Archive of 45 Letters on Sales of Early Vintage Cars

Background: The Jackson Automotive Company was known for its extraordinarily well built cars; particularly, their luxury models built in 1914 with the Jackson Imperial at $1885.00 being their largest and most expensive and while sales were made all across the Eastern United States, the New York sales division was where the greatest number of sales took place. Earlier their focus was on racing cars and in 1908 the Jackson entry led at the Indianapolis 500 which was stopped at 235 miles due to poor track conditions and a deadly wreck; therefore, the organizers refused to declare a winner. After entering three race cars in the 1911 Indianapolis 500 they moved to emphasizing beautiful cars instead of the racing variety and at one time had 500 works producing 2,000 cars a year before the assembly line concept was introduced. E.A. Dorflinger with whom they worked closely and whose letters are in this collection was known for his craftsmanship and entrepreneurial life. Among the enclosed papers is the original selling agreement giving him exclusive rights in his community to sell five Jackson Automobiles. Here we learn about early dealer percentages (22.5%) and factory breaks on shipping. The 42 items of correspondence often show the problems of ordering parts in the pre-assembly line era. Precision was needed and supplying the needed part meant individual manufacturing once the initial small stock was exhausted. In the years they produced three models: The Olympic, the Majestic, and the Imperial. In a later letter the Sultanic models as touring cars were offered and were being advertised in magazines up until the beginning of World War I. It is obvious that Mr. Dorflinger was not selling cars but ordering the few remaining parts for repairs. In their series of letters beginning on May 1, 1915 they repeat they are expecting orders The next series of letters reflect that the company was dealing with someone who made promises but had no plan to fulfill them. This is a remarkable collection on the early days of vintage automobiles and the problems with both distribution and finding car companies for their small number of models. A very nice collection housed in a binder and each letter in protective plastic.