The Rare Leadership Qualities of Joseph J. Cole of the Cole Motor Car Company

The Classic Car Era had its roots from the great men who converted the simple hand-built horseless carriage of the 1890s into the modern automobile at the turn into the 20th century. They were men of vision and destiny. Henry Ford, Elwood Haynes, and William Crapo Durant would be at the top of the list. Joseph Jarret Cole might well be considered among the group. The 1925 Cole has just recently been declared a Full Classic by the CCCA.

Cole was born in 1869 in Connersville, Indiana. His father was a farmer of an160 acre plot. Young Joe’s days working on the farm were long and hard. Cole did his chores dutifully, but he vowed to leave the farm as soon as he was through with school. He graduated from high school at sixteen years of age and then attended the Richmond Business College for one year to complete his education.

Cole started his business career as an entry clerk at the Parry Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Parry was one of the largest manufacturers of carriages and buggies in the United States. Cole was a diligent employee. During his first three years at Parry, he became familiar with the business methods of the company, the products of the company in their finest detail as well as all the aspects of the manufacturing process and the machinery that made them. His demeanor did not go unnoticed. At a very young age he was promoted to the position of Sales Manager for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania branch, for which he had five salesmen working underneath him. Before leaving on his new adventure, he went back to Connersville and asked for the hand of Nellie Goodman in marriage. This had been a romance in the making waiting for Cole to find a position in which he could sustain himself and a wife. Nellie’s father consented, and on September 1, 1891 they were married. Immediately after a short wedding reception the newlyweds left for Philadelphia.

Cole jumped with gusto into his new position. He was a no nonsense guy. He worked himself hard. He analyzed the markets in order to match his customer’s needs with the products of the Parry Company. Even the Panic of 1893 did not slow him. Cole’s insight into the company’s product line showed him that the light wagon was ideal for light general hauling for the many small firms, particularly in the New York City area. Then he sent his sales force out to close in on the market with the Parry wagon. Cole in essence was, so to speak, at the right place at the right time. His corporate and market savvy was so convincing that Parry sent him to Canada to introduce the Parry line of wagons and buggies in that country. He met with equal success in Canada. Next, he was assigned to all of the territory west of the state of Indiana. For the next two years, he prospered again with excellent results, working out of Saint Louis, Missouri.

In 1898, Cole was approached by the Moon Brothers Carriage Company of St. Louis. The company offered him an exclusive territory, Texas, which he accepted. He worked hard without salary, working only on a commission basis. The Moon Brothers had been unable to make much headway in the Lone Star State. The economy had turned for the better from the Depression of 1893 and firms were buying again. Cole covered the state and made it his business that every potential customer had knowledge of the Moon Brothers line of carriages. Again, his attention to detail along with his professional bearing started to create orders for the Moon Brothers line of carriages. Cole was the ultimate people-oriented person. He placed demonstrational carriages in every nook and cranny of the state. During Cole’s travel around the state, Nellie went back to Connersville where she gave birth to Joseph Jacob Cole on September 5, 1899. During his selling spree in Texas, Cole was as thrifty as well as he was industrious. With his Moon Brothers Carriage Company stock incentives and his increased earnings from his sales, selling $500,000 worth of product in one year, he was preparing himself for the march up the corporate ladder of the Moon Brothers Carriage Company. His success was amply noticed by the company, resulting in his being promoted to Secretary of the company. This chapter in his life gave him the opportunity for greater executive experience.

At this point in his life, he had accumulated $25,000 in savings. With sixteen years of experience and being thirty-five years of age, he was ready to take the first step in owning his own company, a move that he had been planning since his early days in Texas. He had shared this dream with a merchant who he had gotten to know in Brownwood, Texas who also had the same dream. His name was Lee Watson. While Cole had saved $25,000, Watson had $12,500 to venture with Cole in starting their own company.

Marketing and leadership skills leading to corporate ownership

The twosome decided to search for an existing manufacturer with real possibilities for growth but lacking top notch executive skills. Cole found one in the Gates-Osborne Carriage Company located in Indianapolis. Cole and Watson bought additional stock at this thriving carriage company giving the pair fifty percent ownership on November 14, 1904. Cole became President, and Watson became Secretary and Treasurer. F.E. gates continued on as Vice President of the company until he retired his stock on September 4, 1905. Two months later, the company’s name was changed to the “Cole Carriage Company.” The little carriage company continued to prosper. But change was in the air. The automobile was the wave of the future. Cole was willing to take the risk of starting a new line of manufacturing at a separate location with a limited amount of capital. He hired Charles S. Crawford, a mechanical engineer, to design and build a prototype of the Cole automobile. In the haste to build the prototype, the design team forgot to put brakes on the automobile. The second model called the Cole 30 was much improved. Cole along with Crawford worked hand in glove on the Cole 30. It was advertised as being built with the best available materials and workmanship, while having ample power and speed. The Cole automobile carried 25 gallons of gasoline and ten gallons of oil. The four-cylinder engine of thirty horsepower was manufactured by the Northway Motor Company of Detroit Michigan, a General Motors subsidiary. The first few Cole automobiles were built on an ash frame and carried a steel body. It came equipped with Firestone demountable rims and was called the Flyer. The Cole Flyer was very popular as a stock racing car during the 1910 season. Cole employed Billy Endicott as its race driver since he knew the Cole automobile, being a tester of automobiles before delivery. Endicott’s racing record was outstanding giving the Cole automobile wonderful publicity during this early period of product development.

