Gaylord/Otsego Chamber
101 West Main
P.O. Box 513
Gaylord, MI 49734
Phone: (989) 732-6333
Phone: (800) 345-8621
Fax: (989) 732-7990
Contact us via email:
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The Gaylord of GaylordThe Story of a Rare Michigan-built Car and the Last remaining Example…. By Elouise Rossler, written in 1991.This story is really two stories. The first is about the treasure that the Gaylord/Otsego County Chamber of Commerce owns; the latter is about how that treasure came to exist. Ivan Polus is the main character in the first story. As a boy growing up in nearby Elmira, he remembers thinking about how neat it would be to find an old Gaylord 30 car and restore it. One of his friends commented that all the Gaylords were gone, unless one could be found in some old barn. In 1963 Ivan and his wife found that old barn in the remote area of Ocqueoc, Michigan, about sixty miles from Gaylord. The Poluses had gone to the area looking for a Port Huron Steam Engine and came away with the remains of a 1911 Gaylord 30! The young man who told Polus about the car said he had looked it over but it wouldn’t go over 30 mph and he was interested in hot rods! The old farmer who owned the car said, 'Yes, I have it, but I don’t think you’ll be interested in it.' When asked why, the farmer said it was a piece of junk and he was also 'asking more than you would want to pay for it.' When asked how much, he said, 'Fifty dollars.' Polus was so nervous and excited by this time that he didn’t trust his own ears and asked the price again and was given the same answer. 'When we opened the huge barn door there she sat. I had a feeling that I will never forget. The motor and frame were in one place. The body was on top of some boards. Lamps and car parts were scattered about, and the fenders were outdoors behind the barn. The steering column was under the wood shed. The windshield was in the hen house. Most of the car was still there. I paid the farmer, and I could tell by the look on his face that he thought I was nuts. I rounded up all the parts and headed for home.' Home for the Polus family was Whitefish, Montana, and so the Gaylord 30 was taken in parts to Montana in 1963 where Ivan began the arduous task of restoring it to its original form. The car had been purchased new by the father of the man Polus had bought her from, so it had not traveled too far until its trip west. In 1974, Polus wrote the Gaylord Herald Times telling of taking the Gaylord 30 on a trial run and finding her to be mechanically sound. The car is marked GMC on the radiator for Gaylord Motor Company (not General Motors) and had Gaylord 30, No. 94 on its nameplate, indicating that it was the 94th car built in 1911. The car featured gas headlights, kerosene sidelights and a ten-gallon gravity-fed gas tank. It had an oil gauge to check the oil flow; a tube ran into a glass gauge and oil sloshed up there as long as the oil pump was working. No oil showing meant you had pump trouble, a common problem in cars of that day. The gauge was unique in 1911, and not many other cars had them. The car was a good car, but its cost was too high (ranging from $1,000 to $1,700) as its competition such as Ford cost about $750. The next part of this story involves some new characters. In 1981 the City of Gaylord was celebrating its Centennial. David Bunn, an area antique car buff, was asked to arrange an antique car show for the celebration. He knew that of the 2500 companies that had tried to become a second 'Detroit' over the years, the Gaylord Motor company was but one. Upon discovering Polus’ story of found treasure and restoration, Bunn began tracking the car down with hopes of returning it to Gaylord in time for the centennial celebration. He found the car in Kalispell, Montana, now owned by Charles Vernon, who had purchased the completely restored car from Ivan Polus. Bunn flew to Montana to see the car along with Hugo Noeske, a mechanic, and they were astounded at the beauty of the car as restored by Polus. 'Polus is an artist at restoration. He redid the whole car himself working from some factory photos,' praises Bunn. He explains that often antique car restoration is done piecemeal by various people, and things do not often match. But this is not the case with the Gaylord 30. Vernon offered the car to the Gaylord/Otsego County Chamber of Commerce for $16,000, a bargain price in the world of antique automobiles for a one-of-a-kind. The Chamber of Commerce succeeded in finding local businesses and local banks to sponsor them and received a loan to purchase the car. The loan was paid off by a telethon broadcast over the local radio station for a week. During this time, $24,000 was raised for the purpose of purchasing and maintaining the car. On October 10, 1981, the Gaylord 30 arrived in Gaylord ready to grace the Centennial parade. It was a great day for Gaylord! It was also a milestone for David Bunn and the many sponsors of returning the Gaylord 30 to its home. 