Historic Car Brands
Dort
The Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan, built automobiles from 1915 until 1924. The company was founded by Josiah Dallas Dort, as a spinoff of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company.
In 1886, William Crapo ‘Billy’ Durant and Josiah Dallas ‘Dallas’ Dort, as equal partners, established the Flint Road-Cart Company, later named the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. By 1900 it was competing with Studebaker for the title of the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States.
In 1914, Durant sold out of his share of the business, to concentrate on his existing interests in General Motors. Dallas Dort and the remaining stockholders took over the carriage business and entered the car-making business with the Dort Motor Car Company.
1918 Dort advertisement – Alden Jewell
Partly through his friendship with Durant, Dallas Dort had been vice president of Chevrolet until 1912, so he was no newcomer to the car business.
Dort’s chief engineer was the Swiss mechanic Louis Chevrolet, who together with noted French designer Étienne Planche, designed the company’s product.
Two touring car models were launched in 1915 and 1916, powered by four-cylinder, 17bhp (12.kW) Lycoming engines.
Dorts soon earned a reputation for being reliable and, despite being around 50-100-percent more expensive than Henry Ford’s Model T, were in strong demand.
DMCC sold 9000 cars in its first full production year and soon had to employ a second assembly plant, after concluding a deal with Canada’s William Gray & Sons. This company was a carriage maker that had moved into producing car bodies for Ford.
Gray-Dort produced the Model 4 roadster and Model 5 touring car its first year of operation and manufactured around 26,000 automobiles in Canada before Dort folded in 1924.
1919 Dort Model 11 Cloverleaf Roadster – RM Sothebys
For 1917, Dort added the Cloverleaf roadster and two sedan models, followed by a coupé in 1918.
In Dort’s 1920 peak year, production was 30,000 cars that was enabled by an additional plant in Flint. This success prompted the introduction of more luxurious Harvard and Yale models that rivalled the design of Rolls-Royce cars.
However, the post Word War I recession had begun to bite all car makers and up-market vehicle sales were hit hard. Dallas Dort looked around for a suitable merger partner, but nothing eventuated, so staff numbers were cut and expenses curtailed.
1922 Dort Sedan – FD Richards
Dort’s last-ditch effort was the introduction of a six-cylinder model in 1923, but that failed to stem the outgoing tide. In 1924, Dallas Dort liquidated the company and the new factory building was sold to AC Spark Plug. Sixty-four-year-old Dallas Dort died while playing golf only a year later.
Dorts Down Under
For a relatively low-volume car maker, Dort figured in some interesting automotive developments in South Australia, in the 1920s. The brand’s rugged, quality construction let it cope with harsh Australian road conditions. A key person in Dort’s market impact was one Horace Hooper ‘Murray’ Aunger, who had earned a reputation as an automotive adventurer.
After an apprenticeship with G E Fulton & Co, consulting engineers, ’Murray’ worked with cycle maker Vivian Lewis and Tom O’Grady to make the first petrol-driven car in South Australia. Riding Lewis bikes, Aunger held SA’s 1899 one-mile record and the 1901 Australian 50-mile record.
As co-driver and mechanic, Aunger made two attempts with Henry Hampden ‘Harry’ Dutton to be the first to cross Australia from south to north by car, finally succeeding in 1908.
In 1909 he founded Murray Aunger Ltd, to build bodies on imported cowl-chassis and to distribute Willys-Overland, Vauxhall, Morris and Dort car brands. That year wasn’t all work, however, as Murray took time away from the workshop to set an Adelaide to Melbourne speed record, beside Robert Barr Smith in his Napier. (When that record was broken, Aunger had another crack and regained the title in 1914, in a Prince Henry Vauxhall.)
Murray Aunger’s next road adventure began at an unlikely source: South Australian Railways (SAR). The SA Government wanted to expand the railway network to Darwin and Murray was chosen as the organiser of a road expedition to map out the likely route; to determine projected watering points for the steam locomotives and plot future settlements along the railway line.
State Library of South Australia
Murray Aunger lightened and modified three 30bhp Dorts for the expedition and, to ensure success, fuel, provisions and spares were sent north by road, rail and camel train. Similar supplies were freighted south from Darwin.
State Library of South Australia
The gruelling trip was a success, so the SA Governor and Premier asked the Commonwealth Government to extend the railway line from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs. That job was finished in 1929.
The expedition also established Dort’s reputation with the SA Government, which later bought rail-modified Dorts for payroll delivery and as inspector’s cars. In place of rubber-tyred wheels were flanged disc wheels that ran on the railway lines.
Rail-wheel-fitted Dort in service with South Australian Railways
SA’s flat terrain made this a viable form of transport at a time when roads were (and still are, in many cases) impassable because of flooding or sand drifts. SAR continued to use motorised road-rail vehicles for many years, including bus types and small cars, like this Morris that was modified for narrow-gauge rail service.
Other six-cylinder Dorts in SA Government service included on-road mail delivery vehicles and one survivor is in the Loxton Heritage Village, in South Australia.
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