When They Made Automobiles in Lynchburg

Official Publication of the Lynchburg Historical Foundation

FERRY A Journal of Local History

This f our-cylin der (4-30) model Piedmont poses f or a publicity shot ca. 1920 it~ front ofa then-11ew home 011 Peak/and Place.

(Photo courtesy of the Ly nchburg Mu seum System.)

IN THIS ISSUE: •When They Made Automobiles in Lynchburg •Messages on Tombstones •R-MWC's Centennial •Andrew Jackson Visits Lynchburg •Was It Really Lynch's Ferry?

•Historical Faux Pas •200 Years for Marshall Lodge No. 39 • Bits and Pieces of Early Lynchburg • Books of Interest

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Newly-minted Piedmonts m•ait for shipmtmt at thefactory located on HollitJS Mill Road near Bedford Avenue, now site ofFJowers Bakery.

When They Made Automobiles in Lynchburg

By James M. Elson In the minds of most living Americans, Detroit has been the traditional center of automobile production in the United States. The "Big Three" -General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler -have, since World War II, been the dominant domestic manufacturers. It was not always so. In the first three decades of the twentieth century there were many small companies scattered throughout the country. Few Lynchburgers realize that 75 years ago an automobile was made here in the Hill City.lt was called the Piedmont.

Lynchburg was an ambitious and affluent place during the years before World War I - a lively center of manufacturing, wholesale jobbing houses, retailing, and transportation. The 1913 city directory laid claim to its being the third wealthiest per capita in the United States. It was, therefore, probably not a great surprise to those familiar with the local world of business and commerce when this announcement appeared in the November 28, 1915 6

editionofTheNewsundertheheadline "Lynchburg's Need": The one big need which Lynchburg feels, and which all of its citizens desirous for its healthy growth recognize, is the establishmentof manufacturing enterprises which will attract large numbers of high-grade, skilled laborers, and which will manufacture a product under conditions reasonably insuring a substantial profit to investors.

The notice's next three paragraphs proposed the inauguration of such an enterprise, locally financed and managed, which could accomplish these goals. It then continued in an almost rhapsodic vein: The growth of the automobile industry is one of the romances of modem business. It has been almost impossible for the factories to keep pace with the growing demands for their products; and the indications for the future are

that the use ofmotor vehicles will become even more general, and that the demand for them will continue to tax the capacity of the equipments for supplying the demand.

T he announcement went on to enumerate the advantages of manufacturing automobiles in Lynchburg.

Firstamongthose listed were the city's splendid shipping facilities and favorable freight rates. "We can meet competition upon other points," it confidently concluded.

Mr. Wallace A. Taylor, a Lynchburger of "unusual management abilities," would lead the establishment of such an enterprise and secure its financing. Mr. Taylor (according to a reminiscence written in 1976 by his daughter) before coming to Lynchburg had organized and become president of the American Life Insurance Company of Richmond. In 1908 he purchased land inAmherstCounty, which was approximately five miles north of LYNCH'S

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HOME OF THE

The pl'esent home of the Piedmont Co., Inc., and its pmduct , developed rrom an id... . to a modem equipped plant with capacity of 20Qil fir.ished motor cats per annum. ln January, 1917. the company moved into the fint unit of ib plant. and in March of tha t year turned out ib fint ....,,,,._..-,""• cars. Since then six additional unib have completed, giving an aggTegate of 40,000 1q. ft. · floor space. The lut addition being one of the mo¢ modernly equipped body malcing planb in tLe . country, with a capacity of 30 completed bo:Ue. a. day.

For 19 18the Company several new style&, comistingofRoadaters and Touring cars in both four and-.ix cyli.nder rnodela. Theae·are of the late'' le.ign a.nd in appeaoa.1ce and workman· ship are surpaued by ~unces

The demand for the company'• product ia £.r in exceu of the ,.--1 production facilities _ . an inqeaaed capacity ia being planned. pa-nger, aMounc:cd a year ago wu the aomaation of the &ea.~en and

none.

No longer a •!ranger but a tried and tested friend with S ty ie, Comfort, and above a ll Dur· ability, built in every Piedrnonl Valuea offered in the cars shown here may seem too good to be true, but they ~ true and are rnade pouible by close attention to fVery mechanical detail. careful buying and standardzed production. :rhe enthusiastic welcome given he now popular 1917 Piedmont-30. is being rep<ated, and large orders are being booked daily.

Fetr P&rticulart.. deta.iled • PKill c.at1on • p rir • nd oo ope tnntOf'} . a.dd,...

4-30 TO URJN C

year's produc.tion distributed.

