The Pack-Age-Car’s connections to racing history
courtesy EBay
This restoration uses incorrect wooden doors
Recently the internet auction site EBay Motors listed for
sale a 1931 Stutz Pak-Age-Car, which caught the author’s attention. At this
point, you the reader might reasonably ask “what do these trucks have to do
with racing history?” The author’s
research into Pack-Age-Car history revealed a surprising number of connections between the history of
these humble utility trucks and historic automobile industry and racing
personalities.
The Pak-Age-Car, known originally as the Pac Car, was a
small urban delivery vehicle introduced in 1925 as an alternative to
horse-drawn city light delivery wagons. The simple all-steel body truck with a
92 ½ inch wheelbase powered by a two-cylinder horizontally opposed two-cylinder
Hercules engine coupled to the rear axle packaged in a slide-out module. The Chicago-based
manufacturer claimed that in case of mechanical troubles the engine package could
be exchanged in fifteen minutes by a two-man crew without disturbing the truck’s
payload.
The early Pack-Age-Cars resembled horse-drawn wagons minus
the horse. The Pack-Age-Car could be controlled from either side of the 52-inch
wide cab by the standing driver. The throttle, clutch and brake functions were all
controlled through a lever, with one lever mounted on either side of the cab
and the steering wheel in the center of the cab. The top speed of the wagon-like
vehicle was a scary 12 to 15 miles per hour with an advertised average fuel
consumption of one quart of gasoline per hour.
In December 1927 it was announced that Stutz Motor Car
Company of America based in Indianapolis Indiana had taken over the
distribution of Pack-Age-Car trucks in the United States. Early advertising for the Stutz Pack-Age-Car
referred to it as “the horse’s only competitor - designed to be more economical
in maintenance and operation that a horse and wagon.” The powered wagon sold for a retail price of
$995 with the exterior of the body finished in white undercoating ready for the
customer to paint in their colors
Harry Stutz had founded his eponymous automobile manufacturing
business in 1911 and the company built its reputation from a Stutz’ performance
in the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile race. Team driver Gil Andersen started from
the twenty-second position (based on the date the entry was received) and
finished the grueling grind in under seven and half hours in eleventh place.
This result led Stutz to advertise as “the car that made good in a day.” Stutz
himself left the business in 1919, and after the company’s financial failure in
1922, the new board of directors brought in Frederick E. Moscovics to run the company.
Moskovics understood the publicity value of automobile
racing, having been involved in the management of the 1910 Los Angeles
Motordrome board track in Playa del Rey California. Stutz built a reputation of
speed and reliability through their success in early stock car races. Unlike
the modern-day NASCAR silhouette “stock car” races, these American Automobile
Association (AAA) sanctioned races were open to strictly stock cars that
displaced 300 cubic inches or less. To ensure the stock nature of the cars, the
AAA Contest Board reserved the right to select the cars at random and supervise
their preparation.
The races were scheduled, often in conjunction with AAA
championship races on two East Coast board tracks - the Rockingham Speedway in
New Hampshire and Atlantic City Speedway in New Jersey. Cars raced less the windshield,
fenders, running boards and tops with the only mechanical adjustments allowed
limited to “valve grinding, cylinder honing, relieving bearing clearances, and
fine tuning.” 1924 Indianapolis 500-mile
race co-winner LL Corum, along with drivers Ralph Mulford, Tom Rooney, Bert
Dingley, and Gil Andersen competed and won races with factory-entered Stutz Blackhawk
Vertical Eight Speedsters.
Despite the racing success, the late nineteen twenties,
Stutz automobile sales began to drop off so Moscovics used the Stutz dealer
network for the distribution of the Stutz Pak-Age-Car in 1927. On November 28
1932, with automobile sales and the company’s finances ebbing, the Stutz board
of directors approved the purchase of the controlling interest of Pak-Age-Car
from Mechanical Manufacturing Company of Chicago.
A long wheelbase Pack-Age-Car
At the New York Automobile Show held in January 1933 Stutz
unveiled the redesigned Stutz Pak-age-Car built by the new Package Car Division
established in the Stutz factory at 1002 North Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis. The redesigned Pack-Age-Car was powered by a
four-cylinder opposed engine with a more contemporary truck-like front end
design with fenders. Stutz also expanded the line with the availability of a
longer 106-inch wheelbase, and the earlier dual lever control system was
abandoned in favor of a typical left-hand stand or seated driver setup with a
single gauge bezel in front of the driver.
Stutz also tried to shore up their automobile sales in the
deepening economic depression with the introduction of lightweight six-cylinder
models. The new automobiles models failed to score big sales and after
consecutive years of ever-increasing losses, new Stutz president and former
company treasurer Marvin Hamilton ended passenger car production in 1935.
