Dodge Brothers

One of the Grosse Point, Michigan homes shown on a house hunters TV show last night had been owned by members of the Dodge family. A handsome old style, its design was odd because it was a duplex with a rental home downstairs and the owners’ home upstairs. Of the three houses shown, the shopper chose another; but the Dodge house would have been my choice for no other reason than its history.

John and Horace Dodge founded their Dodge Brothers company in 1900 as suppliers to the new auto industry, primarily Ford, and started producing their own Dodge Brothers cars in 1915.

To me, their early models are most striking because of the headlamps high position in relation to the radiator, giving them a distinctive if bug-like look.

Horace and John died in 1920 and the company was sold, but continued producing cars with the name Dodge Brothers through 1930.

For 1931 the car named was change to Dodge. My grandfather Walter Gentry always called them Dodge Brothers, and having started with Maxwell, even after Dodge was acquired by Chrysler, he never owned one, always preferring Chrysler and Plymouth, and at least one DeSoto, a 1934 Airflow.

For the 1932 model Dodge introduced the Ram radiator cap that became their hood ornament, 

was so on our 1948 Dodge sedan 

and has been the Dodge symbol ever since, lately becoming the brand name for Dodge trucks, that are now brand named Ram.

The 1934 Dodge had the forward opening front door that was stylish for two or three years in the early-mid-thirties and that was on our 1935 Chevrolet Master. 

And through 1934 Dodge had the old style design with the motor behind the front axle, changing to the modern style with motor forward over the axle as of the 1935 model, which also had an all steel body. 

Dear friend and fellow clergyman Ray sent me a piece about a 1940 Dodge sedan that was a doctor’s car through WWII, was stored in a barn after his death, and surfaced years later.

It was the "suicide doors" design that was standard until about the late 1940s.

When we got our new 1948 Dodge sedan 

for my mother’s 36th birthday in May 1948, I remember thinking what a totally modern car we had. 

But except for trim it was the identical same car as that 1940 Dodge, the style and lines had not been changed at all, 

it was a pre-war design that Dodge (and the rest of Chrysler Corporation) kept until the new 1949 models were introduced. 

They're all gone now.

TW