Eden Motor Dealer Script

[AZ_HJ]

I recently had a reproduction made of the Eden Motor Dealer Script that was on my car. The one on the car had the first 'E' broken off and I did not have it to attach back on. So I asked around to see if some one could fix it for me or make one complete. I was able to fond someone in Tucson and 6 months later and for $120.00 it was made. The picture is not to good as the reflections off the edges make the edges look chippy/rough which they are not. Has anyone ever seen this script before on a KF?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Hi,

Clayton Eden was a long-time member of the KFOCI who died several years ago.  He was a Kaiser-Frazer dealer and when K-F stopped building cars in the USA, became a Dodge agency. 

There are at least two versions of his dealer tag; one with script (which I have seen on other cars) and the kind you have that I have not seen before.  It is my understanding that the script version was during the K-F era and may have gone into dodge; I don't know if yours came before or after the script, but by the general appearance (lettering etc) yours could be his first version.

I have one of the script type in my collection of dealer tags and license frames from Kaiser-Frazer Dealers. 

Jack Mueller

[ben-tex]

I seem to recall that Dennis Ferk of New Mexico at one time had some connection with Eden Motors. He may have worked there. He had a 53 Dragon Gold award winner that he bought new. Dick Bailey purchased that car from him and won many awards with it and then sold it some time back.

[AZ_HJ]

I purchased the 'script' version of the Eden Motors Dealer Script from Rev J. Philip of Mass. It too had the first 'E' broken off. Luck had it that he still had the 'E'. I sent it to my plater and had it repaired and rechromed. I was planning to put it on my car if I was unable to replace or repair my orginal one.





Also does anyone know of anyone that is still living that was active at Eden Motors during the KF era? If they do please send contact info.

[Fid]

Mark, I often use shutterfly.com  as you can create an account, post photos, and not get a lot of junk e-mail. Best part is shutterfly is free (not to be confused with the famous '70s song hit 'Butterflies are Free') and it works great.  Check it out at www.shutterfly.com   That's where I hosted all the photos of my Continental Kit instalation last fall.
Also, Larry Hinrichs of Buckner, MO has some Eden Motors memorobilia if I remember correctly.  It's a shame what happened to Clayton's low mileage, near pristine, '54 Henry J.

[AZ_HJ]

Fid, I have spoken with Larry Hinrichs of Buckner, MO about Eden Motors. He does not have any information that will help me. I am trying to find dealer info on my car. I am sure that this information is like finding a needle in a hay stack as big as Mount Everest.

[ben-tex]

Mark: See my message above.

[Fid]

I know Clayton Eden had a son who helped him with his cars. Last time we saw him, circa 1974, he told us he and his son were restoring a '51 Henry J they found with 10,000 miles on it. It had been rolled and they were going to replace the roof on it. We moved to MPLS a couple of months later and never saw nor heard from them again so I don't recall what his son's name was.
This is what is returned if you google "Clayton Eden Iowa City" -

"Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Page Genealogy ...She married Clayton M. Eden June 11, 1924. He was born February 06, 1898 in Live at 205 Koser Ave., Iowa City, Iowa, and died WFT Est. 1933-1989 in See ...
familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/m/i/.../GENE6-0091.html - Cached"

So there are descendants

Here's the page it takes you to:
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:nQVf0_wtygwJ:familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/m/i/Daniel-C-Smith/GENE6-0091.html+clayton+eden+Iowa+city&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[AZ_HJ]

Fid, from the info you gave me Clayton's son name was Wendell. I did a people search and found a Wendell Eden in Washington, IA. This is just south of Iowa City, IA. It also appears that they have a house here in Sun City, AZ. They list his age between 81 -86 years old. I have called the house in Sun City, AZ but got no answer. I did leave a message. I will try the Iowa phone number next.

[AZ_HJ]

Well, Wendell D Eden of Washington, IA and Sun City, AZ is not Wendell Clayton Eden, son of Clayton Eden. They did know each other as they are about the same age and grew up near each other. I was told that Wendell C Eden died of drowning in the Gulf of Mexico, just off Texas about 25 years ago. They did tell me that Clayton daughter is still alive and that they would get me a phone number for her. They said to give them a few days to call some mutual friends.

[ohmdr]

Another great source to gather information, both on the dealership as well as the people who may have worked there would be to contact the Iowa City library (information desk) and newspapers.
Provide them with as much information as you can on what you are looking for, names, ages, addresses, etc. from your existing information and ask them to check for newspaper articles, ads, etc. from the time period.  Also ask that they check the phone books, city directory and the Chamber of Commerce for any contact records/information.

Depending on the person or city, they may or may not "be able" to help you out, but it is worth a try.

I'm doing my own research on my Kaiser based car and have tracked down all but one owner/family and spoken with the a number of designers and/or their families in the past year.

Even with the great technology available to us, I've been unable to track down any of Howard A. Darrin's' family.  I've found 2 distant (4th and 7th) cousins, but they had no contact information and only the knowledge that they were related to a him.

[joefrazer]

About Howard Darrin (previous post), his son lived in New York City for a time in the 1970s. I have some older information on him...I believe that his name is Drake...but that's from memory. If I find anything, I'll post it here.

[ben-tex]

The 2008 club directory (which happens to be here by my computer) still listed Drake Darrin of CT as a member. I sold him a bunch of Darrin patches a few years back.

[ohmdr]

I contacted Drake Darrin this evening.  He says that he doesn't know much about Howard and his design work... just that he is a distant relative.

Does anyone know of any other family members?  Grandsons, etc. that may be able to help?