The Del Mar: Three Strikes, You're Out
/An optimistic motto of the 1950 Del Mar could have been, “If first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” A more pessimistic one might be, “Three strikes, you’re out.”
(AACA Facebook page/BobCunningham)
The Del Mar was the third try…or strike, depending on your motto, by serial automotive entrepreneur, S.A. Williams. We first learn of Mr. Williams and his proclivity for starting car companies just after the conclusion of WW2. A group of San Diego-based engineers had designed a minicar that they hoped to sell for $500. Even though Williams knew little about cars - his previous vocation was the buying and selling of restaurants - he convinced the engineers that he was just the man to secure funding to get their car into production. Upon assuming control of the company, Williams named the tiny 2-seater the Bobbi-Kar, after his small son. Fundraising would entail taking the Bobbi-Kar Company public with a stock offering. But things did not proceed as smoothly as Williams had promised. When California regulators showed up asking questions for which there were no good answers, he packed up operations and moved to Alabama. Soon thereafter Williams was forced out of Bobbi-Kar in a management coup. (Bobbi-Kar was resurrected as Keller Motors, building a dozen or so cars from 1947-49)
The following year Williams was back promoting another San Diego automaker called International Motor Company. He was promising to have a little runabout called the Town Shopper in showrooms by the end of 1948. But International Motors would follow a similar trajectory to the Bobbie-Kar: Publicity, stock offering, regulatory inquiry - everything but the southern adventure.
After a second time-out, our man was back in San Diego, touting another small car with a big future. The Del Mar looked kind of like a ’49 Ford Convertible in 5/8ths scale. Promotional materials claimed the bodies were formed out of “aircraft aluminum and color infused plastic”, although they didn’t say which parts were of which substance. The Del Mar was said to be powered by the same 63hp Continental 4-cyl engine found in contemporary Davises and Playboys, so those lightweight materials should have given a Del Mar fairly peppy performance…had a road test ever been reported. The brochures also advertised the Del Mar as “the lowest priced standard passenger automobile.” Seeing as the its 100-inch wheelbase was 11” shorter than a contemporary ‘short wheelbase’ Plymouth P-17, itself 7” shorter than a standard sized Plymouth, we are left to wonder about the standard by which the word standard is measured.
1950 Del Mar (www.MacsMotorCityGarage.com)
Like his previous automotive endeavors, Williams pitched the Del Mar story as bright and sunny as a day on San Diego Bay. He was, however, less forthcoming about the company’s production facilities or its finances. Before long the operation took on an odor like it had been left out in that Southern California sun too long. Del Mar decomposed into nothingness by the end of 1950.
After that, we lose track of Mr. William’s career.
No Del Mar exists today. According to the company, 10 were built, but that number is as dubious as the source. There are promotional photos showing a black Del Mar and also a white one. They were never pictured together but appear to be different cars. When guessing at the total number produced… well, we will leave it at that.
Copyright@2020 by Mal Pearson