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193461383Santa Ana & Los Angeles CA: GMC Truck & Coach Division L.P. Mohler Co. GMC Trucks & Trailers; Custombilt Trailer Manufacturing United Auto Works; Hawthorne Studios; Keystone Photo Service; Leonard’s Studio; “Dick†Whittington Studio 1934-1936. Oblong 4to. 12 x 9.25 in. 42 leaves unnumbered. including 41 original silver gelatin photographs most linen-backed 26 mounted on linen & paper stubs 15 preserved in mylar sleeves paint colour-sample leaf w/ 11 of 12 GMC colour samples preserved in mylar sleeve many w/ manuscript annotations on versos a few w/ embossed photographer’s stamp in lower corner others w/ photographer’s imprint w/in negative at lower fore-edge occasional dustsoiling thumbing old tape marks creasing. Recent black cloth post-binder nickel-plated screw posts at gutter margin still a VG exemplar w/ 2 ff. list of “GMC Owners in Orange County†laid-in. An exceedingly scarce original dealer’s salesman sample photo showroom album for General Motors Heavy Duty trucks during the depths of the Great Depression documenting the operations trucks and customers of the L.P. Mohler Co. in Santa Ana CA. The dealership and service department was located at 302 French St. in Santa Ana and originally began life as the building for the Baker Electric Car dealership before becoming a truck specialist. Mohler 1890-1940 began working as a service mechanic in the GMC truck outlet before 1930 and by 1931-32 had become the owner and operator. Several of these GMC truck designs reflected the streamline Art Deco styling of Harley Earl which emerged from the 1933-1934 Century of Progress automotive and truck designs. Trucks depicted in the photos include the T-51-H T-23-C 2nd Series T-16 T-16-B T-18-B and the T-33-A GMC heavy trucks including flatbeds dump trucks beer trucks stave trucks and more. At the time Mohler contracted with Custombilt Trailer Manufacturing in Los Angeles and United Auto works in Whittier CA to produce their more specialized variations and myriad of trailers for their customers. Many of the trucks & trailers bear the advertisements and advertising logos for such companies as Apache Freight Lines Arizona-Pacific Motor Freight Lines Barr Lumber co. Bohemian Beer Central Lemon Assoc. Goldberg Film Delivery Lines Famous Department Stores Irvine Valencia cab-over truck fleet Kraft’s Miracle Whip Salad Dressing Pepsi-Co Rocket Gasoline Shell Oil Sunfreze Ice Cream Trucks from Arden Dairy and others. The paint sample sheet indicates the dealership offered such colours as Boatswain Blue Brewster Green Apple Green Orange Yellow Maroon GMC Morat Green and Black. Sometime in the late 1930’s Mohler returned to become a fruit grower in Mercedes TX and died in 1940 just prior to his 50th birthday from an unspecified back illness. His building was purchased in 1966 by Bill Lauer and began an auto restoration business specializing in Packards. Now owned and operated by Robert Escalante it has become the oldest continually operating automotive restoration shop on the West Coast. This cataloguer could find no similar surviving album or Mohler sales literature in any collection; See: Jim Richardson An Enduring Legacy: 40 Years of Experience Give Custom Auto Service a Big Advantage Car Collector August 2006 pp. 80-84; Custom Auto Service Packard Restoration Specialists 2024. GMC Truck & Coach Division, L.P. Mohler Co., GMC Trucks & Trailers; Custombilt Trailer Manufacturing, United Auto Works; Hawthor hardcover
192258048Grand Rapids MI: United Motors Products Co. Eckburg Automobile Co. Distributor 310 Ioia Ave. NW formerly Michigan Cadillac Co. Ltd. ca. 1922. Oblong 4to. 11.5 x 8.5 in. 41 silver gelatin images 29 linen-backed sized 8 x 9.75 in. many w/ sales and product information on verso some typed others in manuscript a few w/ photographer’s stamps all hinged at gutter margin 11 loose inserted into archival mylar sleeves bound in at gutter margin w/ photographer & dealer’s stamps on versos many w/ style pricing and product information on versos as well in manuscript some chipping & edgewear to these some corners torn creasing from wear. Contemporary limp calf Proudfit Loose Leaf Co. post-binder brass screw-posts at gutter margin rounded corners minor rubbing VG exemplar. An exceptional dealer’s showroom photo catalogue for the post-World War I United Motors Products Co. filled with factory photos advertising a variety of 1 1/4 ton up to 5 ton models in assorted finished configurations. Founded originally as the United Motor Trucks Co. before World War I as a division of the United Light & Railways Col. conglomerate to not only produce trucks and utility vehicles for their own needs but to meet burgeoning demand brought on by improving roads and fast-growing commercial demands before and after World War I. By 1922 Hulswit Kanary and Eckburg were building and selling United Trucks powered by a four-cylinder Continental Engine the lightest model featuring a worm drive and the others often fitted still with chain drives moving to shaft drive and by 1925 would be manufacturing what they called the “Highway Special.†An artist’s rendering features a birds-eye view of the Grand Rapids MI plant bearing the name change in 1922 to United Motors Products Co. and subsequent images show stave flatbed delivery specialized dump trucks and more. Companies such as Henry Smith Floral Heyman Home Outfitters Van Den Berg Bros. Sample Furniture Grand Rapids Wood Finishing Co. Elston Packing & Storage Central Michigan Paper Co. Perfected Grave Vault Co. and others all featured fleets of UMP Co. Trucks. Many of these images bear the stamp of Eckberg Auto Co. of Grand Rapids which before 1916 was the Michigan Cadillac Co. Ltd. and later became truck distributor first for United Motor Products Co. and then ACME Truck Co. Hulswit 1875-1933 was the president and organizer of the United Light & Railways Co. which held 13 railroad and public service gas & electric utilities and corporations in five states and was forced out of his company in 1926. By that time Kanary had decamped to Hollywood California and the truck manufacturing unit was spun off to ACME Motor Truck Co. of Cadillac MI which continued the badge for a short time. Advertisements for their truck line cease by 1928. Hulswit had been forced out with a $ 10 million dollar payment which he parlayed into the successful American States Securities Corp. which survived and thrived during the Great Depression only to die tragically while fixing his radio antenna at the Hotel Astor and plummeting to his death. Although no similar examples are found and very few of the original company catalogues survive some business records and material can be found in the Austin Automobile Co. Collection Grand Rapids Library Special Collects. Finding Aid May 10 2018; See: Mroz American Cars Trucks & Motorcycles of World War I pp. 365-366; United Trucks Grand Rapids Spectator Vol. 11 Feb. 1922 pp. 17; Buys United Motor The Indianapolis Star Dec. 12 1926 p. 71. United Motors Products Co., Eckburg Automobile Co., Distributor, 310 Ioia Ave., NW (formerly Michigan Cadillac Co., Ltd.), unknown