MTFCA Forum

A fascinating snapshot of day to day dealings within the Ford dealership network in 1922! From the collection of Dr. Harry J. Lerner for @flivverchannel Here is a transcript, best we can decipher (please comment on corrections or additions to the transcript!):

Apr. 12, 1922
Cortland Sales Co.
Cortland, M.N.

Dear Mr. Ames (?)
We do not quite understand your letter. We were kind enough to deliver this car in Binghamton for you. The battery was a new one. If a jar (?) was broken it was not our fault. Jars (?) break by the sudden jolt they receive in cars sometimes. There is a small balance on the bill of eight dollars a few cents, which you didn’t include.
The insurance for which you are charged for is […] insurance for fire on the sedan.
Yours truly,
Finn Motor Co.
By Homer W. Finn
PS – The age of the car you (...), we have 15 more here, some older, we are selling them everyday.

"Battery jar" refers to what is more commonly called the battery case. Apparently, a bill for something or other was in dispute... not sure what. Busted battery, or insurance charge, or?

Or perhaps one cell of the battery got busted, maybe by over tightening the cable clamp on the post? This answer letter does state they don't understand the battery issue of the customer.

That letter is dated April 1922, just about the time in late March 1922 that Ford began making there own batteries, in a wood and later these in a rubber like case.

Prior to the Ford battery, the Ford was equipped with the Exide Battery, wood box, individual removable cells.

Apparently, there were at least two issues raised in this letter: 1) who was responsible for a damaged 'jar' or battery, and 2) an outstanding and seemingly overdue insurance payment. A really neat peak into day-to-day operations that you almost never got in contemporary journals/brochures/ads. Many thanks for the clarity regarding the term 'jar' as it relates to batteries that predate those made in-house by Ford.