1911 Brush Model E Runabout

1911 Brush Model E

1911 Brush Model E Front view

 The 1911 Brush Model E featured in the Schwanke Museum was added to the museum’s collection in May of 2000 it was one of many purchases from the Carl Johnk family after the passing of Mr. Johnk in 1988.  

side view

Alanson P. Brush (February 10, 1878 in Michigan – March 6, 1952 in Michigan) would form the Brush Runabout Company in 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. Alanson P. Brush would become a much respected technical innovator in the automobile industry even though he did not have any formal technical training. He works with Henry Leland on designing and building the original one cylinder Cadillac engine in 1902. He decided to move on and start his own company where he could build a low cost one cylinder car under his own name. At the time there was a car craze that was sweeping the nation and in the early 1900’s and there was an eagerness for the type of car Brush would design and build.

Like many other manufactures that were trying to meet the demand from the public Brush would design and build a runabout. After several attempts and designs he would come out in 1909 with his Brush Model B which would feature a one cylinder engine with 7 hp and a 74” wheel base. He desired to build a car that was light so he used a wooden chassis. For the cars undercarriage it would use wooden rails and iron cross members for stability. The Brush would use a friction drive transmission with a suspension that used under slung coil springs that used tension. That way Brush wouldn’t need to use compression on both sides of each axle. With so many other makes and models of small runabouts on the market many having one to four cylinder engines, none could compare to the Brush, mainly due to the unique and unusual design and detail that showed off the inventiveness of it maker.  The Brush was powered by a large single-cylinder water cooled engine. At night the Brush’s had two gas-powered headlights that provided light, along with a gas-powered light in the rear. The frame, axles, and wheels were made of oak, hickory or maple, many times left plain or painted that way it would match the trim. A squeeze bulb horn with a long metal tube was located next to the driver and this was located next to the engine cover. A small storage area was provided in the rear, with a drawer accessible under the rear of the seat.

In 1910 Brush would make some small changes to his design, this would make the runabout more affordable and would make the car one of the more successful cars during that period. Brush made the car so that the average person could afford the car, the 1910-1911 models range in cost from $350 to $850 dollars. Part of the reason the cars were affordable was because the car used mainly Michigan hardwoods in its construction, the axles and wheels were fabricated from hickory, with the frame and flooring made from oak, the seat structure were made from poplar for its flexibility.  Brush manufactured several models of their Runabout, starting with the model A, B, BC, C, D, E, F, and the Liberty. The Model D sat on an 80-inch wheelbase and powered by a single-cylinder engine offering 10 horsepower. The car weighed 950 pounds and cost $485. This model could and would be use as part of their truck line many were used as mail trucks and delivery trucks, the company boasted in their advertisement that the truck could handle loads up to 500 lb.  The Model D had the distention of being their only enclosed model.

a look at the interior

The one thing that gave the Brush an advantage over its competitors was that its engine ran counter-clockwise instead of the usual clockwise. Now I don’t have to you reminded in those days they still had not invention the electric start and Brush came up with an idea which was intended to make the car safer for a right-handed person to crank-start by hand. Before his idea all car engines ran clockwise. There were many injuries that were sustained, mostly dislocated thumbs and broken forearms. The hand crank would kick back on starting, especially if the car was not properly adjusted before starting, or if the person cranking did not follow correct safety procedures this would include fully retarding the manual spark advance. The person was require to keep the thumb alongside the fingers instead of around the crank, and pulling the crank upward in a half turn, never in a full circle or pushing down. This design proved to be one of the most significant changes in all of the designs on the market at that time. Today you would be hard press to find any engine that ran clock wise because all engines run counter-clock wise rotation.

 In 1913, Alanson P. Brush along with Frank and Benjamin Briscoe would use Maxwell-Briscoe, Brush, Stoddard-Dayton and others to form the United States Motor Company. Unfortunately the United States Motor Company would fail and by 1914. This was due to the fact the competition from Ford made it difficult keep up with the numbers Ford was producing and still being able to their cars affordable. It has been reported that the total production of the Brush Runabout from 1907 to 1913 at 13,250 units. While researching the Brush runabout a few web sites are reporting that there may be as many as 200 Brush runabout in existents today.

Alanson P. Brush would leave his beloved car in the hands of the United States Motor Company and would pursue other ventures, many of his credits, working for the early Cadillac company on the engine and transmission, also working on Buick and Pontiac’s. He was considered one the great innovator of the early 20^th century.    