Although the once-proud Stutz automobile was no more,
Pak-Age-Car production continued and on May 3 1936 Hamilton announced that
George H. Freers formerly with Marmon joined Stutz as the chief engineer in
charge of all Pak-Age-Car activities.
Freers, an Indianapolis native and 1908 graduate from the Rose
Polytechnic Institute in Terre Haute Indiana worked for several truck
manufacturers before he joined Nordyke & Marmon the builders of the Marmon
automobile in 1912. During his lengthy career at Marmon, Freers became professionally
and personally close to Howard Carpenter Marmon one of the company co-founders
Daniel Marmon’s two sons.
In 1924 Freers was named Nordyke & Marmon’s assistant
chief engineer in charge of the experimental department and in 1926 he built a
new three-bedroom home in Indianapolis’ Irvington neighborhood at 5124 East
Walnut Street. Freers’ appointment to succeed Thomas J. Litle Jr. as the Marmon
Motor Cars Company’s chief engineer was announced in the Indianapolis Star
on October 21 1929. Three days later the Wall Street Crash occurred which led
to the worldwide economic depression which would eventually spell the end for
many automobile manufacturers including Marmon.
While in charge of the Nordyke & Marmon experimental department,
Freers and his staff worked with race car builder Earl Cooper to prepare the
two Marmon 1928 Indianapolis 500-mile race entries. Marmon which had competed in racing since its
stunning victory in the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis ‘500, and likely wanted to
build on the publicity of the eight-cylinder Marmon 78 being selected as the race’s
Official Pacemaker. The yellow and red Marmon Model 78 rumble-seat roadster would
be driven for its pacing duties by Joe Dawson, the 1912 Indianapolis ‘500’
winner who had driven a Marmon to a fifth place finish in the inaugural 1911Indidnapolis
‘500.’
A factory photo of the 1928 Marmon 68 Special
Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection
The Marmon entries were built by Earl Cooper, who had a
remarkable driving career both before and after World War One was the three-time
American Automobile Association (AAA) national champion in 1913, 1915, and 1917.
Before the war, as a member of the powerful Stutz Racing Team, Cooper notched
sixteen victories mostly on dirt tracks and early road courses. Cooper returned
to race driving in 1922 at age 36 and proved to be an adept board track racer
during the Miller 122- and 91-cubic inch eras with a string of strong top-five
finishes.
During the 1926 AAA season, Cooper bought the Miller
supercharged 91-cubic inch chassis number #2605 and over the winter of 1926-7,
he built three copies, with the full knowledge or and assistance of Harry A.
Miller. Funded by Buick Motors, each of the three new Copper-built cars were
powered by a supercharged 91 cubic-inch eight-cylinder supercharged Miller
engine breathing through four Miller Dual Throat Updraft carburetors that
produced 167 horsepower and powered the front wheels.
The major difference between a Miller and Cooper was the construction
of the front drive assembly. Instead of the typical Miller jewel-like front
drive, with the design assistance of Leo Gosssen, Copper’s cars used a
Ruckstell planetary gear set paired with two-speed Ruckstell axle to achieve
four forward speeds.
Near the end of their construction, Buick withdrew its
support and all four of Earl Cooper’s cars were entered for the 1927 running of
the Indianapolis 500-mile by Cooper Engineering for veterans Peter Kreis,
Bennett Hill, Bob McDonogh and Jules Ellingboe.
All three new cars qualified for the 1927 ‘500,’ but Kreis’ and Hill’s
cars had mechanical failure and Ellingboe crashed so only McDonough finished
coming in with a sixth place finish with the re-badged Miller.
By 1928 Earl Cooper had sold his original Miller chassis and
for the 1928 ‘500’ landed Nordyke & Marmon Company as the sponsor for two
of his three cars, and part of the sponsorship agreement included Cooper’s use of
the Marmon engineering shop and staff to help prepare the cars.
On April 13 1928, Earl Cooper formally entered two “Marmon
68 Specials,” and the Indianapolis Star proclaimed that by “entering the
1928 500-mile race the Marmon Company is using the event as an actual means of
testing many new and advanced engineering principles.” "Changes in the future design of
passenger automobiles are coming so fast that we decided to take some of our
advanced engineering ideas to the race course for a trial," Howard Marmon
was quoted "We are entering the Indianapolis race, not so much from a
competitive standing but rather to forward the splendid achievement of our cars
and to see just how near a state of perfection the innovations that we have
conceived have progressed."
Cooper would later enter his third front-drive car under his
own name after on-track practice had opened on May 2 for rookie driver Russell
Snowberger. This entry after the official close of entries was allowed after it
was evident that the Speedway was facing a short field of entries.
