The Fast Times of Albert Champion
Page 46
112. US Patent 1,263,038 granted April 16, 1918.
113. Pascal Sergent, “1919: Henri Pélissier, Winner of ‘The Hell of the North,’” in A Century of Paris-Roubaix (Brussels, Belgium: De Eecloonaar, 1997), unnumbered page.
114. “Champion French Cyclist Killed,” New York Times, December 25, 1916.
115. Pascal Sergent, “1914: Crupelandt before the Storm,” in A Century of Paris-Roubaix, unnumbered page.
116. Henri Desgrange, “Mort de Clément-Bayard,” L’Auto, May 11, 1928.
117. “HMS Majestic 1895,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Majestic_1895 (accessed August 26, 2004).
118. “Mort au combat au 1917,” Topic Topos, http://fr.topic-topos.com/vitrail-edern (accessed February 2, 2014).
119. Jeff Shesol, “The Somme,” review of The Great War by Joe Sacco, New York Times Book Review, December 8, 2013, p. 17.
120. “Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and the District Courts of the United States, March-April 1918,” Federal Reporter, p. 210.
121. US Patent 1,338,674, granted May 4, 1920.
CHAPTER 14. STARS AND STRIPES CAPTURE THE GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE
1. Griffith Borgeson, The Golden Age of the American Racing Car (New York: Bonanza Books, by arrangement with W. W. Norton, 1966), p. 3.
2. Registration Card of September 12, 1918. He listed his birthday as April 2, compared with the April 5 date on his birth certificate, possibly facetiously, as he had won Paris-Roubaix on April 2, which led to his contract to race in America, which changed the course of his life.
3. “Million American Troops Stem the Tide,” in Chronicle of America: From Prehistory to Today (New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995), p. 606.
4. Lawrence R. Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Flushing, MI: Craneshaw Publishers, 1984), p. 193.
5. Ibid., p. 193.
6. Ibid., p. 195.
7. “40,000 Spark Plugs Champion Co.’s Daily Average,” Flint Journal, November 30, 1918, p. 9.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. “Champion Co. Plans Branch Plants in France and England,” Flint Journal, July 18, 1919, p. 1.
11. “Gen. Motors Party Now Seeing Paris: Albert Champion Is Famous Guide, Says C. S. Mott in Letter,” Flint Journal, September 20, 1919, p. 8.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. “Louis A. Champion,” New York Times obituary, August 11, 1947.
18. Ibid.
19. Pascal Sergent, “1919: Henri Pélissier Winner of “The Hell of the North,” in A Century of Paris-Roubaix (Brussels, Belgium: De Eecloonaar), 1977, pages unnumbered.
20. “Gen. Motors Party Now Seeing Paris.”
21. Ibid.
22. Alfred P. Sloan with John McDonald, My Years with General Motors (New York: Currency and Doubleday, 1990), p. 317.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Gustin, Billy Durant, p. 199.
27. Ibid.
28. US Patent application filed September 25, 1918, for Patent 1,441,783, granted January 9, 1923.
29. US Patent application filed November 24, 1919, for Patent 1,501,021, granted July 8, 1924.
30. US Patent application filed March 8, 1920, for Patent 1,583,870, granted May 19, 1925.
31. “They Carried Roland Rohlfs to the Roof of the World,” Champion Ignition Company advertisement, Literary Digest, January 10, 1920.
32. Ibid.
33. Albert Champion, “Uncle Same Now Supreme in Two Speed Classes,” Duluth News-Tribune (Minnesota), February 21, 1921, p. 10.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. “The First National Bank Extends to All a Happy and Prosperous New Year,” advertisement, Flint Journal, January 1, 1920, p. 14.
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid.
40. “Depression Hurting; Hoover Has Job Plan,” in Chronicle of America, p. 618.
41. Gustin, Billy Durant, p. 214.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid., p. 218.
44. Ibid., p. 222.
45. Ibid.
46. Chris Sinsabaugh, Who, Me? Forty Years of Automobile History (Detroit: Arnold Powers, 1940), pp. 219–21.
47. Ibid., p. 223.
48. Ibid.; “Old-Timers Choose Albert Champion to Head New Auto Club,” Flint Journal, January 22, 1921, p. 12.
49. George Slocum, foreword to Sinsabaugh’s memoir, Who, Me? Forty Years of Automobile History. Slocum, publisher of Automotive News, regarded Sinsabaugh as the foremost authority on auto history and encouraged him to write articles about it for Automotive News. The articles were collected for his memoir.
