Friday, March 29, 2019

unusual radiator ornament, both a light, and a thermometer. It was wired to light up the whole motometer, and shine illuminate the green and red lenses on each side, and also light up the manufacturer of choice nameplate on the front



The Moller Motor Car Company of Hagerstown Md. used them on most of their vehicles from 22 to 29 including the taxi.

Moller was the re-organized Crawford car company, and made the Dagmar, with the unusual Gidelite hood ornament and the Neville “More Room” steering wheel






https://www.ebay.com/itm/254180334591?ul_noapp=true&fbclid=IwAR0jUdCH24jTfw8ae7bCBVKSqn4mAf_5ZbNmv_TFnWWT8ma-sgRrEybGnrE
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-gidelite-packard-motometer-1912228169


the American Bicycle Co., successor to the Crawford Bicycle Co., sold their factory to the associated Pope Manufacturing Co., who used it to manufacture the short-lived Pope-Tribune, and the former Crawford Bicycle plant was sold to the Montrose Metal Casket Company, who closed down their Hagerstown operations in 1913 and the vacant facility was purchased by the New York and Hagerstown Metal Stamping Co. in 1914 in order to produce munitions for the British Army.

That firm was reorganized as the Maryland Pressed Steel Co. on March 30, 1915, and within the year it had been purchased by the Poole Engineering and Machine Co., who held $17 million in government munitions contracts, but in a year, they introduced the Bellanca C.D., a small 35 hp biplane designed by the legendary Italian engineer Giuseppe M. Bellanca, in the hopes of getting a lucrative US government contract for its manufacture.

However, the signing of the Armistice brought the War to an end in November of 1918 and along with it Maryland Pressed Steel’s lucrative ammunition contracts.

And that is why it's tricky to get into business. Things change mighty fast and what you are making might become a fad, whose time is up, like bikes, or short lived, like the Pope Tribune, or get into contract work, which is often very short sighted and done with quickly.

Maryland Pressed Steel began the manufacture of PASCO and National wire automobile wheels under license starting in mid-1919, saving the firm from insolvency, at least for the time being. Unfortunately the post-war recession affected the sale of new automobiles during 1920 and 1921, and an absence of orders for the firm’s wire wheels forced the firm into bankruptcy.

In 1922 Poole Engineering sold the Maryland Pressed Steel Works to R.J. Funkhouser Co., who subsequently sold it to Moller. Shortly after Moller moved into the old Bicycle Works, he reorganized the Crawford Automobile Company as the M.P. Moller Motor Car Co.

And that's how Moller began making Dagmars.

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/moller_mp/moller_mp.htm

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