Story of the Week

Remembering the 1947 Chrysler Zippo Windproof Lighter Car

by Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher

In 1947, the Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania constructed and built a promotional Zippo Windproof Lighter car using a 1947 Chrysler Saratoga model. The company that built and designed the car was the Gardner Display Company of Pittsburgh. The Chrysler became a key part of a successful advertising and promotional campaign and was made to look like a pair of the company’s world-famous Zippo windproof lighters.

The post-war era was a time when it was still very fashionable to smoke cigarettes, so Zippo invested $25,000 to launch the campaign. George G. Blaisdell, the inventor of the Zippo lighter, also loved automobiles and wanted to create a product-mobile that would look like his iconic invention. His product was a reusable metal lighter, and he founded the Zippo Manufacturing Company in Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1932.

To learn more about this unique promotional car and see more images, click below.

This Week's Story

Final MotorCities Cruise Club Event Is TONIGHT at Ford House

The second year of our MotorCities Cruise Club wraps up tonight. Join our board member Michael Bauman for the final monthly Cruise Night hosted at Ford House, located at 1100 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Shores from 4 - 8 p.m.

This event is open to all cruisers, but membership has its privileges!

BECOME A MEMBER OF MOTORCITIES AND THE CRUISE CLUB at https://www.motorcities.org/motorcities-cruise-club.  (Only MotorCities members can join the Cruise Club.)

CURRENT MOTORCITIES MEMBERS can join our Cruise Club for just an additional $10/year by clicking https://motorcities.networkforgood.com/projects/176949-motorcities-cruise-club.

Cruise Club benefits include the following:

 - Club sticker and card
 - Member/Club specific parking at each Cruise Club event
 - Admission to each Museum (day of event only) for the Cruise Club member and one guest. (NOTE: MotorCities Family Membership Holders can have their family admitted)
 - Food will be available for purchase at each event site.

Cruisers can RSVP for the final Cruise Club event by clicking here.

MotorCities Now Accepting Nominations for Its Annual Awards of Excellence

The annual MotorCities Awards of Excellence recognize organizations and individuals who have delivered outstanding projects in the following areas:

 - Auto or labor heritage tourism;
 - Education/interpretation;
 - and revitalization.

For our 25th year, we are encouraging nominations from all projects from 1998 to the present, and past receipients are eligible to receive this special anniversary edition of the awards. The deadline for nominations is 11:59 PM EDT on September 30, 2023.

On October 20, finalists will be announced in each of the three categories. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, November 8 as part of MotorCities' 25th Anniversary Gala at Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores.

You can start your nomination form here.

Celebrating 25 Years with Great MotorCities Programs

As part of the celebration of our 25th Anniversary, today we are continuing a series highlighting 25 MotorCities Programs introduced over the last 25 years.

The third is the Flint Vehicle City Arches.

In 1899, a series of arches was erected down Flint's main street, Saginaw St. This installation was touted as the first to bring electrical lighting to a main street in the country. In 1905, the "Vehicle City" moniker was added to one of the arches to pay homage to the many modes of transportation being produced in the city.
 
Whether it was carriages, bicycles, cars, buses or trucks, Flint could lay claim to them all. The arches were removed in 1919, and in 2002, a group of citizens launched the plan to resurrect the arches as they appeared a century ago. MotorCities was proud to support the effort with funds from its grant program. The first arches returned in 2003, and the last of the 11 arches were installed in 2008 during the General Motors Centennial. Pictured below in conjunction with this weekend's annual Back to the Bricks event, the arches stand today as a statement that there are many motor cities around the region, but there is only one "Vehicle City" and that is Flint, Michigan.

The fourth is the "Community Heart of REO" Mural in Lansing (pictured above).

It is not often that a brand makes it to 100 years, but Oldsmobile reached that milestone in 2004. Its namesake, Ransom Olds, called Lansing home, so it was only appropriate that the community marked the occasion with a mural in tribute to Ransom and his impact on the Lansing community. The mural was painted in the aptly named "REO Town" section of the city. In 2014, after 10 years of wear and tear, the community again rallied to update the mural to tell even more of the REO story and it was reinstalled on the south wall of Lansing's Impression 5 Science Center in 2018.

Watch for two more programs in this space next week!

MotorCities Challenge Grant Submission Deadline is August 25

MotorCities is now accepting applications on a rolling quarterly basis for its 2023 Challenge Grant program.

Challenge Grants are awarded up to $25,000, and funds must be matched by a combination of cash, in-kind, donated goods and documented volunteer services. To be considered for the next scheduled review on September 15, the next challenge grant application deadline is Friday, August 25, 2023 at 11:59 PM EDT.
If you missed last month's Grant Training Workshop, you can watch it here.

