Automotive Machine Shop

Dodge Brothers Facts
The Dodge brothers, John Francis (1864-1920) and Horace Elgin (1868-1920), were among the earliest and most successful automotive pioneers of the twentieth century.
The Dodge Reputation
The car that emerged from the Hamtramck plant on November 10, 1914, represented a significant improvement on the Ford cars for which the brothers had been making parts only the previous year. The Dodge Brothers auto had a self-starter that only rarely relied on cranking, making it easier for women to drive. It also had a hand-controlled fuel pump that "made it possible for the Dodge car to climb a steep hill without forcing the driver to put his car into reverse gear and to ascend the hill backwards, as drivers of some Model T Fords had to do," says Pitrone. "By the end of 1914, John and Horace were planning for major production of Dodge cars in 1915, introducing a two-passenger roadster with rear luggage compartment, and a first closed car-a center-door sedan." The solid, dependable Dodge autos won recognition from General John J. Pershing in his mechanized-cavalry campaign in Mexico in 1916. "The Dodge cars swayed and lurched along in low gear," declare Pitrone and Elwart, "belching steam and grinding their way through the sand so successfully that, less than three months later, Pershing requested another 250 Dodges from the War Department, putting out an order that only Dodges would be used by his staff in Mexico's rugged territory." Dodge cars and trucks were also used extensively by the American forces during World War I.
By the war's end, the Dodge Brothers plant ranked fourth in production among American car producers. When Horace and John left Detroit for the 1920 National Automobile Show, their prospects were bright. "In the summer of 1919," say Pitrone and Elwart, "their factory had produced 500 cars each day and still ran behind the volume of orders received from dealers." However, within the week, Horace Dodge fell very ill. Rumors circulated that he had fallen victim to a bad batch of illegal liquor, but the doctor's diagnosis was "grippe"-the influenza that in 1918-19 had killed more than 500,000 Americans. John Dodge, who camped outside his brother's sickroom door, soon was taken sick as well. John had suffered from tuberculosis more than twenty years previously, and it had damaged his lungs. He died on January 14, 1920. Although Horace recovered from the flu, he was a broken man without his older brother and partner. He died of cirrhosis of the liver on December 10, 1920. The Dodge brothers left behind them two tremendous fortunes that caused much family squabbling, a legacy of contributions to the city of Detroit, and a reputation for making solid, dependable cars and trucks that survives to this day. More on Dodge Brothers in next blog.