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Piedmont Motor Car Co., Inc. L.c::a:a,t~ T~i.kc au! SovtitU"a Jlulway

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JO&Jrar] 6. I 918. &m tk u:zi]foU-poge odoertisement by tk Piednwnt .liofiJr Cor Company eur to appear

Lynchburg on the Southern Railway.

In 1910 he built a spacious house with Corinthian columns on his property, naming it "Winesap" after the local railroad station, which was in walking distance. During his tenure as President of the Piedmont Motor Car Company, Mr. Taylor and his family lived at 516 Federal Street in Lynchburg.

This would have been only a short drive to work for Mr. Taylor in one of his automobiles.

Mr. Taylor's leadership in this venture had the endorsement of several prominent Lynchburg businessmen, who presumably would be among the initial investors. The names of Fred Harper, P. A. Krise, G. E. Vaughan, Charles W. Scott, George A Diuguid, Jr., JohnS. Witt, G. H. Wilkins, W. R. Winfree, R. D. Martin, A. S. White, 0.

B. Barker,]. T . Jennings, L. Lazarus, and D. B. Ryland closed the announcement attesting that "We, the undersigned, hereby appprove the establishment of the enterprise hereby set forth and commend it to the favorable consideration of local interests."

The Piedmont Motor Car Company was organized with an authorized capital of one million dollars and a minimum capital of one hundred thousand dollars divided into ¡shares selling at ten dollars each. Two years later its authorized capital was increased to five million dollars, although it is unclear how much of this additional stock was actually sold. If somewhere between one and five million dollars seems to be a gross underfunding for so ambitious a venture, it should be remembered that the automobile technology of7 5 years ago was quite primitive compared to today's and therefore much less expensive. Moreover, a dollar had far greater buying power in the nineteen teens than it does now. Many middle class families lived comfortably on an annual income of less than $1,500. In addition to Mr. Taylor as President, officers were Fred Harper, Vice President; RobertA. Skinner, Secretary and Engineeer; and Daniel C. Taylor, Treasurer.

Slightly more than a year after the corporation's original announcement,

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there appeared an advertisement in Lynchburg's The News of December 19, 1916 for "The Piedmont 30, A Sou them Product," accompanied by a picture of the car with its top down, ready for driving. "Orders are already being booked for Spring delivery," the ad announced. ''The finished car will soon be on exhibition. Demonstrations in February, deliveries in March."

The Piedmont project seems to have moved along right on schedule.

On April18, 1917 The News headlined a story: "TO ENLARGE ITS PLANT, Piedmont Motor Car Co. Claims to Have Sold 900 Cars." The company was "swamped with orders" and had been forced to decline a request for 200 more cars. Plans were under way to remedy the situation. On January 6, 1918 a full-page advertisement appeared in The News headlined "HOME OF THE PIEDMONT MOTOR CAR CO., INC." with a drawing of the expanded plant which contained "an aggregate of 40,000 sq. ft. floor space." Also pictured were the company's 1918 models, the four-cylinder 4-30 touring car, and the six cylinder 6-40 speedster touring car and 6-40 club roadster.

Apparently the Piedmont four-cylinder model was originally intended to occupy a lower-middle market niche, with the six-cylinder models somewhat above it. An advertisement in The News for the 1917 4-30 announced a price of $695. By 1919 the list price of the four-cylinder Piedmont had risen to $1,095, while the cost for the six-cylinder passenger touring car was $1,545. The following year the four-cylinder Piedmont was being advertised at$1,485 and the six-cylinder model had advanced to $1,945.

In addition to its four- and sixcylinder passenger cars, the Piedmont Motor Car Company made light trucks -perhaps 300 during its existence. It also produced two pilot model kerosene tractors, but they developed defects and were never placed on the market.

The Piedmont plant was built on land leased from the Southern Railroad near the intersection of Hollins

Mill Road and Bedford Avenue. The Flowers Bakery complex presently occupies the site. Today there is no discernible trace of its previous use, though the buildings stayed vacantfor some years after the closing.

The Piedmont Motor Car was in reality an assembled, not a manufactured, automobile. The frames for the cars were shipped to Lynchburg by rail and unloaded from a siding next to the plant. Continental six-cylinderengines or Lycoming four-cylinder engines were installed and connected to a Grant-Lees transmission. Wheels fitted with Goodyear Diamond Tread tires were then attached to the axles.

At this point in the assembly process, the vehicle was road tested.

In a 1962 interview, Harry Viar, who worked at the Piedmont plant, recalled his participation in some of the tests. A small box seat for the driver was fastened to the car's frame, and large cast iron plates were placed on the frame over the rear axles to compensate for the weight of the notyet-installed body. Mr. Viar related that he accompanied William Kriner, superintendent of production and test driver, on several ofthese tryouts, driving at top speeds (45-55 miles per hour) over the unpaved roads near Lynchburg. Mr. Viar did not indicate whether an additional seat was attached to the vehicle when he rode with Mr. Kriner on these outings.

