Coffee With Jim

Much has been written on the early technological development of the automobile, the visionaries who moved it from circus sideshow curiosity to necessity, and the dramatic societal changes wrought by abandonment of the horse and buggy. Curiously, a key component in this transition and the publics acceptance of the automobile has received little more than cursory examination.

Cadwallader Kelsey was a promotional master worthy the legacy of P.T. Barnum. Before reaching the age of twenty-five Kelsey had established a profitable garage, talked his way into being appointed the only dealer of Maxwell-Briscoe’s in the city of Philadelphia, and became the largest volume seller of those automobiles in the United. And as a result, he was given the position of national sales manager for Maxwell Briscoe.

For a brief moment in time, after WWII the eccentric visionary, the innovator and the quick buck artist found a place in the American auto industry. For a few short years, just as in the infancy of the industry, independent manufacturers could challenge the monolithic corporation.  

Preston Tucker was ambitious. Preston Tucker was imaginative. Preston Tucker was a man who cut corners to reach a goal. Hayward and Channing Powell started their business endeavors with the manufacturing of radios in Compton, California during the mid-1920s. In the early 1930s they abandoned radios and began manufacturing scooters and scooter sidecars. 

The story of Tucker and the Powell brothers is a story of independent thinking.