1925 Ford Model T (White Eagle Oil and Refining Company)

1925 Ford Model T (White Eagle Oil and Refining Company)

There are times when you can drive by the Schwanke Museum (which is located next to Menards on south 71 in Willmar) there sits a 1925 Model T Ford Truck with a three stage fuel dispensing tank on the back which reads White Eagle Oil and Refining Company. This was a recent purchase by Virgil Schwanke to add to his collection (March or April). The truck came out of North Dakota originally. There were some repairs need to be done to the truck. It had a few dings here and there and the engine need to be gone through so that it could run. So Mike Schwanke our resident mechanic and body man went to work and restored the truck to running order so it could be displayed.

1925 Ford Model T

Front view of the 1925 Model T Truck 

View from the back showing the filler connectors

Brown Certified Tank made by the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company, St. Paul, Mn.

Interior view of the 1925 Model T Truck

A view of the strap to open the window

The Ford Truck is a basic model with straps to raise and lower the windows. Three speed transmission, four cylinder engine, electric start (after market which was added later), tilt front windshield, and on the back a three stage fuel dispensing tank, which would carry gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil.

The tank is made by the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company out Of St. Paul Minnesota. When researching the tank on the back of the truck I found that the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company has become the Mammoth Inc., producer of air conditioning and refrigeration units. They purchase Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company in 1935, and then change its name. I wrote to the company to get more history about the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company and have yet to receive a reply from them. I have written to Mammoth Inc. several times now hoping to at least get some kind of reply, my thought are either they are too busy to answer a few questions from a small museum about their history or (and I hate to say this, but I will) they just don’t care, like so many large businesses today. I love history and I think it is important, mostly because it shows where we start and how far we have come (Sorry don’t mean to rant) and much of our history has been lost and that is part of the reason I write this blog, because I am at least saving part of history for others to read about.

I originally started this article back in May when we opened for the season; I wanted to start my blog off with the truck because of what was found inside the truck. There was compartment that held a gas receipt book from 1925, which started in May of that year and I want to follow the price of gas in 1925 compared to what it is today. The first receipt from the book showed that on May 15^th of 1925 the price of gasoline was a whopping 13cents a gallon compared the May 15^th price of gasoline here in Willmar of $3.79 a gallon. Now that I am finally going to add this article to the blog in august of 1925 gas price had risen to a whopping 15cents a gallon where as in the second week of august of 2011 we have prices of $3.69 a gallon.

Other things that are noteworthy about the 1925 Ford Model T are even thought head lights are standard and the basic model, this Model T comes with three kerosene lamps two in the front and one on the back. I am not sure what the purposes of these three lights are for, so if anyone know please let me know. (Thank you)    

So without going into a long and wordy article on the Ford truck. I decided to just write a quick article 1925 Ford Truck that features the White Eagle Oil and Refining Company.

So here is a short history of the Ford truck.

Henry Ford turned out his first truck in 1900 it was the third vehicle he had built. He would use the Model A framework and would feature a wood spoke rims and wood body leaving only the engine compartment using metal. Later in 1918 he would improve on his fist design where Ford would introduce the Model T One-Ton truck chassis, its first chassis specifically built for trucks.  

The first factory-assembled pickup that came off the assembly line would feature a modified rear body that could be ordered with a cargo box, adjustable tailgate, four stake pockets and heavy-duty rear springs it could also be order with or without these options. It debuted in 1925 and sold for US$281and it is estimated that 34,000 were built that first year. Henry Ford billed it as the "Ford Model T Runabout with Pickup Body." 

Ford felt he could improve his truck line so in 1928 he would reintroduce the Model A which would replaced the Model T. Ford introduce the first closed-cab pickup and it would sported innovations like a safety glass windshield, roll-up side windows and three-speed transmission. It was powered by a four-cylinder L-head engine capable of 40 horsepower (30 kW).

Then again in1932 Ford would introduce the 65 horsepower (48 kW) Ford flathead V8 engine it was offered as an option in the truck in the Model A truck. By 1936, Ford had produced over 3 million trucks and led the industry in building trucks.



I did find some information about the White Eagle Oil and Refining Company but what I did find was brief and if anyone has additional information I would love to see it.

A brief history of White Eagle Oil and Refining Company.

