2014 - 06 - 06

distinctive little car put Athens on the map

Cars that were manufactured in Athens more than 40 years ago are still owned by many local residents.

While Athens native Sandy Heck has only been back in the Athens area for about six years, her family roots in the city can be traced to the early 1800s. A manager at local property management company Housing Hotlink full time, Heck uses her spare time for a different hobby.

After reading a guide that advised readers to skip Athens when traveling through Ohio because it was boring, an indignant Heck set out to learn anything and everything she could about the area in which so many of her late relatives lived.

“I’m a self appointed Athens historian,” she said. “I’m always digging for the historic stuff and collecting parts and pieces.”

About seven years ago, as part of that endeavor, Heck cheap jerseys purchased a 1967 Model III King Midget, a small car that was invented and manufactured right here in Athens.

That may come as a surprise to some when one thinks of past Athens area industries, coal mining and brick making are usually the first to come to mind. But according to Heck, many people throughout the country were experimenting with innovative cars after World War II, including Civil Air Patrol pilots Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt, who hailed from Oklahoma and Indiana, respectively.

In 1945, the friends opened their first factory in a two story brick building on Richland Avenue that was previously a grocery store, across from what is now

C E True Value Hardware. At the time, what they dubbed Midget Motors Supply made and sold only motor scooters.

Then in 1946 the company released what’s now called Model I of the King Midget. Maxing out at about 40 or 45 mph, the little one seater, built with materials and a design inspired by airplanes and featuring a unique automatic transmission, typically achieved anywhere from 50 to 75 miles per gallon.

“They decided they wanted to build a lightweight, economical, cheap vehicle for just running around town,” Heck said. “It was never intended for highways or anything like that.”

One could choose to buy the car as a kit and assemble it with any one cylinder engine, or to come to the factory to get a model already assembled with a 6 horsepower Wisconsin engine.

In the early ’50s, the company, which had been renamed Midget Motors Manufacturing Co., constructed and moved into the larger, one floor building, that is now the ATCO sheltered workshop building on South Campbell Street. Around the same time, they released the Model II, a two passenger convertible that was advertised as “500 pounds for $500.” Dry and Orcutt continually improved the model, ultimately offering reverse, a speedometer, an electric starter, turn signals, steel winter doors with sliding Plexiglas windows, and more.

The final King Midget, the Model III, came out in 1957 with unibody construction and 9.2 horsepower. By 1966, though, demand was slowing down, and Dry and Orcutt were getting older. They sold the company to Joseph Stehlin and some investors, who some say wound up overproducing the Model III.

In 1970, after new owner Vernon Eads tried one last time to revive the failing company, Midget Motors Corporation folded. However, the company’s 24 years of continuously manufacturing small cars earned it a record that still holds today.

There are no records available to document just how many King Midgets were built, which according to Heck, is because the 1968 flood in Athens wiped them out. However, after selling the company Orcutt said it had produced about 5,000 cars.

Heck’s home is not the only place in the Athens area where one can still find the “World’s Most Exciting Small Car.” She said she knows of several Athens County residents who own one or more of the cars: some are regularly driven around and featured in car shows, while others remain in barns and garages as collector’s items.

“One of the coolest things for me not only is people coming over wanting to talk about it and find out the history of it, but it makes people smile and laugh,” Heck said.

Every year since 1991, The International King Midget Car Club, which has about 400 active members, has hosted a King Midget Jamboree in the community of a current King Midget owner. From organized tours, to car shows, to mapped out drives, the weekend long jamborees always offer a variety of entertainment.

Because the car was invented in Athens, the celebration has been held in Athens several times most recently in 2006. Often, owners will see if their cars can still pull the South High Street hill, a steep incline that was sometimes used to test the cars after they were produced. In fact, because of the cars’ ability to climb steep hills, several of them are thought to have ended up in Mexico.

According to Heck, many residents with King Midgets will get together with their cars even when it’s not a jamboree year in Athens.

“It’s not unusual to see five or six of them cruising around together,” she said. “It’s pretty neat everybody stops to http://www.cheapjerseys11.com/ watch.”

For those interested in seeing the vehicles without having to track down an owner, there’s a permanent display of King Midget cars and the motor scooter at The Market on State.

Parts are still available for the cars, either to repair originals, or, with an original frame, to build one from scratch. The cars are street legal and can be registered as historic vehicles. Heck’s even has original 1967 Ohio plates: “X 676 M.”.