According to the late Clarence McCarthy, also a Piedmont employee, the procedure described above was referred to as "rough testing." On more than one occasion, he recalled in a 1979 interview, it involved taking the cars up to Rivermont Park, located on the south side of Rivermont Avenue beginning at Belvedere Street, and "playing tag" by driving them up rock steps. Mr. McCarthy was a self-described "light tester," taking the new automobiles out to "burn in" the brakes and making necessary adjustments to the motors.

Once the engine was broken in, the Piedmont's body, a component of the car originally purchased from an outside supplier but later made at the plant, was installed. A large stamping LYNCH'S

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machine for sheet metal could not be justified financially in such a low-volume operation (a maximum of five or six vehicles per day), so the shaping of the curves in the bodies had to be accomplished by hand. According to Harry Viar this was done by a traveling sheet metal expert named Sapella who appeared periodically with two assistants. Placing the sheets over a wooden form, Mr. Sapella directed his assistants with his head to move them back and forth. With an air hammer he shaped graceful curves in the metal without leaving any marks. Mr. Viar remembered that Mr. Sa pella received one dollar per body for his efforts.

After shaping, the bodies were then primed, given two coats of enamel, and finished with five coats of varnish. According to some accounts, most of the Piedmonts were painted dark green, but Clarence McCarthy remembered them in black, dark maroon, and gray as well. Two rare blue ones were taken to New York City for an auto show, and President Wallace Taylor is said to have owned the only yellow Piedmont ever produced.

When the bodies were painted, fenders, manufactured by the York Corrugating Company and with the enamel already baked on, were attached. The car was completed with the installation of its upholstery, trim, and touring top.

According to D. Carleton Taylor, son of Piedmont President Wallace Taylor, the automobile earned some favorable local publicity in 1917, its first year on the market. Test driver Kriner drove a Piedmont with three passengers 424 miles from Lynch burg to Richmond, Charlottesville, Staunton, Lexington, Roanoke, and back to Lynchburg in 20 hours and 47 minutes. This bested by 3 hours and 4 minutes the time for the same route set a few years before by an Essex driven by the late Richard D .

Apperson, an early Lynchburg automobile enthusiast and president of theLynchburgTraction&LightCompany. During their record-breaking trip, Mr. Kriner and his friends experienced an assortment of adventures.

These included a puncture, a blowFALL I WINTER

J anu .. ry 13. 1921

MOTOR

AGE

Raising the Curtain on the New York Display

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Of the ten makes of automobiles shown here participating in this 1921 New York show, only the Lincoln (left, secondfrom top), is manufactumltoday. Lincoln survived by being taken over by t!Je Ford Motor Company in 1922. (Courtesy of Tim Crowder.)

out, stopping in Staunton for repairs, and being fined $55 for speeding in Richmond.

The Piedmont was initially available locally through the factory and, after April 1919, from the Leftwich Motor Company located at 601 Main Street. Another important, and perhaps the only other, dealership in this region was in Greensboro, N.C. The Piedmont was sold in large numbers in other parts of the country as well. Two of the biggest out-of-town buyers were theBushAutomobileCompanyinChi-

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cago and the Lone Star Company in Texas, which marketed the cars under their own names. The only change in the vehicles was the substitution of the retailer's emblem for the Piedmont's on the radiator shell.

The Piedmont was also marketed in Europe, where it was known as the Alsace - it is said that some were even sold in Asia and Africa. In addition to the subsitution of an Alsace radiator marker, the hood lines were changed and the steering column was placed on the right hand side.

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The late Clarence McCartlhy, who worked for the Piedmont Motor Car Company, and an unidmti,{tedfrimd posefor a picture at the plant in Mr. McCarthy's Piedmont. Remnants ofthis same vehicle couldfumish most of the componmts for a contemporary Piedmont restoration by Tim Crowder of Richmond. (Photo courtesy of Tim Crowder.)

George Hay was apparently one of the few executives of the Piedmont organization with previous automobile manufacturing experience, having come to Lynchburg from Detroit.

Mrs. Hay recalled in a 1976 interview riding with her husband from Lynchburg to New York to deliver a car for overseas shipment. "George could drive those cars with a right hand drive- it didn't seem to bother him any." And, she added, "If you drove with George Hay, you made good time."

Atleastoneofthe two-day trips to New York took place in the winter, Mrs. Hay remembered. Since the cars were not equipped with heaters, it was a cold ride. It was also bumpy. "The worst roads today are better than what we had in those days," she declared.