50. Sinsabaugh, Who, Me? p. 44. He had coined “Cubs,” one less letter than “Colts,” to fit in the confines of a single column seventeen spaces wide in the Chicago Daily News.
51. Ibid., p. 223.
52. Ibid., p. 224.
53. “America Enters Grand Prix This Year,” Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA), April 1, 1921, p. 18.
54. Borgeson, Golden Age of the American Racing Car, appendix 3, “Winners of Major American Races, 1915–1929,” p. 328.
55. Ibid., p. 167.
56. Ibid., p. 168.
57. Ibid., p. 169.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid.
61. Gary D. Doyle, King of the Boards: The Life and Times of Jimmy Murphy (Tempe, AZ: Ben Franklin Press, 2002), p. 208.
62. Ibid.
63. Borgeson, Golden Age of the American Racing Car, p. 169.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid., p. 172.
68. Doyle, King of the Boards, p. 209.
69. Borgeson, Golden Age of the American Racing Car, p. 170.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Doyle, King of the Boards, p. 7.
73. Borgeson, Golden Age of the American Racing Car, p. 172.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid., p. 173.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid.
79. Ibid.
80. Ibid., p. 174.
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid.
84. Ibid., pp. 175–76.
85. Ibid., p. 176.
CHAPTER 15. A STORM THAT BREAKS LOOSE
1. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up (New York: New Directions, 1993), p. 87.
2. “Flint Manufacturer Arrested in Hotel on Wife’s Complaint: Mrs. Albert Champion Finds Husband in Company with ‘Other Woman,’” Flint Journal, August 25, 1921, p. 1.
3. Ibid.
4. Kerry Champion Williams, Edna’s great-niece, e-mail, April 11, 2014.
5. “Flint Manufacturer Arrested in Hotel on Wife’s Complaint.”
6. “Two Women Hurt in Auto Accidents: Coupe Hits Truck—Car Crowded into Ditch,” Flint Journal, August 2, 1921, p. 12.
7. Ibid.
8. “Flint Manufacturer Arrested in Hotel on Wife’s Complaint.”
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Martha Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy: Death Wipes out Triangle of Champion, No. 2 and Gigolo,” New York Sunday News, April 26, 1935.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Vincent Curcio, Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 265–66.
26. “Champion Divorce Decree Is Filed: Property Settlement Made out of Court—Wife Goes to France,” Flint Journal, November 1, 1921, p. 15.
27. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Kerry Champion Williams e-mail, April 11, 2014.
31. Ibid.
32. “Pride of Albert Champion and Her Sister Now in Motion Pictures—Both Former Kansas City Girls,” Kansas City Star, February 22, 1922, p. 3.
33. Ibid.
34. “Crawford-Champion,” New York Times, February 9, 1922.
35. Ancestry.com lists her birth date as February 17, 1889 in Raymore, MO, http://www.Ancestry.com (accessed May 17, 2012).
36. Kerry Champion Williams phone interview, September 10, 2003. Edna’s mother was Elizabeth Jane Champion, born in February 1869 in Springfield, IL.
37. Ibid.
38. “Mrs. Prosper Champion Dies,” Flint Journal, June 18, 1944.
39. “Pride of Albert Champion and Her Sister Now in Motion Pictures.”
40. Hoye’s 1902 Directory, Kansas City, MO, p. 271.
41. “Marriage Licenses,” Kansas City Star, September 2, 1906.
42. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”
43. Kerry Champion Williams phone interview, September 10, 2003.
44. Ibid.
45. Kerry Champion Williams e-mail, April 11, 2014.
46. Ibid.
47. GM: The First 75 Years of Transportation Products (Princeton, NJ: Automobile Quarterly Productions; Detroit: General Motors, 1983), p. 216.
48. “Prohibition Begins: America Goes Dry,” in Chronicle of America: From Prehistory to Today (New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995), p. 613.
