MTFCA Forum

I used to put these type of stories up routinely (for those who indulged me). One of my earliest, and best was a magazine contest conducted in early 1907, in which participants in a "Motor" magazine contest picked the Ford Model K 5th of over 100 cars they would like to own (the top prize was a car costing up to $3,000).

This is a similar, although earlier "story."

Below: Magazine cover, "Motoring and Boating," October 6, 1904:
This is another magazine contest. This one was conducted between July 1904 and January 1905. The contest was simple, with the readers submitting a "coupon" with their top choice for "best" car, as well as "best" tires and lamps. Below is the "coupon" as well as general rules that appeared in each weekly issue:

To this point, few votes were received, and Ford barely made the list with 3 votes, placing the company in 20th place of cars receiving votes. By this time, Ford Motor Company was finishing production of the 10 hp Model A, preparing to turn out Models B and C:
October 20, 1904, subscribers/readers are encouraged to vote in the contest. Up to this point the results were only listed once, the week before.

For the next several weeks, we'll see how Ford fares against all automakers in this informal "survey." As with all things, Ford Motor Co. did not operate in a vacuum. Ford came from obscurity to show, albeit it low on the list, among many automakers at the time. Just as Ford couldn't design and produce the Model T had it not been an established automaker by late 1908, with an established agent network and accepted brand. This was the beginning, with Ford rising from nothing. I hope you find this interesting and entertaining. I know I have.
Cheers,
Rob

“Motoring and Boating” began listing the competition weekly on October 27, 1904. Ford did not make the published list of 16, evidently receiving less than 15 total votes as “best motor car.”
Ballot descriptions of the two leaders, White (steam) and Oldsmobile, were included:

In the next weekly issue, Nov 3rd 1904, Ford Motor Co. reappears on the list, coming in with 10 votes as the list is expanded to 23 makers:

Ballots with explanations of voter choices for #2 Cadillac and #7 Packard are included:
During this same period, Ford Motor Company is ramping up production of their new models for 1905, B and C.

November 18 sees a new leader among the "best" cars. Cadillac takes over 1st place:
In terms of votes received, Ford receives the 8th most votes for the week, and moves up, with 24 auto makes listed. The featured ballots were by a Rambler voter (now 2nd place), Peerless (6th) and Winton (7th).
In the same issue of "Motoring and Boating," two spots about Ford Motor Company's record breaking "skeleton racer." A 20 hp racer driven by Ford's Frank Kulick (consisting of two Model A 10 hp motors sharing one common flywheel) beating much larger foreign racers in well publicized races in the east:

November 17th, 1904: Ford makes the weekly front page headline. "Ford Makes Big Gains." Probably due to their racing victories, as well as two new models appearing in showrooms, Ford makes a major move in voter popularity, jumping from also-ran status to 8th out of 42 automobile makes receiving votes. Ford is actually 1st in the number of votes received for the week.

The next issue, dated November 24, 1904, saw Ford slip one spot to 9th overall, while receiving the 3rd most votes for the week. Meanwhile, Packard was gaining in popularity among readers:
Also included in the issue was an article on American racing success, with a portion dedicated to Ford and Frank Kulick's previous successes:
In less than a year and a half in business, Ford Motor Company was in the top ten of all automakers regarding this magazines unscientific survey of the "best" automobile on the market.

How very interesting ! Thanks Rob ! I read every issue you posted. The publicity of racing circuits is the first few years of the last century reminded me of todays competition to send civilians into space and the depths of oceans. Danger existed then as now. I’ve always been familiar with auto names in the first half dozen of your many lists but found it interesting to read the orphan car names toward the end of the posted lists.

The next issue, December 1, 1904 had Oldsmobile taking over 1st place from Cadillac. Ford remained 9th overall.

The second and third place prize for best tires and lamps was interesting. I was surprised to not see Firestone among the tire leaders:

For the remainder of 1904, Ford held its own initially, in 9th place, slipping by the end of the year to 10th.
Ford slipped to 10th December 22, 1904:

With only one issue remaining to count votes, Ford stays in 10th place for the beginning of 1905. Models B and C are being shipped to agents, and Henry Ford is receiving media attention with his six cylinder racer, which he takes to Ormond Beach for the annual races:

George H., I saw your post after posting my last. Thank you.

We're down to the last weekly vote total, January 12, 1905. Ford has moved up one to 9th again. Not bad for a company that barely registered at the start of this contest in July 1904. Ford Motor Company has moved to a three model (the Model F was first shown at the January 1905 New York Auto Show, with deliveries beginning in the early spring) automaker.

Franklin went on to win the contest. Unfortunately, the magazine didn't publish the final total for the other vote getters.


I think this article that also appeared following the contest, and New York auto shows, is very informative:

Below is an excerpt of the article above. Along with projected NY auto show sales are the projected sales of the leading automakers. While a few, namely Ford, Rambler, Stephens and Maxwell, didn't provide information, the number of autos the other leading companies projected for 1905 are listed. We know that Ford sold between 1700 and 1745 cars in 1905 (audit information). Based on the report of competitors, Ford was about to become one of the largest automakers in the U.S.. Not bad for a company in business less than two years.