To ensure that the Cole could be marketed successfully, Cole entered a three-year contract with Henderson Motor Sales Company in Indianapolis with C.F. Henderson leading the charge. The organization was a quality firm in every respect. A contract was signed on July 25, 1909. The first Cole was delivered to Henderson in August 1909. Six units were delivered in September. Trying to run two different companies on $75,000 capital for an automobile factory and carriage factory at two different locations was a formula for disaster. But a financial angel came to the rescue in the name of Harvey S. Firestone. He loaned the needed capital to get the fledgling company back on track. With a needed cash infusion, production of the Cole 30 Flyer soared to thirty units in October, forty-two units in November, and thirty-three units in December. At the end of 1909, the loan was repaid to Firestone. The Cole Automobile was a major force in marketing the Firestone balloon tire.

As the year was closing, J.J. Cole, as he was now known, told John F. Morrison to close down the Carriage Company. Cole was to concentrate solely on automobile manufacturing. It took half a year to clean up the stock of inventory. Only 278 carriage units were built in 1910. Cole now concentrated solely on automobile production.

J.J. Cole was a perfectionist and demanded the quality of the cars he built to reflect that philosophy. He knew that a small company could not produce all the components for a quality automobile. Therefore, he went to the highest quality component manufacturers for electrical systems, headlamps and starting systems. Every automobile that the Cole Motor Car Company made was tested to insure a quality unit before delivery. Cole’ marketing slogan hinged on the idea of “the best assembled car in the market. “ Cole also had a sense of style. As production grew, the higher priced automobiles became more versatile with creature comforts particularly in the closed bodies, which became the norm. In essence, Cole anticipated the market ahead of the market.

After the Henderson sales contract expired, J.J. Cole brought the marketing function in-house. The art of advertising was in his blood. He did it in ways to capture a national audience. Cole was the first automobile company to use six pages of advertising in the Saturday Evening Post on July 26, 1913 to tell of the quality aspect of the Cole “Standardized Car.” Cole also enticed women to drive a Cole in a subtle way in his advertising. He used large hot air balloons with the name Cole emblazoned on the fabric on these balloons as they arose to the heights at state fairs around the country. J.J. Cole sponsored a Wright Brothers airplane replacing its engine with a Cole engine trying to be the first to fly across the country in a limited time. So effective was the marketing skills that even William Howard Taft, President of the United States, purchased a Cole tourer as one of three cars he used while he was in White House. The marketing arm that Cole developed had agency representation in twenty-four countries including China as well as an effective dealership network in the United States. With this type of aggressive marketing, sales took off. Cole recognized the need for additional manufacturing space. In 1911 Cole built a four story reinforced concrete structure covering 66,000 square feet of space. Cole decided to expand again a few years later and then again in 1919 when production approached nearly 10,000 automobiles in that year.

THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF THE COLE AUTOMOBILE

All through the years Cole automobiles continued to be innovative. In 1913, the Cole featured the Delco Starting system, lighting and ignition system. Production that year climbed to 3,547 units. As the Cole became more sophisticated with a variety of closed bodies the pricing gap between models rose along with the newly innovated equipment. But that didn’t stop the public from buying. In 1915, a V-8 engine with detachable cylinder heads made by Northway was introduced. Production for that year rose to 4,445 units. The four and six cylinder engines were dropped in favor of only the V-8 engine. The Cole Automobile Company reached its peak production in 1918 and 1919 with nearly 10,000 units being produced per year during a pre-war and war buying spree. However, in March 1920, the price of commodities decreased and a deflationary period set in resulting in business activity falling off. By the end of 1920 the market had literally fallen out of bed. During 1920 Cole only produced 5,838 automobiles, mostly in the first half of the year.

After enjoying many years of prosperity, Cole began losing money in the wake of the post World War I recession. The success of lower priced mass-produced automobiles cut into the volume of the Cole and other top line assembled automobiles by approximately fifty percent. Even with price reductions of nearly thirty percent in 1921, production fell by seventy percent from the previous year. The addition of balloon tires as standard equipment in 1923 and in 1924 a newly designed multiple disc self-adjusting clutch did not stop the flow of red ink. Wisely he started to liquidate the corporation, shutting down the production line in October of 1924 rather than risking the eventuality of going bankrupt.

