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Frontenac Radiator Badge


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I bought a Frontenac overhead conversion for my Model T a few years ago and the old gent that sold it to me gave me a radiator badge with the Chevrolet Bros. Coat of Arms and the name Frontenac on it. He claims it is an original that was offered at the time the overheads were offered in the early '20's . I posted this on the MTFCA page and no one new much about it. I was told that some were reproduced in the 60's, but were labeled as repros. This is not marked with the repro mark and appears to be original. Anyone know anything about these??

frontybadge.jpg

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The Frontenac was a car made in the early 30's from leftover Durant automobile parts. It's life was short lived as with several other cars made from the remainder of the Durant Factory parts. These were DeVaux and Continental. To find out more on the Frontenac and see what the cars looked like, take a trip to the Durant Motors Automobile Web site located at www.durantmotors.org and also an associated site located at www.durantcars.com.

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This is not related to either car named Frontenac. It is a badge that was given to the buyers of the Frontenac Overhead Valve cylinder head that fit Model T's and A's. This bolt on conversion raised the HP on a Model T from 22 to over 50, depending on the model of the head that was purchased. The Chevrolet Bros. raced in the 1921 Indianapolis 500 with one of their heads and placed 3rd that year.

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I remember seeing a booth at Hershey with a few of these about 12 years ago and asked about them. His answer was that Harry Pulfer had taken the design from a piece of literature and made these badges from that artwork. The emblems he reproduced were marked as reproduction on small stickers which are easilly peeled off and it has been 40 years now so I can't imagine it would be there. If that seller were not honest I'd have one now...

--- Side note, Pulfer & Williams are reproducers of emblems and are still around as far as I know. It is now owned by Bill Williams who wrote one of hte best books on Hood Ornaments I know of, but was founded by Harry Pulfer. The early items from them are from the 1960's and are now getting old enough to fool many an expert collector.

Under another posting heading - "radiator emblems anyone?" - you can read thru a long-winded "what to avoid" posting that I did a while back on radiator emblems. The bigest key to identification would be a good picture - it is possible that an embelem did exist from Frontenac, but being into T's and collecting emblems for many years I have to say I've never seen one that I felt was genuine.

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During my research into Argyll Motors Company over here I have recently discovered in archive documentation that Louis Chevrolet was in the process of purchasing a licence in the Frontenac Co. name to fit "Argyll" single sleeve-valve engines into some of its vehicles - sadly it goes on to record that the money had run out and "Mr Chevrolet is [not] in financial position to pay us the next ten thousand dollar licence fee".

I wonder what would have been if he had that "next $10,000"?

My apologies for going a bit off-topic.

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TheMoneyPit</div><div class="ubbcode-body">--- Side note, Pulfer & Williams are reproducers of emblems and are still around as far as I know. It is now owned by Bill Williams who wrote one of hte best books on Hood Ornaments I know of, but was founded by Harry Pulfer. The early items from them are from the 1960's and are now getting old enough to fool many an expert collector.</div></div>

Sadly, Bill died in September. He bought out Pulfer a long time ago, but kept the name on the business. His wife will be selling the business. She and her daughter were manning the booth at Hershey this year.

I've known Bill practically my whole life, certainly as long as I can remember.

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West. is there going to be a mention of this in the next magazine? I was shocked to learn of Bill's passing. We shared a common interest with the mascots but the real fun was the thrill of the hunt. I've run into him in the London street markets as often as at Hershey and he was always a real gentleman. When he was preparing his 1st book he came over to Scotland while we were living there (courtesy of the USN) and I was able to help him find some pretty good collections to photograph-we had a lot of fun trying to make the next big discovery, but always willing to share. Bill certainly deserves a nice AACA farewell for all he has done to support the hobby over the years. Another hobby legend has departed.

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William C. Williams' (Bill's) book "Motoring Mascots of the World" and is one of the absolute bibles of hood ornament collecting. Bill was something like a demigod to me as a kid. I remember meeting Bill and buying an autographed book from from him at a flea market in the parking lot of Schaeffer Stadium when I was no more than 14 years old. As I was just getting interested in these things we now call automobillia, he set-up at a few small local flea markets with all the eye candy you could want. At some point in time he thought having a young collector was something to encourage and he would give me incredible deals on the more common or damaged items. As time went on he would accept a payment plan from me, if I saw something I liked he would set it aside and I'd pay him a little more each time we met until it was paid for. The first thing we did this with was on a Wills St. Clair emblem for a whopping $35.00! I still prize this as one of the most beautiful emblems made. As I got older he would set aside emblems knowing what I would buy and how much I could afford. My collection has several hood ornaments and many many emblems from his booths over the years. He got me into this hobby hook line and sinker and I bought quite a bit from him over the years. I enjoyed visiting him at Hershey until a few years back when I moved into another area and a job that does not allow me the freedom to go down each fall. I am saddened to hear of his passing and my most heartfelt sympathy to his family.

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  • 1 year later...

Your badge does not look like any of the 1933 Continental Frontenac C-400, C-600 or the Big C-600 that Continental Motor Company built in the USA and called them the Beacon, Flyer and Ace. I have 1933 & Frontenac's and the Beacon, Flyer and Ace with some parts to trade, but looking for a roadster.

Daryl Ph# 425 221 3275 Email darylcontinental@gmail.com

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