Minor Royalty: The King Midget

Midget Motors of Athens, Ohio made the King Midget micro car from 1946 to 1969. It was the most successful independent car maker of the last 75 years, though few have ever heard of it. How is that possible? Well, it depends on how one defines success. The measure of the Midget was certainly not volume. The well-funded Kaiser Motors – which began the same year as King Midget - built over half a million cars over 10 years – 100 times Midget’s total sales. Of course, Kaiser lost the modern equivalent of over $1000 on each car it sold. Midget Motors made money every year for 2 decades. Is success gaged by notoriety? The drama surrounding the amazing Tucker played out loudly and tragically in period newspapers and on magazine covers. Even though Tucker’s production was 1/100th that of Midget’s total, its story was so compelling that 40 years after the fact, Frances Ford Coppola made a movie about it. No one is likely to make movie about the King Midget. The car business is not for the faint of heart. Henry J. Kaiser lost tens of millions of dollars on his Last Onslaught on Detroit. Preston Tucker lost his shirt and his reputation on his Tucker Torpedo. Midget Motors’ owners, Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt, on the other hand, carried no debt when they sold their company after two decades of profitable operations. It seems that succeeding small can be pretty dull stuff when compared to failing big.

Designed by the King Midget Club, this sign welcomes visitors to Athens, Ohio

The part of the King Midget story that wasn’t dull was the cars. The first King Midget was introduced in 1946. It was essentially a cross between a go-cart and a lawnmower and sold for $133. Why so cheap? The car seated one person, had a wooden frame, a 1 speed transmission and no reverse gear. Oh, and you had to assemble it yourself. You also had to supply the engine, wheels and tires. That wasn’t a problem since Midget Motors operated a catalogue that sold all the accessories, new or used, needed to complete your King Midget. In fact, that very profitable little catalogue generated nearly all the funds needed to get automobile production started. A hand full of the roughly 500 Model Is produced were factory-built, but this was for the most part a kit car.

A pair of King Midget Model I reproductions (www.kingmidgetcarclub.org)

What separated Midget Motors from every other post-war startup auto company was that it made money making cars. Founders Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt achieved this feat by way of sound management (which to the others must have seemed like an esoteric form of magic) They kept costs to an absolute minimum. No car was built until an order was in hand, which meant no inventory carrying costs. When enough orders were collected, cars would then be built - usually in batches of about 25. King Midget had no dealers - nor any dealer mark-ups. Orders were generated from advertisements in DIY magazines like Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Science, as well as those Midget Motors catalogues. Cars were shipped to the customer’s door. Service could be performed by anyone who knew how to fix a lawnmower, with parts available from the Midget Motors catalogue.

Early on in the Model I’s run, Dry and Orcutt realized that if they wanted to expand their market, a bigger car was needed. But not much bigger. The King Midget Model II was introduced in 1951. It now sported light-weight C-channel steel frame, brakes on two wheels instead of one, a 7.5hp Wisconsin engine (later bumped to 9.25hp), an available 2-speed automatic transmission (with reverse!) It also had seated two plus room for a couple of grocery bags. Model IIs weighed 500lbs and started at $500.

King Midget Model II: For more than a decade, King Midget Club members have offered detailed plans for building reproduction Model 1 King Midgets and quite a few have been built. Recently, Club members built the prototype Model 2 shown above and offer plans for building these Model II replicas using $2,000 of all new parts. That’s Lee Seats, President of the King Midget Club at the wheel. (www.kingmidgetcarclub.org)

The Model II was a huge risk for Midget Motors. It took on a $35,000 bank loan to build a new 11,000 sq ft factory set up to produce fully assembled cars. The risk paid off. About 1500 Model IIs were sold from 1951-56.

In 1957 the motoring world was again treated to an all-new pint-sized delight. The King Midget Model III now had a unit-body frame, hydraulic brakes, and a bit more room for passengers and storage. The Model III was heavier than the Model II but it used the same 9.25hp engine. The power deficit would be remedied in a few years when that old Wisconsin engine was replaced with a 12hp Kohler unit, though it is still unlikely that many King Midget drivers got speeding tickets. 

King Midget Model III (www.kingmidgetcarclub.org)

By the mid-1960s, Midget Motors partners, Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt were getting on in years. They didn’t feel the spark they once had for the rigors of day-to–day management. They put the company up for sale. Joe Stehlin was the national sales manager for the U.S. arm of Britain’s Rootes Group, makers of Hillman automobiles. As the story goes, while doing testing on a new Hillman Minx, Stehlin had come across a couple of King Midget owners out for a spin. He was impressed by what he saw and heard. Not long after that he was in Athens touring the factory with Claud Dry. By early 1966, he had assembled a group of investors to buy Midget Motors. 

That’s where the trouble began. With the investors came debt, along with the pressure to grow the business. The new Midget Motors quickly expanded, doubling production capacity. Stehlin abandoned Dry and Orcutt’s build-to-order policy. Inventory swelled. Sales, however, failed to keep up. America’s automotive tastes were changing. Even though updated Model IIIs now had a folding canvas or vinyl top, 12-volt electrical system and was offered in many more colors, more customers were not forthcoming. 

By 1969, the King Midget had reached the end of the line after about 3,000 Model IIIs had been sold. Debt, expansion, and the need to satisfy shareholders pushed the once conservative firm into making unsound decisions. But those decisions did not cause Midget Motor’s demise, they only pushed it forward by a few years. Federal safety and emissions regulations loomed. Midget Motors would not have been able to afford the investment needed to meet them. These mandates meant that there could never have been a 1974 King Midget.