49. US Patent 1,511,199 for Spark Plug and Method of Making the Same, filed April 14, 1921, and granted October 7, 1924.
50. US Patent 1,491,079 for Device for and Method of Forming Ceramic Objects, filed January 20, 1921, and granted April 22, 1924; US Patent 1,672,201 for Terminal Connector for Electric Supply Cables, filed May 18, 1921, and granted June 5, 1928; US Patent 1,566,465 for Terminal Connector for Spark Plugs, filed May 18, 1921, and granted December 22, 1925; and US Patent 1,552,274 for Spark Plug, filed October 10, 1921, and granted September 1, 1925.
51. “Crawford-Champion”; “Champion Head to Wed an Arts Student.”
52. Ibid.
53. Marshall Price, assistant curator at the National Academy Museum, e-mail June 20, 2005. “Tuition was basically free,” Price said, “and it was a much more serious art school for aspiring professional artists, so if she were here then it would be in the records.”
54. “Art Student to Wed Millionaire,” New Orleans Item, February 13, 1922.
55. Lawrence R. Gustin, Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors (Flushing, MI: Craneshaw Publishers, 1984), p. 206.
56. Corporations Division of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Order Number 1212745.
57. “Flint Business Man Weds Art Student,” Saginaw News (Michigan), February 23, 1922.
58. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”
59. “Ocean Travelers,” New York Times, February 21, 1922.
60. “Europe Respects U.S. Auto Craft: Albert Champion Finds Changed Attitude during Trip Abroad,” Flint Journal, October 12, 1922.
61. “Basil W. de Guichard, Former AC Head, Dies,” Flint Journal, May 30, 1958.
62. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy”; “Work Is Albert Champion’s Main Pastime—Says He Can’t Quit Now,” Detroit News, August 21, 1927.
63. “Europe Respects U.S. Auto Craft.”
64. Ibid.
65. “Work Is Albert Champion’s Main Pastime.”
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid.
70. Passenger List of French liner S. S. Savoie from Le Havre, France, arriving Port of New York, December 22, 1924, including entries for Prosper Champion, wife Flora, and their three sons.
71. Supreme Court of Brooklyn, New York, Record Number 442754, January 29, 1924, cited on above passenger list.
72. Cherie Champion, granddaughter of Prosper Champion, phone interview, July 15, 2002.
73. Ibid.
74. US Patent 1,631,191 for Terminal Connector for Spark Plugs, filed October 28, 1921, and granted June 7, 1927; US Patent 1,537,586 for Self-Cleaning Spark Plug, filed October 28, 1922, and granted May 12, 1925; US Patent 1,670,841 for Drive Unit (dashboard speedometer cable), filed May 31, 1924, and granted May 22, 1928; US Patent 1,713,860 for Indicating Instrument (dashboard speedometer), filed September 19, 1924, and granted May 21, 1929; US Patent 1,619,969 for Spark Plug filed March 30, 1925, and granted March 8, 1927; US Patent 1,705,045 for Terminal Clip (spark plug), filed May 4, 1925, and granted March 12, 1929; US Patent 1,651,374 for Terminal Connector for Spark Plugs, filed July 20, 1925, and granted December 6, 1927; US Patent 1,680,012 for Instrument Panel (speedometer), filed October 7, 1925, and granted August 7, 1928; US Patent 1,668,525 for Lighting Means for Instrument Boards (speedometer), filed January 7, 1926, and granted May 1, 1928; US Patent 1,688,522 for Instrument Assembly (speedometer), filed February 17, 1926, and granted October 23, 1928; US Patent 1,675,639 for Instrument Panel (speedometer), filed July 2, 1926, and granted July 3, 1928; US Patent 1,683,023 for Flexible Tube Support (speedometer cables), filed July 2, 1926, and granted September 4, 1928; and US Patent 1,658,552 for Speedometer Drive Shaft, filed August 11, 1926, and granted February 7, 1928.
75. “Work Is Albert Champion’s Main Pastime.”
76. “Calendar Production Figures for GM,” GM: The First 75 Years of Transportation Products, p. 217, lists 1,237,600 autos produced in 1926.
77. Ibid. There were 693,386 Chevrolets manufactured in 1926.
78. “Work Is Albert Champion’s Main Pastime.”
