Championing the sturdy, clean designs of Dodge Brothers cars, members of the Dodge Brothers Car Club gathered in Traverse City last week.
Touring the region in their antique cars, built between 1914 and 1938, the 54 club members swapped stories, gave restoration tips and reveled in their roadsters, sedans, coupes, police wagons and pickups. Not to mention debated the merits of different makes and models.
"Of all the cars, the 34s have the most beautiful lines," asserted Ken Sobel of Encino, Calif., decked out Friday in a gangster suit and (disabled) Thompson submachine gun to match his classic car. "It drives beautifully and I drive it almost every day — I think nothing of taking it for a 100-mile drive."
Attendees at the Dodge Brothers Car Club came from around the nation and Canada, driving or towing their beloved vehicles to Traverse City for the event. With a maximum speed well under 55 miles per hour for earlier models, traveling in these cars requires patience, planning and plenty of spare parts.
"I've had the sedan out to Massachusetts and the truck to Washington State," said Bob Blackledge of Laingsburg, who attended the event with his sons, grandsons and a great grandson. "I keep off the expressways because 35-40 miles per hour is as fast as you can drive. We have a lot of fun with it."
John and Horace Dodge founded their automobile company in 1914 in Meadowbrook, Mich., after first earning a living and gaining experience making parts for Ford Motor Company. They aimed their product at the middle between Ford's assembly line cheap Model Ts and the larger Packards marketed to the wealthy.
"They wanted a dependable car that was for the middle," said Dan Kerr of Russelton, Penn., who restores Dodge Brothers cars for others and is a charter member of the club.
The Dodge Brothers worked closely with Henry Ford. They were the engineers who provided the drive train, rear end, wheels and engine to the Ford Motor Company. After a few years, the trio had a falling out and the Dodge Brothers founded their own company in 1914. The feud between them over Ford stock given to the Dodge Brothers in lieu of payment generated a landmark stockholder's ruling by the United States Supreme Court that set a precedent in effect today.
The Dodge Brothers carved out a niche and created a following until both brothers died in the early 1920s. The brothers' wives ran the company for a few years until Chrysler purchased it in 1925. In 1939, the current Dodge company began and the Dodge Brothers era ended.
"They were very talented men and Henry Ford got way more credit than he should have," said Tracy Mariage of Williamsburg. "They were the engineers, the ones who designed the product line. Ford put the bodies on the cars but they came as a rolling chassis from the Dodge Brothers."
Mariage has a 1926 Deluxe four-door sedan that belonged to his parents, who purchased it used during the 1930s and drove it until 1945. It sat and rotted for 23 years before he began restoring it. He took a 25-year hiatus in the process when work and family commitments intervened, but completed the process in 1998 after five focused years of work.
Some of the parts needed to restore Dodge Brothers cars are readily available — the gathering in Traverse City featured an informal marketplace — but most others have to be custom made. The Internet helps facilitate the exchange and promote the club's goal: keep the cars on the road.
"Every little part you need, everything from a tail light to a fan belt to an ignition switch to hoses, has to be made," said Mariage. "Mechanical people, from as far away as Australia, are starting to reproduce the parts."