced later.
• C.P. Henderson, general maager of the Henderson Motor Sales Company - another dealership - had apparently closed a deal to represent the Cole factory product in his network of dealers.

 
An additional article seperate from the digest the item concerning Cole discussed the company's success in a Chicago Motor Club Economy run. The machine covered a distance well over 100 miles through rough terrain. No mechanical issues were reported, but one tire was punctured. J.J. Cole is listed at the company's president and is quoted:
 
"It is very gratifying to have our car be first in such a contest. For, in view of all its recent speed victories, it demonstrates beyond a doubt that in designing the car for speed the matter of fuel economy was not sacrificed."