Little Motor Kar Co. (1919-1920)
Grand Prairie, Texas
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| This is a Texmobile radiator emblem (1919) sam Size: 123mm wide 38mm high MM: Unknown |
William S. Livezey was the president of the Little Motor Kar Company, which he organized in 1919, with the stated aim of manufacturing passenger cars and trucks for the Texas market.
Livezey started a major newspaper advertising campaign in Texas to raise funds by selling stock with the offer of large financial rewards for investors. Livezey was clearly persuasive and received extremely positive reports in the Texas press, which presented Livezey as a dedicated manufacturer of automobiles, thoughtful of the needs of others and whose only interest in money was to buy the parts needed to build his cars. The truth turned out to be quite different.
It is not known where Livezey obtained the design of the Texmobile, which was a stylish 22.5 hp four-cylinder car having the appearance of a small Stutz and was to be built as a touring car or as a roadster. Livezey claimed that the engine used in the Texmobile was his own invention but this was later found to be untrue.
The painted brass Texmobile radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post replicates the Texmobile trademark.
Construction of a simple factory building was started in Grand Prairie and a single roadster version of the Texmobile was made and displayed at the Dallas Fair in October 1919 to some acclaim.
The first standard Texmobile roadster appeared in March 1920 with announcements indicating that materials were being brought to the Grand Prairie factory, so that full production could get underway. But, the whole Texmobile affair was a big confidence trick and just a month later, in April 1920, Livezey and his business partners were arrested and charged with postal violations with the intent to defraud. Livezey was found guilty and given a five year prison sentence.
Photos of the Grand Prarie factory in March 1920 show several Texmobiles in various stages of construction but at the trial in Dallas in February 1921, the prosecution showed that "only a handful of completed cars had been produced".
The Little Motor Kar Company was closed for a year following the fraud trial, then, under new management, production resumed in 1922 of a truck called the "Little". This venture was unsuccessful and the company declared bankruptcy in 1928.
Emblem
The following Texmobile advertisement from 1919 shows the company trademark:
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| Texmobile advertisement showing logo (1919) hometownbyhandlebar |
The painted brass Texmobile radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post replicates the Texmobile trademark.
Given the fact that the Texmobile was a scam operation and there had been no real intention to produce the Texmobile in large numbers, it is likely that very few Texmobile radiator emblems were ever made, making an original Texmobile emblem ultra rare.
"Visitors to the 1919 State Fair of Texas who stopped by booth 99 in the Automobile Building were introduced to the Little Motor Kar Company. Most likely they also were treated to a sales pitch touting the financial benefits of investing in Grand Prarie's newest business.
ReplyDeleteThe company was headquartered in Wichita Falls, but in July paid $30,000 for 80 acres near Fowler's stop on the Interurban line. The company's officers - William S Livezey, President, RL McCoy, Vice-President, and Secretary George Stricker - vowed to invest $1 million in production of light pleasure cars, tractors and trailers. The plant would employ 3,000 men working day and night shifts, they said.
In early March 1920, sales manager JH Judge claimed to have orders for 100,000 four-cylinder Texmobiles. Later that month, Grand Prairie Texan editor Fred R Krieger reported production had begun on a "sport kar" and a "touring kar". "In taking a ride in the sport kar, I found the engine to be exceptionally powerful", he wrote. "The touring kar seems to be an easier riding car than the sport kar."
Unbeknownst to Krieger and the Little Motor Kar Company's more than thirty thousand stockholders, the company was on the verge of collapse. The previous November, Livezey withdrew $500,000 from the company's account on his way to Havre de Grace, Maryland, where a second plant was planned but never materialized.
A few days after Krieger test-drove what was the only car built under Livezey's leadership, the company officer's were arrested and charged with using the mail for fraud. Livezey was also charged with embezzlement. In July, the stockholders elected Dr JE Payne of Grand Prairie and Dallasite WE Jewer as the company's new officers. They also voted to cancel any stock issued to the former officers that had not been paid for with cash.
At Livezey's February 1921 trial in Dallas' Federal District Court, sales manager Judge testified that although much money from stock sales was received, records of those transactions were non-existent. Further testimony revealed that the officers failed to record $226,588 in stock purchases, and at the time that the company went into receivership there was $70,843 left in its account.
The most sensational testimony came from Nellie Preston, who was nineteen during the trial. The Aberdeen, Maryland, resident reported that Livesey lavished her and her family with gifts, including several cars, diamond jewelry, fur coats, silk "underlinery", and a saddle horse. Livezey was found guilty of misuse of the US mail and sentenced to five years in prison.
Meanwhile, the Little Motor Kar Company resumed operation in November 1922, producing a "complete light truck". But the endeavour proved unsuccessful, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 1928."
Kathy A Goolsby "Historic Grand Prairie: An Illustrated History", HPN Books, 2008.