All the attention given to out-oftown and overseas markets eventually contributed to the Piedmont's demise.

"The Alsace proved to be the biggest money maker of all the cars, and it was more difficult to get a Piedmont in Maryland than to have an Alsace delivered in Europe," noted the late ].

Peyton Moore in a 1980 article for

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Lynchburg magazine. "The business overseas declined when other countries began to build their own cars."

In a belated effort to gain more of the local market the Piedmont Motor Car Co. began an advertising campaign in The News in March of 1920. An ad in the March 20 edition invited applications for agencies in Camp bell, Bedford, and Appomattox counties, but apparently there were no takers.

Piedmont executive George Hay did, however, have some success in selling Piedmonts to the Lynchburg Police Department, using the argument that supporting a local industry in this way "would look better."

By january 1921 it was apparent that this "buy local" strategy was, in itself, not going to save the company.

"Special prices" representing a $500 reduction on both the six-cylinderand four-cylinder models were offered to residents ofLynchburgand Campbell, Bedford, Amherst, and Appomattox counties - but in vain. The Piedmont Motor Company filed a petition for involuntary bankruptcy in August. It was bought at auction by the First National Bank of Lynchburg on Octo-

ber 16, 1922 for $35,000, including buildings, machinery, stock on hand, and materials.

In retrospect, it is obvious that the Piedmont Motor Car Company was destined toeventuallyclosealongwith the many other small automobile manufacturers throughout the country which went out of business in the 1920s.

There were several factors, however, thathastened its end. In addition to the company's failure to develop local markets, the recession of 1920, the inability to compete in price with larger companies which made their own parts and could turn out units more cost effectively, and lack of management skills in the manufacturing process all played a part. It has been reported that when the Piedmont plant ceased operations, it contained an inventory of parts worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

A number of Piedmonts roamed the streets during the 1920s and one was reported to have delivered milk in Lynchburg as late as 1935. By the 1990s the automobile was thought to be extinct. The chances of a

LYNCH'S

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Piedmont's ever reappearing seemed to be about the same as those of a tyrannosaurus rex.

EPILOG Tim Crowder is an engineer with the Philip Morris Company in Richmond whose passion is restoring antique cars. Having been informed that he had a collection ofPiedmon t memorabilia, including a number of parts, we gave Mr. Crowder a call. He was most forthcoming about his hobby and invited us to come byona}ulydaythis year to view his artifacts and browse through his files.

Mr. Crowder's workshop is laid out in a two-car garage behind his home. It is full but orderly; he obviously knows where everything is. The first thing that struck our eye was a car of approximately the same vintage as the Piedmont which looked to be about 80 percent complete. It turned out to be a Kline Kar, a contemporary of the Piedmont made in Richmond. Mr. Crowder hopes to finish his restoration by 1995. The new Riverside Branch of Richmond's Valentine Museum, scheduled to open then, will have a space to exhibit the Kline Kar.

After expressing our admiration for the painstaking work that had obviously gone into the Kline Kar's restoration, we asked about the Piedmont. Mr. Crowder produced an extensive and meticulously researched file of clippings, photographs, and brochures. But the best was yet to come.

Mr. Crowder, it appears, has most of the components for a 1917 Piedmont 4-30 Touring Car, including all the mechanical parts, an entire chassis with wheels and hubcaps, and some of the body. He obtained manyofthesefrom the late Clarence McCarthy, who when working at the factory purchased his Piedmont from one of the company's executives. To complete a restoration, Mr. Crowder will need only to fabricate some sections of the car's body, its seats, and its top. This, he believes, can be done fairly accurately from the detailed materials in his files.

We did not ask Mr. Crowder when he plans to restore his Piedmont. Obviously the Kline Kar has first priority.

And why not? It is well along the way to being finished, and there will soon be an opportunity to display it in Richmond. Perhaps the Piedmont will come next. A meaningful expression ofinterestfrom Lynchburg might help.

JAMES M. ELSON is the executive vice president of the Patrick Henry Memorial Foundation located at Red Hill near Brookneal. His book Academy ofMusic, Lynchburg, Virginia: The Golden Age of Live Performance was published in May by the Lynchburg Historical Foundation.

Dr. Elson has previously written articles on Patrick Henry and Dr. George Cabell and Lynchburg impressario, Miss Emma Adams, for Lynch's Ferry.

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A ten dollar share of the between one andf tVe million dollars in stock issued by the Piedmont Motor Car Company before its demise. There is no record that tlte company ever paid a dividend. (Courtesy ofthe Lynchburg Museum System.)

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