Franklin cars, "The car beautiful"

[plymouthcranbrook]

[Walt G]

Great Franklin advertisement and the fact the Branches are noted where to buy one - if you live near one can anyone take a current photo of the building if it still exists?

Note that the HH Franklin Manufacturing C. held the Selden license to build the cars and the Franklin Automobile Company was the Sole Distributor.......................

[dibarlaw]

I missed the boat on that one here in Chambersburg, PA. A friend had a city directory from 1909 and gave a north 2nd street address for the Franklin dealer. Later as I learned from an image on page 90 in the 2021 "Got Gas" book by Jimmy Rosen it shows the building in the late teens when it was a Cadillac Studebaker dealer selling GULF gasoline. When we moved to Chambersburg in 1985 it was a Montgomery Wards. Then a Fisher Auto Parts and last a Labor Ready office. 2 years ago, I went to document the building and there was construction fence around it and a week later it was no more. Parking only for KING STREET UB Church.

 Typical of our HISTORIC Town (Big to do every year about the southern army burning of Chambersburg during the Civil War) in the last 15 years about a quarter of older downtown buildings have been turned to parking lots. Properties have now been going for now ever-expanding County and City government office buildings and associated parking. A local Church also had over 10 buildings raised for more parking to their expanded facility. In my neighborhood the local Hospital has raised over 40 properties for parking. Many well built and maintained brick houses post 1930. (I am now sort of on an island to myself.) Pretty much the same for the school district where I worked. Amazing all the business and residential properties that have come off the tax rolls, I guess I will be the only one left paying tax in my neighborhood.

 Another nice thing about Rosen's book is there are some photos of "then and now" on some of the sites.

Edited April 20, 2022 by dibarlaw
spelling (see edit history)

[Walt G]

Interesting comments Larry. This goes on more then most would expect.  I had/have been active in the NY State Historians Association for many years , especially when the chapters here on long island were much more active and the "tear down" rate never ceases , it is all justified too by many people in the name of PROGRE$$. It takes an active preservation group with no nonsense leadership to prove how things can be saved/salvaged. My good friend Howard Kroplick does that with the Roslyn Landmarks Society ( look them up on line - wonderful) . Most preservationists ( and car restorers/preservationists) get little or faint praise, and really do not seek that unless it helps the cause they feel so strongly about. Way to much is taken for granted by most people who have the idea that "somebody will do it, I don't have the time" . Very sad indeed, but once something is gone it can never be retrieved again.  Be it a structure, vehicle , and even enthusiasm of an individual who is put down for his sincerity.

[dibarlaw]

Thanks for the comments, Walt. I also remember living in Monongahela, PA. During their Bicentennial back in 1969. For 2 years prior every historic building had some type of plaque expounding its importance to the region's history. We had a very active Historical society. 2 years after the Bicentennial every one of the HISTORIC landmarks were gone. The historic society put out a flyer for walking tours to show the spot where all these landmarks were.

 Back to the Franklin topic...

Reviewing the photo of The Chambersburg Auto Co. that I mentioned in the Rosen "Got Gas".  Signage above the display windows does have FRANKLIN as a brand still carried as well as Cadillac, Studebaker and White Commercial Car. There may be another brand, but an awning is covering that section.

Edited May 17, 2022 by dibarlaw
spelling (see edit history)

[8E45E]

There is an article on Franklin by Kit Foster in the April issue of The Automobile magazine from England.

 

Craig

[alextheantiqueautoguy]

On 4/20/2022 at 8:08 AM, Walt G said:

Great Franklin advertisement and the fact the Branches are noted where to buy one - if you live near one can anyone take a current photo of the building if it still exists?

Note that the HH Franklin Manufacturing C. held the Selden license to build the cars and the Franklin Automobile Company was the Sole Distributor.......................

Franklin Manufacturing did NOT hold the Selden patent. The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) was a group of American auto companies that decided to pay a license fee rather than try to battle the owner of the Selden copyright. It was a scheme to bilk the American consumer, and it worked until 1911.

Selden never built a working model or any car at all until after 1905. In short, he did not have a valid application since he had no working model. He filed a partial application in 1877 and it languished in the Patent Office until the Electric Vehicle Company (EVC) of New York and Philadelphia bought the patent. Pushed it and began enforcing it.

Basically, electric car production was in a shambles and EVC wanted to be paid for Winton's production of cars. It was a terrible idea and, out of fear, many auto companies paid the fees.

An attempt was made to make an original Selden car and a famous photo was taken with Henry Ford as the passenger. He looked like he had been sucking on lemons in the photograph because he knew it was a sham.

This may have been Henry Ford's finest hour. He fought the patent on engineering grounds where the Supreme Court ruled that Selden's patent covered autos that had an improved Brayton engine. The cost of the case was said to be the longest and most expensive ever before the SOCTUS at that time.

Ford summed up his opinion of the Selden scheme, "We believe that the would have been just as far advanced to-day if Mr. Selden had never been born."

Ford launched a successful court case against the patent and won in 1911