As the post war depression years were taking their toll on the American economy in 1921, 1922, and 1923, he wisely decided to change the direction of the Cole Motor Car Company. Cole also saw the handwriting on the wall as the very large companies primarily in Detroit were starting to mass produce automobiles reducing unit cost for a less expensive automobile. The luxury automobile market at the beginning of the century was fast becoming a thing of the past. Ford and General Motors lead that charge in price reduction with the Ford Model T selling as low as$260 in 1926. The luxury car market would continue to lose its bloom with few exceptions right up to World War II.

The decision to liquidate was probably made easier because Cole’s general health was deteriorating because of a weakened heart starting in late 1922. In early 1924, Cole started the liquidation of the Cole Automobile Company with the last Cole Automobile being built on the production line in October 1924. Several additional Coles were built in 1925 from parts in inventory. As spring progressed into summer, the vast majority of liquidation had been accomplished except for the sale of real estate. In late July J.J. Cole’s physical condition worsened. Death came to him on August 8th of 1925 with his wife and doctor at his side. His son was in the western part of the country at the time. Upon hearing the news, he journeyed back by train to be in attendance at the funeral of his father the early part of the following week. Cole’s body was then escorted by his brother back to Connersville after the funeral where he was to be interred in the Dale Cemetery in the family plot. His internment did not occur until the following spring awaiting the placement of a new limestone monument.

The production of the Cole automobile from 1909 to 1925 was a total of 40,700 units of which 75 Cole automobiles are known to exist today. It is fitting that the 1925 Cole has been recognized as a Full Classic® by the Classic Car Club of America as to its qualities and the man Joseph Jarret Cole, who inspired it. The Cole Motor Car Company lasted much longer than any of its contemporaries. In retrospect, it was the leadership of J.J. Cole that made the difference. He had nearly all the attributes of greatness. First, he had a sense of vision for the future and a tenacity to implement that vision. Secondly, he knew how to choose the right people for the job and how to inspire them from top to bottom to do the best job possible. Thirdly, his sense of quality was an outgrowth of his inner sense of self-discipline. Fourthly, he was a professional in every way. In essence, J.J. Cole was a Renaissance man.

Many thanks are offered to Mrs. Helen Cole Imbs for the material and background information about the history of the Cole automobile. She is a member of CCCA and has a 1919 Cole automobile which has been a part of her family since the beginning. It was through her efforts that the 1925 Cole automobile received the status as a Full Classic®. Thanks are also given to Beuford Hall of Clermont, Indiana, who has four Coles in his collection. He is known as an expert of the marquee. Hall has been most helpful in giving the author information for this article.

Today there are two third-generation children living of Joseph Jarret Cole and his wife. They are Joseph James Cole of Indianapolis and Helen Cole Imbs of St. Louis. This May, Helen Imbs visited Beuford Hall during the Celebration of Automobiles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She revisited two Cole automobiles that were a part of her heritage. The first is a 1914 Cole 30 which her brother would drive her to high school on good weather days before he drove on to his all boys high school. The other is a 1925 Cole seven- passenger sedan that her grandmother had up until the late 1930s, when she gave it to her daughter-in law. Both Coles are extremely drivable and in excellent condition. Helen Imbs took great delight showing off both cars, particularly to her grandson, Cole, who just graduated from high school this year.

To finalize a wonderful weekend at the Celebration of Automobiles she drove her 1919 Cole aero-eight open tourer around the Speedway at speeds up to 60 miles per hour with a headwind approaching 30 miles per hour. She handled the Cole like an old-pro since she has been driving her namesake since she was in high school.

To top off the weekend she received a 1st place award in her class for the finest restored antique car built in Indiana. Enclosed is a picture of Helen Cole Imbs, George Maley and his wife B.J. Maley at the reception of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum for the entrants of the Celebration of Automobiles. Maley said that he knew Helen Cole in their high school days. Both attended Mrs. Grover C. Gate’s Dancing School at the Propylaeum in Indianapolis during their high school days. Maley said that Helen Cole was his favorite dancing partner.

Captions

1. J.J. Cole
2. Beuford Hall’s 1925 Cole, retained by the Cole family until the late 1930s.
3. Helen Cole Imbs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame with the legendary race historian Donald Davidson.
4. Mrs. Imbs shares a moment with her grandson Cole at the Celebration of Automobiles in May 2014.
5. Helen Cole Imbs with her high school dancing partner, our own George Maley, and B.J. Maley at the Hall of Fame Museum.
6. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has an extensive collection, including this 1916 Cole.
7. Helen Cole Imbs reunites with an old friend. Her brother drove her to school in this 1914 Cole Model 30 (NC). Today, it is in the collection of Cole expert Beuford Hall.
8. Mrs. Imbs awaiting track laps with her 1919 Cole at the Brickyard during the Celebration of Automobiles.