Roy D. Chapin
Roy Dikeman Chapin ( born February 23, 1880 in Lansing, Michigan, † February 10, 1936 in Detroit, Michigan) was an American entrepreneur in the automotive industry and politicians of the Republican Party of the Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover as Trade Minister ( Secretary of Commerce) belonged.
Early years and auto industry
Roy Chapin studied at the University of Michigan, which he left in 1901 without a degree for a position as a test driver and on sale at the Olds Motor Works to assume that this year the regular production of the Curved Dash Oldsmobile had let start. A first time he made national attention to himself as he with such a light car in the fall of 1901 from Detroit ( Michigan) went to the auto show to New York. The trip lasted a week and led over barely passable, muddy roads. The event was vigorously exploited by him for the Oldsmobile advertising, but also led to his strong commitment to better roads in the United States. In 1906, he left with the Oldsmobile engineer Howard E. Coffin the company to build a private automobile. With the financial support of ER Thomas, manufacturer of the Thomas - car, they founded in Detroit, the ER Thomas - Detroit Motor Company which produced a vehicle in the upper price segment with the model Forty. The finished cars were sent for the exclusive distribution through Thomas to Buffalo ( New York). This complicated arrangement and control by Thomas Chapin and Coffin increasingly displeased so they were looking for another investor and Hugh Chalmers also found. The Forty was technically unchanged as the new brand model E Chalmers - Detroit ( after 1909 again as Forty ) continued to be built and offered as a more expensive of two series. This Chapin and Coffin had already but nothing to do: When they failed, Chalmers from a cheaper model to convince a sales price under $ 1,000 they left in 1908 Chalmers - Detroit.
The Hudson Motor Car Company
A consortium of businessmen and engineers the board Chapin and consisted essentially of Coffin and former Oldsmobile people George W. Dunham and Roscoe B. Jackson outside him, planned to establish its own car company. The capital to at least 90 % of the funding of U.S. $ 100,000 flowed reluctantly from the uncle of Jackson's wife, the owner of the largest department store in Detroit, Joseph Lowthian Hudson. According to him, the new company Hudson Motor Car Company and the car were named accordingly Hudson. Roy D. Chapin was the first president of the new company, Coffin's design came out as Hudson Model 20 and was a great success.
1914 Chapin married Inez Tiedeman, with whom he had six children.
After he was instrumental in the 1913 founding of the Lincoln Highway Association, he remained a leading role in the construction of the Lincoln Highway, the first road in the United States, connecting the east and west coast. He saw the modern highways as a way to ensure the long-term unity of the United States as a nation. Also why was Roy Chapin, in addition to his business activities, the appointment as Chairman of the Highway Transport Committee of the National Defense Council of the United States followed (Council of National Defense), a position he held during the First World War.
After the peace agreement Chapin was also instrumental in the founding of the Essex Motor Company in 1917, a group brand of Hudson which cars should build below the midsize car from Hudson as well as commercial vehicles. The company initially operated independently of Hudson, but there was a strong interdependence of management. So was William S. McAneeny not only president of the company but also Hudson plant manager. Roscoe Jackson and AE barite from Hudson sided with Essex administrative tasks and Chapin sat with other managers in the Hudson - Essex Board. Automotive history wrote Essex as one in 1922 with the Model Four Coach ( two-door sedan ), the first mass-produced car with a fixed roof at an unrivaled price (U.S. $ 1,245 versus U.S. $ 1,045 for a Touring, an open five-seater with four doors and emergency top ) offered. The car was such a success that the American automobile industry increasingly Vehicles of this type produced, after they had previously focused on open-top car. GM President Alfred P. Sloan commented this as " event which the future of Pontiac, Chevrolet and Ford Model T fundamentally affected ". In 1925, cost the two-door sedan even five dollars less than the Touring. The Future of Hudson Chapin secured by a restructuring in 1922 as a consequence also Hudson and Essex was merged into a common company whose shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As a brand Essex remained until 1932 on the market and was replaced by Terraplane. 1923 Chapin handed the presidency of the Hudson Motor Company to Roscoe Jacksonund took over as CEO.
Political career
After he had made to one of the most profitable independent Hudson car companies in the U.S., Chapin left the group and joined as Trade Minister in the Cabinet of President Hoover. He assumed this position on August 8, 1932, strove in his remaining tenure, Henry Ford to convince them to provide financial aid to the Guardian Trust Company of Detroit. However, Ford refused to protect the bank from financial collapse. This led to the Michigan Bank Holiday, the National Bank Holiday of 1933 anticipated.
According to Hoover 's failed re-election attempt Chapin resigned on 3 March 1933 from the U.S. government and returned to Hudson. There he tried to keep the effects of the Great Depression on the company in the frame. He died in 1936 in Detroit.
In 1954 the Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash - Kelvinator Corporation to the American Motors Corporation ( AMC). Chapin's son, Roy Jr., who had also made a career at Hudson served as the first chairman and CEO of AMC.
In 1972 was Roy D. Chapin, sr. incorporated into the Automotive Hall of Fame, his son Roy D. Chapin, Jr. 1984.