Do Grinnells Have Seat Warmers?
Wikipedia lists nearly 600 defunct American automobile manufacturers, many of which boasted the top innovations of their day. How would auto development have occurred if the government had nationalized each one, as they have now done with GM?
Smith Automobile Company, the first automobile made west of the Mississippi river (closed 1912).
Long before the Chevy Volt, Grinnell Electric Car Company manufactured a five-seat electric car that claimed to have a 90-mile range (closed 1913).
Stanley Motor Carriage Company, the world’s fastest car until 1911 (sold 1917).
McFarlan Motor Corporation, known as the “American Rolls Royce”, was a favorite of celebrities such as Fatty Arbuckle, Jack Dempsey and Al Capone, who bought one for his wife (bankrupt 1928).
Brewster & Co., whose cars were immortalized in the Cole Porter song “You’re the Top”: “You’re the top! You’re a Ritz hot toddy. You’re the top! You’re a Brewster body” (sold at auction, 1937).
Uncle Sam’s Heist: Deficits and Inflation – Jonathan Hoenig, SmartMoney