White Eagle Oil and Refining Company this company was named for a Chief of the Ponca Indian partly in respect for the tribe from which the land was purchased, the name change for the company came about as a result of the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. White Eagle Oil was widely sold throughout the Midwestern states, In addition to 1800 service stations located in fourteen central states which gave it slightly more than one half of one percent of US sales. Here are just a few states White Eagle Oil Company had stations in, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa and parts of Colorado and Kansas during the 1910′s and 1920′s.

The White Eagle Oil Company had crude production and refining in Kansas and Wyoming, five refineries were operating in these states, and this included some small operations at Greybull and Cowley. By 1923, Casper alone would boast five refineries and they consisted of the tiny Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Company facility on South Center Street which was built in 1895, The Belgo-American refinery which would later be known as the Midwest Refinery it was built east of Highland Cemetery in 1903. The giant Standard Oil refinery was just southwest of Casper and that opened in March 1914 with the growing use of oil related product it would again expanded in 1922 which would make it the largest gasoline-producing refinery in the world at the time in history. The Texaco refinery was just three miles east of Casper and it would open in 1923 and that just leaves the small White Eagle refinery which opened the same year.

Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony) would acquire the White Eagle Oil & Refining Co which would bring them into the Midwest market for the first time and with the purchase of the company in1930 they also purchased thousands of gas stations that were 11 states. Socony would now need even more crude oil to supply these additional market outlets that came along with their acquisition, and like most of the other big international oil concerns, Socony would have to look to the Middle East.

One of the things that remind people of that day and age is that on every gasoline pump belonging to White Eagle Petroleum was a beautiful, molded glass white eagle and many of these if not all of the eagle have become highly collectible. Even though the White Eagle Company was absorbed into the Socony and pretty much lost to history. The name lived on through a non related company. Today there is a company by the name of White Eagle Oil and refining company but it is base out of Canada. But much of the original history of the white eagle oil and refining history is lost. White Eagle oil was just one of the many companies that would become the oil giant it is today and the company is Exxon – Mobil list below is a list of the many companies it absorb to become the giant it is today.

Exxon - Mobil Oil Company (today)
Today’s Exxon - Mobil Oil Company is made up of several oil companies that were bought or absorbed over the years, like Vacuum Oil was part of Standard Oil it was incorporated in 1866, later Socony would purchase all the assets from Standard Oil in1931 and would rename the company Socony-Vacuum corp., Socony was formed in1882 and later became its own entity in 1911 with the breakup of Standard Oil, General Petroleum of California (1926), Magnolia (1918), Lubrite (1929) a refining and marketing company based in St. Louis, Wadhams, White Star (1930) and  White Eagle (1930), Gilmore, Socony-Vacuum Corp. changes its name to Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc (1934). In (1955), Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc, would change its name to Socony Mobil Oil Company and then again in (1966) to Mobil Oil Corporation. Mobil Oil Co. becomes the North American Division; Mobil International becomes the International Division, with coordinating responsibility for Mobil Petroleum Co. Inc and in (1998) Exxon and Mobil Oil Company would merge.

I plan on writing more on Exxon - Mobile Oil later in an upcoming blog. So stay tuned.

1986 Minikin

1986 Minikin built in St.Cloud, MN. Front view 1986 Minikin side view Minikin In 1983 D & A Vehicles (USA) first introduce the Minikin to the public after acquiring the rights of the Freeway. H.M. Vehicles produced over 700 Freeways before they went into bankrupt. Mechanically the Minikin is almost identical to the Freeway it would use the 16 hp 453.25cc Tecumseh engine, which was a air cooled four stroke engine. The Minikin allows two people to be seated side by side, just like in a regular car. The Minikin utilized the frame work and running gears from the Freeway and was featured as a soft top convertible, the body had a different look than it counterpart but it was still made of fiberglass with a (gel coat) finish. The Minikin could be purchase in yellow, orange and red. When researching the Minikin, all I could find out was that D & A Vehicles was based out of St. Cloud, Minnesota. In 1983 D & A had placed a few two page ads in bubble notes for the Minikin in local publications. only 17 Minikins were produced between 1983 when they started production to 1986 when they stopped production.  When researching the Minikin I was only able to find a few articles written about the Minikin and the Freeway. I did not find any mention of the car in any of the small car publication. So if you have any more information on the Minikin or even the Freeway it would be a great help. Just send me at email at schwankemuseum@yahoo.comit would be appreciated.

