Auto Sales Stimulus: 1909
“Transcontinental Car Contest Underway” is not a headline that would grab much attention in 2009, but with a dateline of June 23, 1909, it is a very different story. The trip from New York to Seattle across largely unpaved roads in automobiles that traveled at less then 20 miles per hour took 23 days and was filled with unexpected adventures.
In 1909 mining heir Robert Guggenheim, 24, decided to sponsor a cross-country auto race, ostensibly to encourage the building of better roads. (Roads at that time were like driving over washboards, and people still needed horses and sleighs if there was snow.) He wanted to conclude the race in Seattle, so he coordinated his event with that city’s opening of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a world’s fair to encourage development of the Pacific Northwest (much as the 1908 Democratic Convention in Denver had opened up the Rocky Mountain area to easterners) Guggenheim had hoped for as many as 30 entrants, and in August of ’08 The New York Times (8-23-08) noted that nine cars had already registered with five more expected, but the race became mired in controversy. In 1907, 324 people had been killed by automobiles, so the Manufacturers’ Contest Association refused to sanction a “race” across the country because it seemed to promote danger. CONTINUE READING…