79. Martin, “Spark Plug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid.
84. William F. Nolan, Barney Oldfield: The Life and Times of America’s Legendary Speed King (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1961), p. 219.
85. “A Year Ago,” Los Angeles Examiner, December 21, 1927, from scrapbook of Prosper Champion.
86. Tony Mayfair, “Fatal Romance behind a Suit by a ‘Common Law Husband,’” New York Daily Mirror, July 7, 1935.
87. Ibid.
88. Basil Woon, “A Bit of Gossip,” Seattle Daily Times, November 14, 1926.
89. Basil Woon, “Dinner for Oldfield,” Seattle Daily Times, November 21, 1926.
90. Ibid.
CHAPTER 16. PERMANENT PARISIAN
1. Griffith Borgeson, The Golden Age of the American Racing Car (New York: Bonanza Books, by agreement with W. W. Norton, 1966), p.13.
2. Ibid., p. 330: “Winners of Major American Races, 1915–1929,” De Paolo averaged 101.1 miles per hour; ibid., p. 343: “Performance Trends—Indianapolis Winners, 1911–1929.”
3. “Champion was ‘A Regular Fellow and Good Boss,’ Chauffeur’s Tribute,” unidentified newspaper clip from Prosper Champion’s scrapbook.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. “Byrd and Bennett Fly over North Pole,” in Chronicle of America: From Prehistory to Today (New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1995), p. 632.
7. A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh (New York: G. P. Putman’s Sons, 1998), p. 91.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., p. 104.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid., p. 105.
15. “Lucky Lindy Hops over the Atlantic,” in Chronicle of America, p. 635.
16. “28,944,000 Sparks Required by Flight: Plugs Put to Terrific Test by Lindbergh’s Hop from New York to Paris, Says Albert Champion,” Seattle Daily Times, May 29, 1927.
17. Ibid.
18. Berg, Lindbergh, p. 159.
19. Ibid., p. 150.
20. Ibid., p. 155.
21. “Spark Plug King First Won Fame as Bicycle Racer,” New York Herald, Paris (predecessor to the Internation
al Herald-Tribune and today’s International New York Times), October 8, 1927.
22. Arthur Pound, The Turning Wheel (New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1934), p. 337.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. US Patent 1,753,773 for Chromium Plated Worm Shaft (speedometer), filed October 1, 1926, and granted April 8, 1930; US Patent 1,727,808 for By-Pass and Filter Connection, filed May 6, 1927, and granted September 10, 1929; US Patent 1,731,209 for Mounting for Oil Filters, filed August 17, 1927, and granted October 8, 1929; US Patent 1,840,831 for Air Cleaner, filed August 5, 1927, and granted January 12, 1932; US Patent 1,757,411 for Speedometer Case (dashboard), filed September 1927 and granted May 6, 1930; and US Patent 1,840, 832 for Air Cleaner, filed September 2, 1927, and granted January 12, 1932.
26. “Calendar Production Figures for GM,” GM: The First 75 Years of Transportation Products (Princeton, NJ: Automobile Quarterly Magazine; Detroit: General Motors, 1983), p. 217.
27. Ibid.
28. Vincent Bakich of Bakersfield, California, letter of October 13, 2005, to the author about a 1921 Marmon Speedster he had restored and the place Marmon Speedsters had among 1920s American autos.
29. E-mail from Kerry Champion Williams, April 14, 2014.
30. Ibid.
31. “Work Is Albert Champion’s Main Pastime—Says He Can’t Quit Now,” Detroit News, August 21, 1927.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Telephone interview with Cherie Champion, August 21, 2005.
38. “Ile-De-France Docks Late,” New York Herald, Paris, October 8, 1927.
39. Charles Faroux, “Albert Champion Est Mort!” L’Auto (Paris), October 28, 1927, p. 1.
40. Ibid.
41. Martha Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy: Death Wipes out Triangle of Champion, No. 2 and Gigolo,” New York Sunday News, April 26, 1936.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid.
49. Charles Ravaud, “The Last Moments of Albert Champion,” L’Auto, October 28, 1927.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. “The Death of Albert Champion,” Le Figaro, October 29, 1927.
56. John J. Donovan, “Brilliant Career,” Boston Globe, October 28, 1927.