Towne Shopper

The International Motor Company of San Diego, introduced the Towne Shopper to the world in December of 1947. The little car weighed 600lbs and promised to sell for $600. It was claimed to go 50mph and get 50 mpg. In a post-WW2 world of pent up automotive demand, that faced raw materiels shortages and rampent inflation, the little Towne Shopper was promoted as the right car for the times, a modern day Model T.

Sherifie Ashook (S.A.) Williams was IMC’s president. If you read the story of the Keller in this site, that name may sound familiar. Mr. Williams had also formed the Bobbi Motor Car Corporation in San Diego, California back in 1946, to build another frugal 2-seat runabout selling for under $600 called the Bobbi-Kar. But, in the midst of a multimillion dollar stock IPO, California regulators learned that S.A. Williams’ previous career as a restaurant entrepreneur had ended with a felony fraud conviction. While the IPO was dead the story was not, as Williams simply packed up the whole Bobbi Car operation - which at the time consisted of a handfull of employees, a stack of blueprints a few parts and one complete car car - and moved to Alabama to start again. But the past is a relentless pursuer. When it caught up to S.A. the following year, his partners forced him out and renamed the Bobbi Car the Keller.

William’s latest small car, the Towne Shopper was to be the postrwar housewife’s best friend. It had its motor in back. Up front was a trunk that could hold several packages or shopping bags. There was even a clever peddle latch under the front bumper that allowed a busy shopper to open the trunk without putting down their parcels. The car was marketed as a “The Small Car with a Thousand Uses.” According to the ad copy, quite a few of those uses appear to have involved zipping around town on shopping excursions. Promotional photos showed pretty and adventurous, independent looking young women, seemingly thrilled at the prospect of doing battle with full sized Chevys in the Kroger parking lot in a pint-sized Towne Shopper.

In forming International Motors, S.A.Williams was reunited with a several of his old Bobbi Car associates. Among them was IMC Board Chairman, Jose (J.D.) Carter, who had held the same position at Bobbi Car. Carter’s resume had him attending “FBI School,” followed by “7 years in the criminal division” of the L.A. Sherriff’s Office. We are not sure what any of that means but when the war broke out, Carter was promptly drafted and put in charge of the commissary of the San Diego Navy Training Center. It must have been a bustling place because it led J.D. Carter directly to the chairmanship of one and now a second automobile company. Carter’s specialty appears to have been setting up dealer networks. Towne Shopper franchise packages cost $1500 and consisted of exclusive territories, along with a demonstrator car. As of March 1948, 50 dealers had signed on. There were plans for 1000 by the end of the year.

In a January 1948 statement, Williams wrote to would be dealers and investors that he and Carter were financing International Motors “from their own personal fortunes,” and that there would be no public stock offering. He did not add that such an IPO would have prompted inquiries by state and federal regulators, revealing the head man’s previous career as a convicted swindler, which is never a good idea when you’re courting investors. He went on to say that they were seeking private investment to “supplement” IMC’s capital position. He assured them that production of demonstrator cars was already under way, and that $500,000 worth of tools and dies were now being installed at their factory (indeed at the same former Conviar plant in San Diego where three years ago the Bobbi Car was to be built) He also assured them that IMC would be producing “100 cars per day in early 1948.”

Much like he did when hyping the Bobbi Car, Williams initiated a promotional blitz. He secured stories on the Towne Shopper in the January 3rd issue of Business Week and March issue of Popular Science. Rival publication, Popular Mechanics, went so far as to put the car on its April 1948 cover.

Early 1948 came and went and International Motors was not producing its promised 100 cars a day. IMC had in fact ceased to exist. The details are not entirely clear but it seems that S.A. Williams either cashed out or was forced from the helm of the company. J.D. Carter, with help from a mysterious new investor, had formed an entity called Harvey Motors, Inc. The Town Shopper car was still in the works - even if it lost that extra ‘e’ somewhere along the way. Little is known about Harvey, who he or they were, or how many cars, if any, they managed to build. No matter. By mid-summer of 1948, Harvey had skipped Towne.

But the Town Shopper dream would not die. TS 3.0 was revealed in September 1948 under the banner of Carter Motor Company, with J.D. Carter continuing as CEO. The little runabout had received a modernizing facelift with the headlights integrated into the front end cap. And now it was joined by a big brother, the 1949 Town Shopper Sportster. It was more than a foot longer and 400lbs heavier than the previous runabout. The Sportster’s engine was a 4-stroke unit putting out 13% more power and was now mounted in front. Postwar inflation had pushed the price tag to $750. Both cars were now made of steel instead of aluminum. In light of the bad press surrounding Preston Tucker and his difficulties, Carter Motors had issued a statement in early September stating that “production would begin in 120-150 days. Ninety days later, dealers would begin receiving demonstrator cars, and the taking of consumer orders would follow 30 days after that.” So, if everything went according to plan, by the following spring America’s streets would be swarming with happy housewives scurrying about in their new Town Shoppers.

But rarely does everything go according to plan with a startup carmaker - especially one with a history a tumultuous as this one. By the end of 1948 the curtain had dropped on the Town Shopper for the last time. It is not known the total number of Shoppers that were produced - though the number was probably not much higher than its ownership count.

And S.A. Williams wasn’t around to give a final accounting. Around about the time Carter Motors was breathing its last breath, Williams was pitching potential investors a “revolutionary” new electric car that was cleverly named the Electrakar. We presume the revolution was centered around mid-20th century lead-acid battery technology which had not advanced much in its 50 years of existence. But we’ll never know. The undertaking would run out of juice, as it were, before an actual Electrakar could be built. A few years later, Mr. Williams was again making news, having been arrested, tried and convicted for his role in distributing counterfeit $20 bills - thus bookending a short but active career as carmaker with another felony conviction.

At least two of these resilient little cars are known to still exist. Both reside in the wonderfully whacky collection of Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Their Carter Town Shopper has been beautifully restored, while an International Towne Shopper, when I saw it this summer, was slowly and meticulously being brought back to life.