Lost Car Companies of Detroit

by Alan Naldrett

Among more than two hundred auto companies that tried their luck in the Motor City, just three Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. But many of those lost to history have colorful stories worth telling. For instance, J.J. Cole forgot to put brakes in his new auto, so on the first test run, he had to drive it in circles until it ran out of gas. Brothers John and Horace Dodge often trashed saloons during wild evenings but used their great personal wealth to pay for the damage the next day (if they could remember where they had been). David D. Buick went from being the founder of his own leading auto company to working the information desk at the Detroit Board of Trade. Author Alan Naldrett explores these and more tales of automakers who ultimately failed but shaped the industry and designs putting wheels on the road today.

Genres: History

228 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 25, 2016

About the author

Alan Naldrett was an insurance agent for many years and soon had a wall full of sales awards and plaques. But as soon as his main topic of conversation was actuarial tables and all his friends had more than adequate insurance coverage and were all avoiding him he decided it was time for a change. Using his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State, after he turned fifty he acquired a couple of Master’s Degrees in Library and Information Science and Archival Science. He took a few anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and other relevant courses and became a medical librarian. He then spent many years as an academic librarian chastising college students about their literary choices and inadequate APA styling. Along the way he rediscovered an interest in writing and history which interestingly enough led to writing about history. He attempted to justify this as a member and sometime Vice-Chairman (even though he claims to know nothing about vice) of the local county historical commission and also the local library board. After writing five books and many historical writings in newspapers, magazines and newsletters, he still spends an inordinate amount of time playing with the F Street Blues, a blues band that plays a lot of rock songs.

Reviews

[daniel dirnfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Very interesting history of car manufacturing in the USA of the bygone era.this book is a tresure to whoever is interested in cars.

[Jonathan P. Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Good Read for the Auto Hobbist

If you are an "Auto Hobbist" or car nerd, such as myself, this book will fill every nook and cranny of your brain with minutiae to dazzle your friends and win trivia games.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I learned so much about automobiles from this book. As a native of Flint, MI, a lot of the street names I grew up seeing made perfect sense.

[Mark Lukas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for Readers who are Car Buffs and History Buffs

This book isn't for everyone, but if you like cars and appreciate history I don't think there is a more comprehensive book available, on the creation of the American automobile industry. It would fun, but probably impossible, to make a "family tree" of car companies and their founders. One of the fascinating things to me, is how creative these people were and how broad their personal interests often were. Some incredible creativity was demonstrated by people that often had no formal training and relatively little education. One young man developed a successful automobile and had orders for thousands more, before he went to College. While some names are well known, most are not. Very few auto makers survived the early years and made it to modern times, but a lot of people gave it their best shot and many contributed technology that is still used today. Some of the earliest challenges are still being worked out today such as practical electric powered and hybrid vehicles.

[David Swastek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

As a car guy and a history guy I thought this would be a great find. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to expectations. It didn't seem to follow a strictly time-based or geographical organization, but skipped around and so became a bit disjointed. There were minor anecdotes and background included about some of the founders, but the book ended up to be a listing of companies & founders with mention of how the founders switched to, combined or founded subsequent companies. It seemed that the info could have essentially been contained in a spreadsheet with Company, Founder, Model, Location and Year columns. Gave it a real try and bailed out (rare for me) after about 2/3 of the book.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lost Car Companies of Detroit" by Alan Naldrett takes a look at the automobile industry from the forgotten side of things in an interesting book that contains names of car companies that have long been lost to history. The book itself is a unique read as not only do we the reader see the immense competition in the early industry but also the various technologies that were used to make cars one of which (electric cars) have come into play here in the 21st century. The book itself is one that anyone with an interest in the auto industry will enjoy. If I have one nitpick about the book though is that every-time a car company is named for the first time it is bold-faced which is a bit of a distraction. Overall though this book is one fans of cars in general will enjoy.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is misleading, Mr. Naldrett actually spent very little time in Detroit but ranged throughout Michigan and Indiana, with occasional forays into other states. The book is full of facts and tidbits of information. The author was at his best when writing about the people involved. When he wrote about the companies he tended to do a lot of name dropping. This book is not an in depth look at the subject of car car companies that are no longer in business. It is indexed, interesting chapter and section titles, and car company names are bolded in the text.