Peter Kreis' Marmon Special on race morning 1928
Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection
The two “Marmon 68 Specials” were assigned to drivers Albert
J. “Peter” Kreis and Johnny Seymour. Kreis, from a wealthy Tennessee family
finished eighth in his first ‘500’ in 1925, and for the 1926 ‘500’ bought a new
Miller. Kreis became ill after he qualified the car and turned it over to
rookie Frank Lockhart to drive in the ‘500,’ and Lockhart won the
rain-shortened race. During the 1927 racing season Kreis earned his pilot’s
license and at his wife’s request had reduced his racing schedule to
Indianapolis only.
In comparison to the veteran Kreis who was listed as an
early favorite to win the ‘500’ Seymour a former motorcycle racer on Daytona Beach
and the board tracks was an Indianapolis rookie. In fact the 1928 ‘500’ was the
first official AAA (American Automobile Association) race start for the driver
from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Unlike the modern schedule in 1928 time trials were held
three consecutive days from May 26 through May 28. The nineteen cars that qualified
on the first day included Seymour in the Marmon #33 with an average speed for
his ten mile run of 111.673 miles per hour (MPH). Kreis in the Marmon #32 was
the fastest qualifier on the second day of time trials with a four-lap average
of 112.906 MPH and was scheduled to start in the 20th position.
When qualifying closed at sundown on Monday May 28 there were
only 28 cars in the field which led Speedway officials to extend time trials
into Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, Buddy Marr’s qualified “BW Cooke
Special” (owned by the operator of the Coyne Electrical School of Chicago)
crashed was badly damaged and later withdrawn which moved Kreis’ #32 Marmon to
the inside of the seventh row on Memorial Day.
Snowberger in the third Cooper entry was the first car out
of the race with a broken supercharger. By lap 73, Kreis’ Marmon entry was
sidelined with burnt rod bearings, and Seymour’s entry dropped out with a broken
supercharger on lap 170. Kreis earned $499 for his 22nd place finish, while
Seymour earned just $69 more for his 17th place finish.
1928 marked the last formal appearance of the Marmon name on
a race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway until 1993 when the Marmon Group
returned as the sponsor of John Andretti’s Lola 9200. Lee Oldfield’s
Marmon-powered bizarre rear-engine home-built machine that appeared at the
Speedway during the late nineteen thirties was not a factory-support
effort.
In the late nineteen twenties, Nordyke & Marmon
restructured. Howard Marmon’s brother, Walter became the company president and
was named chairman of the board of Nordyke & Marmon in 1924. In 1926 Walter
sold off the company’s grain-milling equipment business line which was the
foundation of the company. During 1929, the
Marmon Motor Car Company was spun off as an individual entity with Howard named
the new company’s president.
In 1931, the company headed by Walter Marmon entered a
partnership with Colonel Arthur William Sidney Herrington for the manufacture of
trucks under the name of the Marmon-Herrington Company. The British-born Arthur
Herrington had served as racing official with the AAA since at least 1905 and served
as the powerful Chairman of the AAA Contest Board until the AAA withdrew from
race sanctioning at the end of the 1955 season.
Marmon-Herrington moved its operations to the defunct
Duesenberg Company plant at 1511 West Washington Street a 16-acre site located on
the corner of West Washington and Harding streets in Indianapolis. This site
housed the Marmon-Herrington factory until it ceased Indianapolis operations in
July 1963, and today one of the original Duesenberg buildings still remains
intact.
Marmon renowned for its series of magnificent luxury
automobiles introduced the successful “Little Eight” in 1927 and followed it up
with a new lightweight 201-cubic inch 70 horsepower straight-eight powered car for
the 1929 model year. The Roosevelt which honored the 26th President of the
United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was advertised as the “car for all” as one
body style retailed for less than $1000. Despite its startling low price, there
were rumors in the press of a “soft crankshaft” and like many “junior” marques
introduced by other luxury automakers such as Stutz and Locomobile the
Roosevelt was a sales failure. In 1930, the marque was renamed the
Marmon-Roosevelt and in 1931 and 1932 it was sold as the Marmon Model 70, but
sales remained awful.
Marmon 16 Convertible Sedan
The Marmon “16” introduced in January 1930 was a spectacular
machine powered by a 490 cubic inch 45 degree sixteen-cylinder overhead valve
aluminum engine that produced 200 horsepower. The Marmon “16” advertised as
"The World's Most Advanced Car." weighed 4,600 pounds but was guaranteed
by the factory to reach 100 MPH. Available
in either a coupe, sedan or a Convertible Sedan body style, all the “16” series
models were styled by Walter D. Teague and his son Walter Junior who worked
with Frank Lockhart on the body design of the ill-fated Stutz Blackhawk Land
Speed Record Car.
Like other luxury automakers Marmon’s sales plummeted
through the Great Depression. Production of the magnificent “16” totaled 12,369
units in 1930, and then fell to 5,687 units in 1931. Only 1,365 cars were built
for the 1932 year with only 86 16-cylinder cars built in 1933.
