5 Minutes With Jim - Episode 102

In 1911, Washington Augustus Roebling II, and his friend Stephen Blackwell, son of the former U.S. Senator Jonathon Blackwell, began making plans to promote the Mercer, a sportscar with an enviable reputation for speed and performance with a European tour.  The young men toured Italy and France with the final stop being Southampton, England, in April of 1912. Passage for their return trip was aboard a newly constructed ship, the Titanic.

Illness, natural and man-made disasters, auto accidents, and sudden death brought an abrupt end to many an endeavor during the formative years of the American auto industry. In each instance we are left with questions of what might have been.  

On this weeks episode of 5 Minutes With Jim, America's storyteller author Jim Hinckley shares a few stories of tragedy that transformed the American auto industry. 

This weeks program is sponsored in part by the Roadrunner Lodge in Tucumcari, New Mexico, a bit of 1960s swank. A time capsule wrapped in modern amenities. It is also made possible by supporters of our crowdfunding initiative on the Patreon platform. www.patreon.com/jimhinckleysamerica