THE AUTOS OF
40 YEARS AGO
Here’s the new Maxwell “22”
Strong Stylish- Speedy— Price $785
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UNITED MOTOR CIIARI.OTTF. COMPANY
I It IUM M.,.,-
Chailnllr North Catnllna
By KARL DEAX
WHEN the advertisement re¬
produced on this page ap¬
peared in the C/iarfotte
Observer 40 years ago there were
only 1.580 automobiles in all of
North Carolina, and Mecklenburg
County had more of the new gaso¬
line buggies than any other county
in the state.
The urge to go places in a hurry
soon hit Guilford County, and in
the summer of 1910 there were
108 new automobiles scaring the
daylights out of horses and pedes¬
trians in and around Greensboro.
It wasn’t long before Buncombe
County was boasting of 105 horse¬
less carriages, but there were 23
counties in North Carolina 40 years
ago in which there wasn’t a single
automobile. Nowadays there are
more cars on the streets of the
town of Chapel Hill in a single
day than there were all over the
state back in 1910.
Let’s take a look around at some
of the new automobiles which
were just beginning to appear on
the market 40 years ago. In July.
1910. one Charlotte dealer was of¬
fering the new studebaker "Flan¬
ders” F.O.B. Detroit for only §800.
As an extra inducement to would-
be motorists in those days of
corduroy highways, veils and linen
dusters, he included a water-proof
top. windshield, kerosene head¬
lights, speedometer, a crank and
a Claxon horn equipped with a
rubber bulb in the purchase price!
In Raleigh five-passenger hupmo-
biles were selling for SI. 200 cash
(nobody ever heard of a finance
company in those days*, but there
weren’t many buyers even at that
price as there were only about 45
auto enthusiasts in Wake County
then.
The new Ford runabouts which
rattled and shook so they were
soon being called "tin lizzies. ’’
were selling for $440 up at Ashe¬
ville. Touring cars were in show
windows, much to the awe of
everybody, for only S490. The new
Ford sedans with cut class vases
for artificial flowers and silk shades
to pull up and down were offered
to the carriage trade at a slightly
higher figure, but well under
$1. 000
Of course, you had to crank them
yourself or get out and push when
the engine balked, but who cared
in those halcyon days?
In Vance County the Corbitt
Motor Car Company, at Henderson,
was bragging about a new five-
passenger "family” model made by
and for North Carolinians which
started electrically, had a silk
mohair top. a tire pump, tool chest,
windshield, quick, detachable
storm curtains and. last but not
least, shock absorbers.
These were the days of atrocious
roods. A highway map of the state
of North Carolina, issued by the
American Automobile Association
(probably as a warning) showed
no hard-surfaced highways east of
Raleigh in 1912. Travel in the
new automobiles 40 years ago was
largely in and around towns and
at the driver's own risk as there
were few gasoline filling stations
or other highway drive-in luxuries
including the movies, banks and
drive-in postoffices we know today.
Speed demons had their day
though, even 40 years ago. Miles
Clark, of Elizabeth City, known
as one of the most careful drivers
in Eastern North Carolina today,
was nabbed by the chief of police
in the Pasquotank County metrop¬
olis in the summer of 1910 for ex¬
ceeding (he speed limit on West
Church Street, which was 10 miles
an hour.
It wasn't so many years later,
in July. 1942 to be exact, that there
were *614.160 automobiles, trucks,
trailers and other wheeled vehicles
iContimied on page 21)
THE STATE. JULY IS. 1950
7