In 1932, Howard Marmon envisioned a new car - the HCM. With
Marmon in severe financial straits, the car was built in a corner of Marmon
factory by a team led by George Freer. The car’s reported cost of $150,000 was personally
financed by Howard Marmon himself. The
HCM was ground-breaking with such advanced features as a central backbone
chassis riding on independent front and rear suspension with inboard brakes.
For the HCM’s engine, Marmon and Freer eliminated the four rear
cylinders of the 16-cylinder engine to create an aluminum 368-cubic inch 45
degree overhead valve V-12 engine that developed 150 horsepower. The
aerodynamic two-door sedan body designed by Walter Teague Junior featured
rear-hinged “suicide” doors and the headlights set into the front fenders
reminiscent of a Pierce-Arrow.
The HCM
Unfortunately by the time the new HCM car was completed in
the fall of 1933, the Marmon Motor Car Company was already in bankruptcy
proceedings. In its last quarter of operation Marmon Motor Car Company lost
$234,000 and during the final year of operation lost $1.8 million. Shortly
after the bankruptcy filing Walter Marmon shocked many in the automobile
industry when he told the Auto Topics magazine that Marmon Motor Car had been
completely independent from Marmon-Herrington for “over a year.”
Howard Marmon took his HCM car on a nationwide driving tour
but could not find financial backers to save his company and build the HCM. There
were several competing efforts to rescue the Marmon Motor Car Company out of
receivership including a 1934 plan that involved promoter Preston Tucker and
race car builder Harry A. Miller. After their failure to take over Marmon, the
pair formed Miller-Tucker which built the ill-fated ten-car Ford V8 race team under
contract to N W Ayer & Son, the Ford Motor Company’s advertising agency
that was entered in the 1935 Indianapolis ‘500.’
Although the HCM never advanced past the single prototype, Freers and Marmon submitted patent applications in 1933 for their backbone chassis and independent front suspension designs and received patents for each in 1935 and 1937 respectively.
Howard Marmon’s still-born HCM prototype remained parked
in the garage of his Pineola North Carolina estate ‘Hemlock Hedges’ until
his death in 1943. After his death Marmon’s widow would not sell it and instead
gave the car to Fred Moscovics. As a testament to the closeness of their relationship,
Howard Marmon’s last will and testament bequeathed the amount of $5000 cash to
George Freers, which is equivalent to $70,000 today.
Alas the Stutz Pack-Age-Car career of George Freers did not
last long, as Stutz filed for bankruptcy on September 29, 1937. With Stutz’
failure, the patents and licensing rights for the production of the
Pack-Age-Car light delivery truck reverted to Northern Motors of Chicago. The
rights were then purchased during 1938 by former Auburn Automobile Company
executives (Auburn had failed just a few weeks after Stutz) and the men formed
a new company the Pak-Age-Car Corporation on August 25, 1938. Former Auburn General
Manager John McGowan was the new company’s vice-president, and Auburn vice-president
Roy H. Faulkner was installed as the new Pak-Age-Car company president.
Tooling was moved to Connersville Indiana and Pack-Age-Car
production resumed in the Auburn Central Manufacturing Company plant on October
15 1938. Central Manufacturing founded early in the twentieth century and in
1928 Errett Lobban Cord acquired a controlling interest in from the Ansted
family and folded it into his Cord Corporation. Years later, William Ansted son
of the original founder of Central became a noted car owner at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in the roadster era and was one of the co-owners of AJ Foyt’s
1964 “500’ winning machine.
Although the Cord Corporation was bankrupt, the Auburn Central
Manufacturing managed to remain open throughout due to its income from its many
lucrative contracts to supply sheet metal stampings to other automakers and for
home products sold by Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck & Company.
The revised Pack-Age-Cars used key components supplied by
other Cord Corporation divisions; they were powered by a four-cylinder Lycoming
CT flat-head engine hooked to a Columbia axle packaged in the removable rear
sub frame. Since the manufacturer lacked a dealer network, the trucks were
distributed through Diamond T Motor Car Company truck dealerships beginning
with the 1939 model year. Diamond T Pack-Age-Cars were built in small numbers probably
until March 1941 when the Auburn Central Connersville factory switched over to
the manufacture Jeep bodies for Willys-Overland which continued throughout
World War 2.
Exact Pack-Age-Car trucks production numbers during the
approximately 15 years of manufacture are unknown, but very few Pack-Age-Car
truck remain today, largely due to their design. As the trucks lacked any built-in
refrigerant system for their perishable payloads, the trucks were instead
packed with ice. Drivers stood atop of a wood pallet arrangement so they did
not have to stand in water from the melting ice, but of course within just a
few years the Pack-Age-Car sheet metal bodies began to rust from the inside out.
Research was conducted using the Automotive Research Library of the Horseless Carriage Foundation of which the author is a proud member. Check out their site at https://www.hcfi.org/
