Dodge

From Mopedia

A brief history of the origins of the Dodge brand

Compiled by Geoff Gariepy

Brothers John and Horace Dodge were born in 1864 and 1868 respectively in Niles, Michigan. The sons of Daniel Dodge, a foundry and machine shop owner, the brothers spent part of their formative years working in their father's machine shop.(1)

After their father's business partners died in the late 1880s, the brothers moved with their family from the Niles area to Battle Creek, Michigan. Soon after, they moved on to Port Huron, Michigan, and then finally to the Detroit area. After working for their father during an early, failed venture in Port Huron manufacturing internal combustion engines(2), the brothers made an effort to work together for the same employers, which included various machine shops and stove parts manufacturers located in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Based on the strength of Horace's patent for a dirt-resistant bicycle ball bearing assembly(2), the brothers entered into a partnership with Frederick Evans in 1897, building bicycles. The production facility was leased from their former employer in Windsor, the Dominion Typograph Company(2). The brothers sold out their interest in the Evans and Dodge bicycles business in 1900, for an amount said variously to be $3,700(1) or $10,000(2). Whatever the amount, it was used to finance the establishment of their own machine shop on Beaubien Street in Detroit in late 1900. This early venture produced stove parts(3), parts for typesetting and typography machines, and steam engines for yachts before engaging in the fledgling automobile industry.(4)

In 1901, the main Oldsmobile factory located in Lansing, Michigan was destroyed by a fire, which crippled the early manufacturer's ability to produce cars using parts of its own manufacture. Oldsmobile thus came to rely upon purchased parts from third-party suppliers to continue building curved-dash Oldsmobiles after the disaster. The Dodge Brothers and Cadillac founder Henry Leland's company, Leland & Faulconer built engines to Olds's specifications.(6) The Dodge Brothers also produced transmissions for this vehicle in the second year of the contract, due to the high quality of their engines.(4)

In 1902, Henry Ford sought manufacturing support for his automobile-making venture from the Dodge brothers. The Dodge Brothers terminated their contract with Oldsmobile in 1903(4) in order to devote their young company's efforts towards tooling up for the production of the Ford Model T, which was introduced in 1908.(5) Eventually, the brothers accepted a 10% stake in Ford's business in lieu of payment, which enriched them substantially.

The Dodge Brothers contract with Henry Ford specified that they were to supply "running gear" or "machinery" to Ford. Essentially, they supplied everything for the car with the exception of the body, wheels and tires. The rest of the vehicle: engine, transmission, chassis, etc., was produced by the Dodges. During this period, The Dodge Brothers worked exclusively with Ford.(4)

In 1910, the demand for Model Ts far exceeded Ford's ability to manufacture them. In response, the Dodge brothers built a large manufacturing complex in Hamtramck, Michigan, which came to be dubbed Dodge Main. The new facility produced Model Ts under contract to Ford.(1)

Ford continued to expand its own manufacturing capability, however, and by 1913 the threat posed to the comfortable business the Dodge Brothers had built as a supplier became untenable. In that year, John Dodge declined to renew the contract with Ford, and gave up a position as a vice president in the Ford enterprise to enter into business as a competitor under the brothers' own name. In 1914, the first Dodge rolled off the assembly line after a lengthy period of retooling.(1) In 1917, they began a successful venture building trucks for the U.S. effort in World War I. (9)

Horace Dodge was a tinkerer with a certain mechanical genius. John Dodge, it is said, was a foul-tempered man with a head for business dealings. Neither man was regarded as being acceptable by members of Detroit high society in the era(7); Among his many exploits, John was rumored to have become angry with a bartender and to have held him at bay with a pistol while smashing a large amount of glassware. Horace, perhaps tainted somewhat by his brother's reputation, is said to have had his own moments of temper, once attacking a man who had mocked him for having difficulty crank-starting his Ford. Despite this, the men prospered, with Horace building a large estate next door to the Grosse Pointe (Michigan) Country Club designed to make the club that had rejected his earlier application for membership "look like a shanty." For his part, John became highly influential in the Michigan Republican Party, while Horace was notable for his support of the arts, especially the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.(2)

Both men died of complications from influenza and pneumonia within 11 months of each other in 1920, leaving their considerable estates to their wives. The wives continued the family business until around 1925, at which point it was sold for the sum of $146 million to Dillon, Read & Company.(7) This was said to be the largest cash transaction in history up to that time.(9) This large investment banking firm, considered a peer of J.P. Morgan's firm(8), operated The Dodge Brothers Corporation for a number of years in the mid-1920s. It was eventually sold at a profit to Walter P. Chrysler in 1928 for $170 million.(10)

Sources:
1. http://www2.oakland.edu/oakland/OUportal/index.asp?item=3759&name=Dodge+%26+Wilson+Family+History&site=87
2. http://www.chryslerheritage.com/sec500_pdf/The%20Dodge%20Brothers.pdf
3. http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=21&category=business
4. http://www.hbs.edu/bhr/archives/bookreviews/80/jrubenstein.pdf
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_Dodge
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillon%2C_Read
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge
10. http://www.chryslerclub.org/histry.htm
--Geoff 01:12, 3 March 2007 (EST)