1981 HMV Freeway

1981 Freeway

I decided to write about the HMV Freeway because it is such a unique vehicle. Below is the history of the Freeway the company was based here in Minnesota. The company was way before its time and I believe if the company would have succeed, we would see these cars everywhere today with fuel prices as high as they are today.

History of the Freeway

Burnsville

In the 1970’s Detroit believe that anything above 20 MPG was considered “ECONOMY “and when they said “IMPROVED” it meant that the car was bigger and heavier than the model year before. Even in the 1980’s Detroit manufactures believe that it was “IMPOSSIBLE” to improve the fleet of cars being made to average 25 mile per gallon. Ask yourself why then are the cars being manufacture today getting 30 to 50 MPG. Part of the reason many of today’s cars have better fuel mileage is because of big government stepping in and forcing manufactures into developing new and better fuel efficient automobiles. But back in the 70’s one man had a plan to build a more economical vehicle. His name was Dave Edmonson of Burnsville Minnesota. Now Dave took the guild lines that the government of the time had set and did just that he built small and light.

Dave started his project in 1970; he would compete in SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) contest where real life mileages were based on actual road driving conditions. By 1977, Dave would come up with a design that would blow the competition away. The design looked nothing like anything anyone else was designing at the time and he would call it the Freeway. Dave would win the contest hands down. The Freeway would blow everyone out of the water with its 80.3 MPG and then again in 1978 with 88.3 MPG’s. Ok so you are thinking to yourself Dave had to be using some exotic technology that he invents but he didn’t. He just use a simple idea that would stump the big 3 for years to come and that idea was to make it smaller and lighter.

With trials finished Dave sought financial backing and found backer who would help get his company off the ground. So in early 1979 David Edmonson would begin production at his plant in Burnsville Minnesota.  He would offer two body styles and three types of engines, the open air Freeway it would be his less expensive model which would feature a smaller engine and a snap down cover. The second choice was the more expensive freeway 2, which was the fully enclosed all weather vehicle it featured a larger engine and more standard features. Both freeway were powered by Tecumseh engines the 340 guaranteed that it would get 100 MPG’s at a steady 40 MPH this motor was the featured engine for the open air Freeway. The 450 Tecumseh was expected to get 80 MPG at 40 MPH but with more power. Top speeds were around 65 MPH with great handling and fast acceleration. There was also an electric model that was offer but because of the range it had was not a popular model, it could only go 20 miles at 40 MPH before it would need to be recharged.

With the factory set up and production schedules posted, documents published and order taken all was ready to begin production.  Then David Edmondson’s financial backing fell through which meant David wound need to restructure his production. One of the moves he made was to scale back production, then move his production facilities to another location and to start manufacturing on a smaller scale. This did not stop him from adding more options to his all weather hard top. He would offer a standard model and a deluxe model. The deluxe model featured front fenders, a bent bumper and dual headlights.

When production began in late 1979 they only had 200 orders, only after posing for a newspaper article with his prototype did the orders begin to pour in. The orders would increase to over a thousand. It was then that they realized that people wanted this car. Many were willing to put up a small refundable deposit for this unique vehicle. But when production slowed down some people withdrew their deposits. David Edmonson would write a letter to them explaining the delay in production many would reinstate their deposits.

Deliveries on some orders were over a year behind originally expected. Some orders were not delivered till august of 1980. Even though David was short of funds David was still able to make new molds and frames along with retooling and completed the first six production cars to roll of the floor in early march. In April they realized that they had enough part to build 50 more cars. It was said that they had shipped out those 50 cars in May of 1980. It soon became hard for the company to get part because of the shortage of funds and many suppliers were demanding cash up front before they would ship part thus making it hard to maintain production and each freeway required 30 hours of work to complete. To make things worst approximately 2/3 of the original order were canceled before they were able to get shipped out.

The Freeway is small but can still be easily seen by other drivers. The high mileage is due to the fact that it is very light and only weights 750 lbs. they structured the body so that the car was very aerodynamics.  The bottom or as others may call it the belly of the car is enclosed in a smooth shell, the drag coefficient is low and surface area even less. The freeway offers two fuel tanks a 3 or 9.5 gallon tank it was estimated that you could get 900 miles on a single tank. When a deluxe model was ordered it was shipped with items that were optional on the standard. This included the oil filter & heater, the larger engine and fuel tank, and a complete instrument package.

