The Other US Car Makers

The Auto Review series has covered all the principal smaller US car-making groups of the postwar era; Kaiser-Frazer, Willys, American Motors, Studebaker-Packard, and it is gradually working its way marque by marque through the ‘Big Three’ (General, Motors, Ford and Chrysler). In these shark-infested waters there were minnows which attempted to compete for postwar US car sales. Some, like Checker, found a profitable niche market, and theirs is the longest story told here, including its prewar days. Some tried to undercut the market with inexpensive cars, even home-built kit-cars, but others had grandiose plans to become major manufacturers. Mostly these cars were created by people who had a vision, but it was rarely a vision shared by the buying public. The main stumbling blocks were lack of finance, engineering expertise or artistic flair, or all three. Here we have tales of hope and disappointment, impossible fantasy, even of criminality and murder.