January 20, 1909, GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp.

Remembering the 1940's at the Pike Place Market.

My dad collected back issues of National Geographic magazines.
At the time, he couldn't afford to subscribe, or even pay current price per
issue on the news stand. So on Saturdays, when the weather was drippy,
which was very often, Dad and I would drive to the Pike Place Market. This
marvelous public market consisted of a long, open air, but roofed over aisle
bordered on both sides by food stands. The front of the market was where
the "High Stands" were. These usually held the fruits and vegetables
trucked in from California and Mexico. Mounds of oranges and melons and
tomatoes, just about everything the heart desired was there the year around.
Down the aisle were the smaller stands where the local farmers hawked their
wares. Whatever was in season. In the early mornings the Italian, Japanese
and central European farmers would truck their wares in from the fertile
river bottom valleys south of Seattle.
Hard to understand, nevertheless they were very friendly, especially to
children. Down the way were the fresh fish mongers. They would toss the
fish back and forth, then tuck them in huge bins of chipped ice. Crab,
oysters, clams, they all were there in neat piles.
But what I loved most was the lower level. Down a broad staircase was a
world of second-hand shops. First was a shoe shop. The owner collected
unclaimed shoes from around the city's shoe repair shops, fixed them up and
put them out for sale. Later I used to buy my work shoes there for under
three dollars a pair.
Then there were the second-hand clothing shops, the second-hand furniture
shops, and a couple of restaurants. There were a couple of restaurants
upstairs, but they were pricey. Downstairs the prices were much lower, and
so were the fixtures.
But all the way to the end of the lower level was the second-hand book
store. This was the place where Dad and I spent our time, browsing the
musky old books and looking for back issues of the National Geographic.
These magazines dated back into the early teens. What I loved most were the
old advertisements The fancy old cars, still looking like carriages with
fancy tufted seats, real lanterns for headlights, and trunks that looked
more like seaman's chests.
One other bit of education I received through those old magazines were the
stories about ancient Greece and Rome. The pictures, all colored drawings,
showed me my first glimpses of bare breasts. Long before Playboy, I was
delighted by these lovely maidens, walking about in their robes with their
breasts fully exposed.
I wondered later if my Dad ever figured out why I loved to spend so much
time with him in that old second-hand book store.

Carl Jarvis




----- Original Message -----
From: "Claude Everett" <ceverett@dslextreme.com>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 10:42 AM
Subject: January 20, 1909, GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp.


Joe might get a smile about this.
GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp.
On January 20, 1909, newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into
the Oakland Motor Car Corporation, which later becomes GM's long-running
Pontiac division.

Oakland Motor Car was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward
Murphy, a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages. The following year, another
former buggy company executive, William Durant, founded General Motors in
Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for the Buick Motor Company. GM soon
bought other automakers, including Oldsmobile and Cadillac. In 1909, Oakland
became part of GM. The first Pontiac model made its debut as part of the
Oakland line in the 1920s. The car, which featured a six-cylinder engine,
proved so popular that the Oakland name was eventually dropped and Pontiac
became its own GM division by the early 1930s.

Pontiac was initially known for making sedans; however, by the 1960s, it
gained acclaim for its fast, sporty muscle cars, including the GTO and the
Firebird. The GTO, which was developed by auto industry maverick John
DeLorean, was named after a Ferarri coupe--the Gran Turismo Omologato--and
is considered the first classic muscle car. According to The New York Times:
"More than any other G.M. brand, Pontiac stood for performance, speed and
sex appeal."

Pontiac's sales reached their peak in 1984, with approximately 850,000
vehicles sold (about four times as many as 2008), according to the Times,
which noted that experts believe GM hurt the Pontiac brand in the 1970s and
1980s by opting for a money-saving strategy requiring Pontiacs to share
platforms with cars from other divisions.

In 2008, GM, which since the early 1930s had sold more vehicles than any
other automaker, lost its sales crown to Toyota. That same year, the
American auto giant, hard hit by the global economic crisis and slumping
auto sales, was forced to ask the federal government for a
multi-billion-dollar loan in order to remain operational. On April 27, 2009,
GM announced plans to phase out the Pontiac brand, which had become
unprofitable, by 2010. A little over a month later, on June 1, GM filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and promised to emerge as a leaner, more
efficient company.

Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something
that doesn't look right, contact us!

Regards,
Claude Everett
"How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?"
Lao Tzu


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