Because of their size and for safety reasons you had the choice of having your car painted yellow, orange and red, with other colors optional. The frame used a ladder design for added strength and safety. One of the weak spot was the door area so a 3 point safety harness was standard. It has been reported that the car could rolled or flipped over there have been no reports of anyone suffering more than bruising. There has been a reported of a head on with a full size truck and the Freeway was knocked off the road and the driver only received a few bruised, but the other vehicle and its passengers received far more damage. The fog lights or side marker lights and the single bright headlight offered plenty of light for night visibility. There had been many changes, but the basic design on the freeway remained unchanged.

The Freeway had a variety of engines that could be purchased. The Tecumseh gas engine was available in 340, 390 or 450cc that could produce 12 to 16hp. The Freeway also has an Italian diesel and electric motor powered versions that were also available. The Freeway used a power transferred through a variable ratio belt drive it was the same kind of drive used on snowmobiles this would provided automatic transmission. The rear pulley was mounted on a shaft and that would transfers power to the rear wheel via chain drive. Reverse was available although it was only on the Deluxe models. A small motor drive and gears were used but they could not get them manufactured at an affordable price. A heater was available and it used the oil that was pumped thru the engine then through a filter then through a under dash oil cooler. Some models had the oil cooler moved then they would slip a factory fan housing over it and that would help keep the windshield clear. I have heard that there were 15 or more Freeway that had the electric motor and there were no diesels. The mid-sized 390 engine was another engine that was not used in the Freeway. The stock Freeway had most of the weight on the rear wheel, as both the motor, drive, and 4 batteries were mounted behind the seat. A DOT report states the electrics were extremely unstable cars.

1981 Freeway as displayed here at Schwanke Museum

The Freeway 340 guaranteed 100 MPG at a steady 40 MPH, or your money back now what other company at the time could make that kind of statement. OK Big 3 let’s see if you can top that one even today! About 700 freeways were sold before the company went bankrupt in 1982 but the freeway would live on in June 1982 and Minikin bought the rights to build the Freeway in the bankruptcy procedures but they only produced 15 cars in 1984 and that was a 2 seat convertible.

When HMV went out of business they paid many of their outstanding bills with excess inventory and gave other cars away rather than have them ship them back to the Burnsville plant. In one case 3 cars were given to an employee to compensate for wages.

1921 Overland 4 cylinder Touring and 1930 Willys 6 cylinder Sedan

1921 Overland Touring  4 cylinder 

side view of the 1921 Overland Touring

Another front view of the 1921 Overland Touring

1921 Overland Badge

front view showing where the placement of the badge is on the 1921 Overland

1930 Willys 6 cylinder Sedan

rear view 1930 Willys Sedan

Side view of 1930 Willys Sedan

Willys Badge

Willys Overland Automobile Company History

When looking into the history of the Overland I found that Claude E Cox designed and built the first Overland’s and took the first test drive on February 12^th, 1903. With little or no money at all Cox’s would be initially financed by the Standard Wheel Company. Mr. Cox operated at the Standard Wheel Company’s plant which resided at 671 Ohio St., Terre Haute, Indiana and after a boiler explosion at the plant a year later Standard Wheel Company lost interest but Cox was able to buy the fledgling company for $8,000.

Cox realized he would need more money so he approached David M. Parry and on March 31^st, 1906  they created the Overland Automobile Company. Cox and Parry would incorporate the company with Fifty One percent of the share being owned by Parry and Cox would have Forty Nine percent of the shares. Parry made his fortune in manufacturing two wheel horse drawn carts; unfortunately a short but severe economic depression in 1907 would see Parry’s two wheel cart empire come crashing down around him, even to the extent of Parry losing his house.

Sometime during the spring/summer of 1907 the Overland Automobile Company had received and order for 500 cars from John N. Willys and a deposit of ten thousand dollars. When early fall came around he began to wonder why he had not began to received any of his cars, it was then that Mr. Willys decided to take a little trip to the factory and when he got to the company, he found that there were not any cars that were complete, just a few partially assembled ones. It also came to his attention that the company would not have enough money to pay the weeks wages let alone finish his order. It was then he decided to purchase controlling stock in the company. With some financial backing from friend from Elmira, he gained control of the Overland Automobile Company. He was able to keep the company out of bankruptcy thus keeping the company going.