Projects must be largely automobile and/or labor heritage-related and deal with the following:

 - Revitalization of our historic automotive and labor structures through preservation;

 - Interpretation efforts which attempt to tell the story to a broad audience or education activities which engage a specific audience and create increased appreciation of our heritage;

 - or Heritage tourism projects which promote the region and its heritage activities.

In addition, projects which exemplify diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility will receive preference.

Potential grant recipients must have a project which will be completed within one calendar year of the date of review. Projects submitted for the September 15, 2023 review must be completed by September 15, 2024. Recipients also must be active members of MotorCities and a non-profit 501 (c)3, educational institution, government municipality or tribunal.

You can learn more about our grant program at motorcities.org/grants. For any questions, contact Brian Yopp at 313.259.3425 x307 or [email protected].

This Week in Auto Heritage

On August 16, 1984, John DeLorean, former General Motors executive and founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges.

He was an automotive engineer, executive and inventor that came to prominence at GM in the 1960s as their youngest division head to date, leading Pontiac and bringing famous muscle cars to market like the GTO and Firebird. After a stint as head of Chevrolet, he left GM to start the DeLorean Motor Company in 1973. DeLorean designed a futuristic-looking sports car called the DMC-12, but production costs made it too expensive. Motivated to save his company, he agreed to a $24 million drug deal from a man who turned out to be an FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation informant.

DeLorean was arrested, but his defense team successfully argued that he was unfairly entrapped due to his financial struggles.

The Detroit native never returned to the auto industry after the trial, but his DMC-12, popularly known as "the DeLorean," was engraved in pop culture history after being driven by Marty McFly in the Back to the Future Trilogy.

It's Woodward Dream Cruise Weekend, and Pontiac Has a Dream Show!

Since starting in 1995 as a fundraiser to build a soccer field, the Woodward Dream Cruise has grown to be the world’s largest one-day automotive event, drawing over 1-million people and 40,000 classic cars each year from around the globe—from as far away as Australia and Japan. Cruisers from all across North America, including Canada and Mexico, caravan to Metro Detroit to participate in what has become, for many, an annual rite of summer.

You can get more information on this year's event here.

One of the biggest companion events to the Dream Cruise this weekend is the annual Woodward Dream Show this Friday and Saturday at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac. This event makes the perfect complement to the Dream Cruise. It’s a chance to experience all the best hot rods, muscle cars, customs and cruisers on the planet — past, present and future. You’ll see many of those iconic machines you’ve been reading about and lusting after your entire lives.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Hey Kids!  Become a MotorCities Junior Ranger! Click here for details!

Events Coming to the MotorCities

Now - Saturday: Back to the Bricks Week Continues in Flint

The 19th annual Back to the Bricks in Flint is one of the best classic car events in the country.

To get all the information about all remaining events, culminating with the main event on Saturday, August 19, click here.

Friday: New Center Walking Tour with City Institute

This Friday, meet up at the Milwaukee Caffe in Detroit at 3 p.m. and join our partner City Institute for a tour of the New Center and Milwaukee Junction neighborhoods.

Although the Model T was famously produced off Woodward Avenue in Highland Park, the birthplace and ideation of the Model T happened right in Detroit's New Center and Milwaukee Junction neighborhoods. On this walking tour, we will experience the past, present and future of this iconic Detroit area, going back in time to learn about the Piquette Plant (pictured below), Birthplace of the Model T, and speak with the innovators who now call these neighborhoods home.

For more information and $10 tickets, click here.

Saturday: Cars & Coffee at the Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society in Eastpointe

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, join our partners at the Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society in Eastpointe for a Cars & Coffee event.
Bring your classic car to the museum for some coffee, donuts and camaraderie!

For more information, click here.

Sunday: Auto Heritage Bicycle Tour with Wheelhouse Detroit

This Sunday at 10 a.m., join Wheelhouse Detroit for their monthly auto heritage bicycle tour, starting at their location on the city's riverfront.
Discover how Detroit became the center of the automotive industry on this tour. The tour takes in the Globe Building, Dequindre Cut, Packard Plant, the GM Detroit-Hamtramck (Poletown) Assembly Plant, Milwaukee Junction with a stop at the Piquette Plant, New Center (old GM Headquarters and Fisher Building) and TechTown, where we will learn how industry is evolving with advanced technology. On the return trip, we will pass the Michigan Theatre, the location of Ford’s original workshop, the Bagley Garage. This tour is conducted in partnership with Ford Piquette Avenue Plant and Motorcities.

Reserve your spot on Sunday's tour here.