Since 1991, the King Midget Club has sponsored annual jamborees (www.kingmidgetcarclub.org)

More Microcars

It was Claud Dry’s wife, Helen, who reportedly came up with the name King Midget. It proved prophetic, as Midget Motors turned out to be the undisputed king of America’s midget cars. It was, however, not the only micro car manufacturer to sprout during the immediate post war boom. The idea of selling car hungry consumers tiny runabouts at equally tiny prices proved irresistible to entrepreneurial America. 

The second most successful of the post-war minicars was may have been the Brogan, made by B & B Specialty Co. of Rossmoyne, OH. About 30 Brogan 3-wheelers were built from 1946 to 1950. Most of them were truly tiny: A mini delivery van called the Package Car and a runabout. Neither was much bigger than a motorized tricycle. An unknown but very small number of slightly larger cars called Broganettes were made later. These had their 3rdwheel in back.

The Broganette (www.3Wheelers.com)

There was the Publix in 1947, a 3-wheeled 300lb aluminum bodied runabout with a steering wheel that could be adjusted for left or right hand driving. Publix could be tipped on its rear for efficient shipping. These two features indicated that export possibilities were envisioned by its Buffalo, NY manufacturer. Information about the Publix is sketchy, and what there is has a bit of a smell to it. Legitimate or not, few if any Publix were sold to the American Public. 

The Publix (www.3wheelers.com)

The Towne Shopper, made by International Motor Car Co of San Diego CA, was an aluminum bodied, rear engined runabout that had 2 seats, no doors, and a front bonnet that could hold several grocery bags. Given its name, the target market envisioned was a second car for the suburban housewife. The Towne Shopper would get her about on her errands while hubby was off at work with the real car. Trouble was, the idea of going toe to toe with full sized Chevy’s in the Grand Union parking lot in the tiny Towne Shopper was not very appealing to suburban housewives of the late 1940s. It is not known how many Towne Shoppers were made, but least one still exists. It is part of the Lane Museum collection and in a state of disrepair.

The Towne Shopper (www.AllCarIndex.com)

Hall Engineering, also of San Diego, made the Airway Town Traveler in 1949-50. This was the most “luxurious” of the microcars. It came in 2 passenger coupe or 3 passenger sedan, both with bodies that were fully enclosed and actually looked “styled.”  The Town Traveler had a 10hp 1-cylinder engine and cost $750, which was about the same as a used Plymouth sporting an 85hp six. Predictably, the mid-century car buyers weren’t interested in miniature luxury cars. Only a hand full of Town Travelers were produced.

The Town Traveler (www.AllCarIndex.com)

The IMP was made by International Motor Products of Glendale, CA from 1948 to 1951. It was a 2-seat runabout with a 1-cyl engine in back. It also had a one-piece fiberglass body, making it one of the very first cars to use this versatile, light-weight material. That was the IMP’s only claim to fame…if fame can be claimed by selling 7 cars in 3+ years.

The IMP (www.allcarindex.com)

The C.L. Eshelman Co. of Baltimore, Maryland made lawnmowers, roto tillers and children’s pedal cars. They also built some actual cars…sort of. The Eshelman Sportabout looked like one of those stationary cars kids ride in outside supermarkets for a quarter - which the company also made. With its gangly proportions and protruding basket shaped grill, an Eshelman would have looked at home driven by some kooky old character in that old Hanna Barbera cartoon from the 60s, The Wacky Racers. A handful of Eshelman cars were made from 1953-58.

The Eshelman Sportabout (www.TrombinnoCar.com)

Some American microcars had 4 wheels, others had 3. The 1955-56 Bearcat, built by American Buckboard Co of Los Angeles was the only one to have five. That 5th wheel was located between and behind the other 2 rear wheels and was driven by a 2-cylinder motorcycle engine.

The American Buckboard Bearcat (www.AllCarIndex.com)

Of all these crazy little machines, only the King Midget enjoyed longevity and success. Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt’s conservative and methodical management principles was an important contributor, of course. But the cars, too, played a big roll. Those other wheeled American midgets were positioned mostly as in-town commuters or runabouts, practical instruments of suburbia…like a dishwasher. With the King Midget there was something more than that. Listen to or read about King Midget owners talking lovingly of their cars. Scroll through the International King Midget Car Club website to see pictures from past club jamborees. Everyone is smiling. Why? Because King Midgets have soul… they’re fun. Dry and Ocrutt created not just a microcar but a micro sports car. With a King Midget, one didn’t have to empty their bank accounts to buy one. They didn’t have to wait months for parts to arrive from a distant land that only could be installed by well-paid technicians wearing linen overalls. They were the everyman’s sports car. Five thousand King Midgets found loving homes over 24 years. It is estimated that over a thousand still roam the roads, putting smiles on their owners faces.

Joy; the ultimate definition of success.

The Kreinbrink Family’s collection of King Midgets including a pair of retored Model Is. Here’s Felicia Kreinbrink at the wheel at the 2016 King Midget Jamboree…embodying the joys of the King Midget A happy King Midget owner at the 2016 King Midget Jamboree (www.kingmidgetcarclub.org)

Copyright@2018  by Mal Pearson