Manufacturing Dodge Motor Cars, ca 1917
Get ready for a treat! Here is a film that the Dodge Brothers company made to promote their brand in 1917. Copied at 16 frames per second from a 35mm tinted print preserved by the Academy Film Archive from source material provided by the New Zealand Film Archive. Running Time: 28 minutes (silent, no music, incomplete).
In the 1900s, brothers John and Horace Dodge of Detroit became the major suppliers of drive trains to the Ford Motor Company. They achieved such a stellar reputation for quality that when they decided to manufacture their own automobiles, incorporating as the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company in 1914, 13,000 dealers registered to sell the new vehicles before a single auto had been produced. In 1915, Reed Brothers was franchised as a Dodge dealership and service facility; less than one year after the first Dodge automobile rolled off the assembly line.
In 1916, the company created a film department to promote the Dodge brand. This film appears to be one of its first products. It shows the company’s assembly line in action, demonstrating to viewers the workmanship and care invested in each vehicle. The beginning is missing, lending credence to the hypothesis that the film may be the three-reel profile of the company’s production process distributed in 1917 to Dodge dealerships. The film finishes with close up looks at the Dodge Brothers’ models of the day: the Sedan, Coupe, Roadster and Touring Car. It also demonstrates Dodge’s capabilities in the snow and on steep hills (particularly fun to watch!).
If you have a half-hour to spare, kick back and enjoy this rare treat! You will get a true insider’s look at how the very first Dodge automobiles were made!
Graham Brothers Trucks
In the 1920s Reed Brothers sold Dodge Brothers Motor Cars and Graham Brothers Trucks
History fascinates me, and something about the development of the Dodge pickup truck fascinates me even more. It’s a story inextricably linked to our country’s history like baseball and apple pie.
After the introduction of mass-produced automobiles, people started to modify their vehicles for enhanced utility. These people stripped off the rear bodywork and mounted open-topped boxes that resembled the first step towards the modern pickup truck.
Dodge trucks actually began with three brothers named Graham. In reality, it is the story of two companies – the Dodge Brothers Company and the Graham Brothers Company. In 1916, seeing the need for a good, dependable truck to serve people such as themselves, the Graham brothers entered the truck body business. By 1919, they had produced the “Truck-builder,” which is a basic platform from which a customer could spec a truck according to his or her needs. The Truck Builder was essentially a truck conversion that began with a passenger car. The Truck Builder worked this way: The new-car dealer would sell a new car to a customer, then suggest to the buyer that his old car could be converted into a truck.
In 1921, Dodge Brothers began to market Graham Brothers medium-duty trucks through its dealerships; in turn, every Graham vehicle utilized a Dodge engine. This partnership provided Dodge dealers with a full line of trucks to sell in addition to the highly regarded Dodge passenger cars, and the resulting sales increases prompted Dodge to buy the Graham Brothers Company.
The Dodge trucks would carry the Graham Brothers nameplate until 1928 with a few of the designs lasting as long as the 1930s.
Rockville Garage, 1918 – Hudson Super Six, Oldsmobile, and Dodge Brothers Motor Cars on display at Rockville Fairgrounds. Lewis Reed is seated in the drivers seat of the Rockville Garage Graham Brothers Service Truck.
Source: Allpar
Silver Anniversary (1915-1940)
In 1940, Reed Brothers Dodge celebrated its 25th Anniversary.
1940 – Lewis Reed (2nd from right) receives Dodge Silver Anniversary Award
The inscription on the plaque below reads as follows:
Know All Men By These Presents That
Reed Brothers
has, for 25 years remained in continuous business association with Dodge, in recognition whereof we have caused to be issued this 25th Anniversary token.
Signed by Forest H. Akers, Vice President & Director of Sales. The seal on the bottom is the Dodge Brothers Motor Cars logo. The top of the plaque displays a vertical panel bearing a male figure facing rear with a hammer cutting the word “Dependability” across; below the arm, A Word, A Fact, A Tradition. In the background is an image of the Dodge Brothers Hamtramck factory.
Plaque is a silver scroll mounted on highly polished wood
Oct 1915: Where It All Started
This photograph of the original 1915 Rockville Garage shows a 1916 model 44 Oldsmobile with V8 and sedan body parked in front. The original owners of Rockville Garage are standing in front. From left: Roy Warfield – Lewis Reed – Griffith Warfield. (click on photo to enlarge)
This is where it all began, 99 years ago in October of 1915. Reed Brothers was franchised as a Dodge dealership and service facility in October 1915, only one year after the first Dodge automobile was made. In 1914, Lewis Reed became a partner in Rockville Garage with Robert L. and Griffith Warfield. The Warfield brothers had purchased this building in July 1915, from Lee Ricketts and Sons who had the Overland Agency. The business continued to operate under the old name until it was changed at the suggestion of the late Judge Edward Peter shortly after Edgar Reed joined his brother.
Lewis Reed’s Rockville Garage sold more than just Dodges. During the early years, Reed Brothers represented several franchise nameplates along with Dodge, including Oldsmobile, Hudson and Essex. The Hudson and Oldsmobile were sold at Reed Brothers from roughly 1917 through 1921.
In 1930. Reed Brothers added the Plymouth line. The first Plymouth was built in 1928 and Plymouths were sold at Reed Brothers until 1969, when the brand was given to the Chrysler dealers.
The actual story of how Lewis Reed was chosen for a Dodge Brothers Motor Car franchise is lost, but his legacy continued until 2009 as the oldest Dodge dealership under the same family ownership in Maryland, and one of the oldest in the entire nation.
Not Just a Dodge Dealer
Lewis Reed’s Rockville Garage sold more than just Dodges. During the early years, Reed Brothers represented several franchise nameplates along with Dodge, including Oldsmobile, Hudson and Essex. The Hudson and Oldsmobile were sold at Reed Brothers from roughly 1917 through 1921.
In 1930. Reed Brothers added the Plymouth line. The first Plymouth was built in 1928 and Plymouths were sold at Reed Brothers until 1969, when the brand was given to the Chrysler dealers.
This photograph of the original 1916 Rockville Garage shows a 1916 model 44 Oldsmobile with V8 and sedan body parked in front. The original owners of Rockville Garage are standing in front. From left: Roy Warfield – Lewis Reed – Griffith Warfield.
Below is new car showtime as fair-goers get their first glimpse at the latest models that Rockville Garage had to offer. Identified by the triangle logo on the grill and the number of passengers seated in it, the car below appears to be a 1918 Hudson Super Six Seven Passenger Touring.
Anybody for a demonstration drive? 1918 Hudson Super Six Seven Passenger Touring
Hudson Super Six, Oldsmobile, and Dodge Brothers Motor Cars on display
Rockville Garage, 1918 – Hudson Super Six, Oldsmobile, and Dodge Brothers Motor Cars on display at Rockville Fairgrounds. Lewis Reed is seated in the drivers seat of the Rockville Garage Service Truck.
1918 Rocvkille Fair Grounds
The first advertisement below, distributed by the Oldsmobile Sales Company in the Sunday, June 29, 1919 edition of The Washington Post is probably one of the first ads in which the Rockville Garage appeared. Dealers are listed in fine print at the bottom: note Rockville Garage, Rockville, Md, highlighted in yellow. (click on image to enlarge)
Washington Post 1919
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Reed Brothers Dodge History (1915-2012) by Jeanne Gartner is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Reed Brothers Dodge History 1915 – 2012 
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