FRED CHANDLER CHANDLER MOTOR COMPANY// Frederick born in Cleveland in 1873 to an English father and Irish mother. Leaving school at sixteen he went to work for Lozier and Company makers of the Cleveland Bicycle and New Home Sewing machine. Fred Chandler was one of the best amateur bicycle racers; in 1892 he beat world champion Arthur Zimmerman. This put Chandler in good standing with his boss Henry Lozier. Chandler moved up to become vice President and general manager of Lozier before he left to form the Chandler Motor Car Company in 1913. Fred knew his company success was down to his employees in which he took every opportunity to support along with their families. Fred loved competition and publicity; he took every opportunity to indulge in both activities. Here are some examples of these attributes. Fred staged a publicity event on July 30th, 1913 to coincide with the factory opening, at 6pm the first driver was given a car for Boston, three hours later a backup car left followed by a car bound for New York. All cars were to be driven straight through only stopping for fuel and necessities, a delivery became a challenge. ! Advertising was paramount with early ads featuring – “Built by Men Who Know” All cars carried a 90-day guarantee. 1915 saw a Chandler drive from Mexico to Canada nonstop to generate publicity. A car with 2,000 miles on the clock had new Goodyear cord tires fitted, with two swivelling searchlights the springs were taped, a fabricated special funnel for refuelling was fitted; the car was ready. The wheels were never to stop rolling and the engine was never to be shut off. Seals were placed on the starter pedal and tires, ensuring the engine could not be stopped or the tires replaced with out detection. At 8.00am Sunday September 26th they left Tijuana, Mexico. Through Los Angeles they had another Chandler act as a pathfinder to not only clear the automobiles, but horse drawn vehicles as well. Clearing Los Angeles, they were on their own and took a wrong turn between August 2021
Supplied by John Lees
Visalia and Fresno, on entering a farm and realising they could not turn around the driver did the only thing he could and drove through a grove of small orange trees to return to the road. The Chandler was ploughing down perfectly good orange trees, the two farmers who watched their potential profits being slashed stood wide eyed in disbelief. This was not to be the drivers last detour; they never gave up as they had two official observers and a cameraman from the Universal Motion Picture Corporation accompanying them. Days later they realised the only way from Portland to Vancouver were by Ferry or Railroad bridge. To suggest that a lone automobile be allowed to tie up five transcontinental railroads while crossing a five-million-dollar bridge was laughable. BUT – Trains were stopped, switches jumped, “frogs’ bypassed, and three miles of ties had to have boards laid down to accommodate the car driving over them. Boats on the river had to be stopped because the drawbridge could not be raised until the Chandler had crossed. By the time they approached the Canadian border on Friday October 1st while the drivers looked as though they had never slept or shaved, the Chandler looked considerably better and its engine purred like a kitten after more than eighteen hundred miles and five days of continuous running, its wheels never stopping. Fred loved the publicity. Also, in 1915 a Chandler Touring Car was chosen as the pathfinder car for the Master Drivers Contest, (sponsored by the Chicago Automobile Club). The Chandler completed the 470-mile run from Chicago to Peoria, Illinois, to Davenport, Iowa and back to Chicago with a perfect score. In 1916 at Christmas Fred organised the purchase of three truckloads of turkeys. Company employees using company cars delivered one to the family of each employee for their Christmas dinner. Fred upon hearing some staff were heading to