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever' (Keats) is perhaps the final line for the preservation of the Gaylord 30. The one-of-a-kind car is now securely back home in Gaylord after wandering, resting, and rusting for seventy years. Today the 1911 Gaylord 30 Touring Car is a proud symbol of a past dream, a past endeavor that was very much a part of historic Gaylord for a short time. The car today is owned by the Gaylord/Otsego County Chamber of Commerce. And now for the rest of the story. The story of the Gaylord 30 begins in 1910. A cup of coffee brought together A.B. Comstock, a local banker, and Guy Hamilton, a Detroit machinist. Hamilton, who was in Gaylord for the beginning of a fishing trip, left town as a manufacturing partner in what he and Comstock believed would make Gaylord another Detroit of the automobile age. Lumbering was grinding to a standstill in the early 1900’s and Comstock knew that Gaylord needed some economic boost to keep the fledging town from becoming a loggers’ ghost town. The chance meeting with Hamilton in the spring of 1910 gave birth to the car factory idea. It seemed sound, as it would be able to provide cars for the farmers who were slowly but surely turning the logged land into productive farms and building homes. The logic used was that the population could be stabilized by having jobs in the factory, and the sale of cars could thrive locally. Almost immediately, a group of local businessmen formed a committee to organize the company. A.B. Comstock was appointed President and Guy Hamilton General Plant manager. The committee commissioned Comstock and Hamilton to go to Detroit and put together a car there, using parts from various companies (which was how cars were built then) and drive the creation back to Gaylord, where production could begin. Stock in the company was sold, raising $50,000, and an assembly plant was immediately built. Upon the return of Comstock and Hamilton with a model, the Gaylord Motor Car Company became a reality. Hamilton decided the area could use a durable touring car and a utility car, a pickup for the farmers. Hence, two models were offered in 1910, the Gaylord 30 Touring Car, a 30 horsepower engine giving it great stamina, and a Gaylord 20, a utility car powered by a 20 horsepower engine. In the first year of production, about 50 cars were assembled and sold. The 1911 models brought a few changes in production as the company began to offer the D-S 30 Touring Car and Roadster and the Model R-20 Utility Roadster. Greater refinements and improvements were offered in the 1912 models of the two cars, and a new model, the Model U, was introduced. The Model U had a 35-horsepower motor. The transmission was changed from under the seat to the rear end in the Model U and in the newest venture, the U-40. The U-40 featured a rear-end transmission and a 40 horsepower engine. The company was reorganized in 1912 because of financial difficulties and new management began the year’s production of cars. In 1913, they presented the Model D Runabout and Touring Car. It had a 30 to 35 horsepower engine, and offered either a right or left hand drive. It was the last model produced by the company. Financial problems plagued the company in 1913 as the realization that $50,000 was not enough capital to operate an automobile manufacturing firm. The company quietly folded, amid comments by local loggers’ firms that 'It had lasted about as long as they had predicted.' Had the company prospered, the logging firms might have eventually invested in it; however, as the company struggled and died, the loggers felt it was not profitable and did not rise to assist it when more money was needed. The Gaylord Motor Car Company had been a dream pursued and followed to the end. It worked briefly, as it produced cars using the components from other companies. It was rumored that some of its motors were REO engines, axles and wheels were from makers of the E-M-F car, head lamps from the E & J Company. It appears that the frames and fenders were built in Gaylord, and the assembly of all of these parts also was done in Gaylord. Most of the cars were either blue or black, typical of the time. Since little or no literature or records of this nature from the company are available, the specifics can be gleaned only from the 'old-timers' who remember the car and memories of the few cars remaining as late as the 1930’s. Dreams die hard, and often men die with them. Stories are told of the owners taking a car and the cash box and heading for the World’s Fair with neither man nor money nor car returning. Loggers having their moments of saying, 'I told you' wehen the company failed are tales told also. The final dissolution document, filed in district court on January 26, 1919, officially marked the end of the Gaylord Motor Company by 'sale of all its property and franchises.' But evidence of the dream’s momentary fulfillment lives on in the gleaming brass and shiny doors of the Gaylord 30 with pride. It is a proud reminder of another time and of other stories of the past, yet to be told. Editor’s Note: The Gaylord/Otsego County Chamber of Commerce has the Gaylord 30 on display at its Information Center, located at 125 S. Otsego Avenue in downtown Gaylord. It still runs and is driven every July in the annual Alpenfest Parade. |
