Texmobile Sport Car (1919)

[BERTRAND]

Please, identify this car and when

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expert

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pros

[ropat53]

From USA?

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From USA?

Yes

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masters

[Oguerrerob]

TexMobile Sport Car by Little Motor Car (W. S. Livezey) 1919 Dallas, Texas, USA

[BERTRAND]

correct

[Oguerrerob]

Thank you!!

[GrahamClayton]

"Visitors to the 1919 State Fair of Texas who stopped by booth 99 in the Automobile Building were introduced to the Little Motor Kar Company. Most likely they also were treated to a sales pitch touting the financial benefits of investing in Grand Prarie's newest business.

The company was headquartered in Wichita Falls, but in July paid $30,000 for 80 acres near Fowler's stop on the Interurban line. The company's officers - William S Livezey, President, RL McCoy, Vice-President, and Secretary George Stricker - vowed to invest $1 million in production of light pleasure cars, tractors and trailers. The plant would employ 3,000 men working day and night shifts, they said.

In early March 1920, sales manager JH Judge claimed to have orders for 100,000 four-cylinder Texmobiles. Later that month, Grand Prairie Texan editor Fred R Krieger reported production had begun on a "sport kar" and a "touring kar". "In taking a ride in the sport kar, I found the engine to be exceptionally powerful", he wrote. "The touring kar seems to be an easier riding car than the sport kar."

Unbeknownst to Krieger and the Little Motor Kar Company's more than thirty thousand stockholders, the company was on the verge of collapse. The previous November, Livezey withdrew $500,000 from the company's account on his way to Havre de Grace, Maryland, where a second plant was planned but never materialized.

A few days after Krieger test-drove what was the only car built under Livezey's leadership, the company officer's were arrested and charged with using the mail for fraud. Livezey was also charged with embezzlement. In July, the stockholders elected Dr JE Payne of Grand Prairie and Dallasite WE Jewer as the company's new officers. They also voted to cancel any stock issued to the former officers that had not been paid for with cash.

At Livezey's February 1921 trial in Dallas' Federal District Court, sales manager Judge testified that although much money from stock sales was received, records of those transactions were non-existent. Further testimony revealed that the officers failed to record $226,588 in stock purchases, and at the time that the company went into receivership there was $70,843 left in its account.

The most sensational testimony came from Nellie Preston, who was nineteen during the trial. The Aberdeen, Maryland, resident reported that Livesey lavished her and her family with gifts, including several cars, diamond jewelry, fur coats, silk "underlinery", and a saddle horse. Livezey was found guilty of misuse of the US mail and sentenced to five years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Little Motor Kar Company resumed operation in November 1922, producing a "complete light truck". But the endeavour proved unsuccessful, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 1928."

Kathy A Goolsby "Historic Grand Prairie: An Illustrated History", HPN Books, 2008.