 
Willys would go on to reorganize the company, he started by making important upgraded to the production facilities, a new factory would be built in the summer of 1908. Demands were beginning to exceed the capacity of both plants, even though production of the current Model 24 had totaled 465 vehicles that was ten times more than what they had done in 1907.

With sales soaring and production numbers up, the need for expansion became an important issue. In 1909, Willys would acquire the Marion Motor Car Company of Ohio. Then in September Willys bought the Pope plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Pope plant was huge and one of the more modern plant of the day. It proved to be a bargain at the cost of $285,000 because of the surplus material he was able to sell off.

 
Willys would reorganize and change the name of the company to Willys Overland Motors; the reorganization was done by using the Toledo plant as the empire capital. The Overland Model 38 was the first model to come out of the plant in Toledo. They would replace the epicyclic transmission with the Sliding gear transmissions replaced; this was an interesting fact when you consider that in1909 Ford would introduced the ever popular Model T, and it would use the epicyclic transmission right through to 1927.

 That same year Claude Cox would leave to follow a career in photography, he would also go on to obtaining patents on new instruments he would invent and new processes that he would create with his inventive and creative mind.
The Willys Overland facility in Indianapolis would be used for component assembly work only by 1911. The Willys Overland vehicles were growing in popularity and production figures reached 18,745 and this was compared to Fords production figures which were at 34,979 in the fall of 1911. With production up and sales figure moving up Willys Overland became the second largest producer of automobiles in 1912 only one other car company had more cars in production and that was Ford. Willys Overland would add the Garford plant in Elyria, Ohio in 1912; this helped keep Willys Overland in the second place position behind Ford until 1918.

Willys Overland offers many different cars the more expensive cars would carry the Willys badge and the lower costing brand would carry the badge of the Overland and by 1917 the consumers were offered the choice of Overland, Willys or Willys Knight depending on their budget and choice of engine sleeve valve or poppet valve. J.N. Willys preferred the Willys Knight over any other vehicles his plants produced, but he could see that the Overland’s cheaper poppet valve were his "bread and butter". There were many Overland models the car company offered, but it was the cheaper ones that sold in the higher volumes and this was even more evident during the war years 1914-1918. Sales margins were tight during the war years, but when a serious strikes that directly follow the war threatened to cripple the Willys Overland empire still fought to overcome the challenges. Whilst the Willys Knight vehicles proved the companies excellence at precision engineering it was the Overland line of vehicles that would put the company back on its feet.

Willys Overland produced a succession of 4 cylinder models which were designated 4, 4A, 91 and 91A - all on 100 inch wheelbases from 1920 - 1926. 1923would be another year Willys would introduce another 4 cylinder model designated Model 92, it would sit upon a 106 inch wheelbase many collector remember this as the Bird series. Red Birds had red bodies, Black Birds had black bodies and Blue Birds of course had blue body’s collector also know them simply as the Overland Four. The goal of the company was to sell the car for $500 to compete with the Ford Model T. Because of the war the prices for steel had increased along with the labor cost increase thus making it hard to compete with Ford so the cost for a 1920 would ended up at $845 or more.
The total combined production of the 4 cylinder models 4, 4A, 91, 91A and 92 over the August 1919 to May 1926 period amounted to some 642,000 vehicles. All of Willys Overland vehicles would use the Triplex 3 point cantilever spring system consisting of 2 quarter elliptic springs mounted at angles at both the front and rear of the car. However the 6 cylinder Model 93 would use a conventional semi elliptic springing.

 The 1921 model year Overland Four Touring car that is featured in the Schwanke Museum is a 4 door touring car. This model features rear wheel drive, courtesy of a front-mounted inline 4 cylinder engines with a capacity of 2.3 liters. It produces a maximum power output of 27.4 PS (27 bhp) (20.1 kW), which is transmitted to the wheels via a 3 speed manual transmission. The car sits on a wheelbase of 2540 mm.

also featured in the museum is a 1930 Willys 6 Cylinder Sedan

Below is a time line of the Overland and the Willys Overland motors

1906: Overland Automobile Company founded by Claude E. Cox
1908: John North Willys buys the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company.
1912: John North Willys renames the Willys Overland Division to Willys-Overland Motor Company.
1936: Coming out of bankruptcy following the Great Depression, the company is reorganized as Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
1940: Working from a Bantam Car Company design, Willys contracts to build military Jeeps for the war and produces about 360,000 vehicles by 1945.
1945: Willys-Overland begins producing the Civilian Jeep (CJ) line, with the introduction of the CJ2A model.
1946: Production begins on the Willys Jeep Wagon. Over 300,000 are manufactured between 1946 and 1965. Initially the all-steel wagons are only available in a burgundy and cream color scheme, the appearance of which suggested the "Woodie" wagon look typically found on wagons of this era. 1947 Production begins on the Willys Jeep Truck. From 1947 to 1965, more than 200,000 are manufactured.
1948: Production begins on the Willys Jeepster. Only 19,000 vehicles are manufactured from 1948 to 1950.

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2007: DaimlerChrysler sells an 80% stake in the Chrysler division to Cerberus Capital for a mere $7.4 Billion, creating Chrysler LLC

1917 Maxwell Roadster

1917 Maxwell Roadster

Side view of Maxwell Roadster

Advert for the Maxwell

The Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the U.S. from about 1904 to 1925. The brand name of motor cars was started as the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York. The company was named after founders Jonathan Dixon Maxwell, who earlier had worked for Oldsmobile, and the Briscoe Brothers Metalwork’s. Benjamin Briscoe, an automobile industry pioneer, was president of the company at its height in 1914. Many of the innovations such as using a shaft drive instead of the usual chain drive helped bring the Maxwell to the forefront of car manufacturing. 



In 1907, a fire destroyed the Tarrytown, NY factory; Maxwell-Briscoe constructed what was then the largest automobile factory in the world in New Castle, Indiana. The factory continued operations until 2004 as a Chrysler plant until its demolition.

 Maxwell along with Stoddard-Dayton, Courier Car Co, Columbia Automobile Company, Brush Motor Car Company, formed the United States Motor Company formed in 1910. But due to a conflict between two of its backers, the United States Motor Company failed in 1913 after the failure of its last supporting car manufacturer; the Brush Motor Company. Maxwell became the only surviving member of the combine.

In 1913, Maxwell was purchased by Walter Flanders, who reorganized the company under the name, Maxwell Motor Company, Inc. He moved the company to Detroit, Michigan. Some of the Maxwell’s were still manufactured at the two plants in Dayton, Ohio. For a time, Maxwell was considered one of the three top automobile firms in America along with Buick and Ford. By 1914, Maxwell had sold 60,000 cars.



In a short period of time, however, Maxwell over-extended and wound up deeply in debt with over half of their production unsold in the post World War I recession in 1920. The following year, Walter P. Chrysler arranged to take a controlling interest in Maxwell. Maxwell Motors was re-incorporated in West Virginia with Walter Chrysler under control as the chairman. Around the same time that all of this was happening, Maxwell was also in the process of merging with the ailing Chalmers Automobile Company who were have financial problem of their own. Chalmers ceased production in late 1923.

In 1925, Chrysler would form his own company, the Chrysler Corporation. That same year, the Maxwell line would be phased out and the Maxwell Company would be absorbed by Chrysler Corporation. The Maxwell would continue on in another form however, because the new line of 4-cylinder Chrysler's which were introduced for the 1926 model year were created largely by using the design of earlier Maxwell’s. And these former Maxwell’s would undergo yet another transformation in 1928, when a second reworking and renaming would bring about the creation of the first Plymouth.

About 750 Maxwell’s are known to exist today. The Maxwell has become one of the most iconic cars as it was feature on the Jack Benny radio and television show thorough out his career.

Footnote: One day I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Schwanke tell one of our guests a story. He told the gentle man that he had been stop by a fellow who had stop in and took a tour of the museum and was told by the manager at the time (not me) that Mr. Schwanke had purchase the 1917 Maxwell from Jack Benny. Which is not true but here is what the fellow was told.

Jack Benny was going through Willmar and got a flat tire and was so mad that there was not any filling station open to fix his tire. Mr. Benny got upset and wanted to sell the car. So when Mr. Schwanke heard about this he offers to buy the car from Mr. Benny. Mr. Benny took the offer and went out and bought another car then went on his way. The story sounds so good the fellow believe it. Of course Virgil told him it was not true. But he still tells the story of what the manager at that time told people.

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