5 Minutes With Jim, Episode 109

Much has been written on the early technological development of the automobile, the visionaries who moved it from circus sideshow curiosity to necessity, and the dramatic societal changes wrought by abandonment of the horse and buggy. Curiously, a key component in this transition and the publics acceptance of the automobile has received little more than cursory examination.

Cadwallader Kelsey was a promotional master worthy the legacy of P.T. Barnum. Before reaching the age of twenty-five Kelsey had established a profitable garage, talked his way into being appointed the only dealer of Maxwell-Briscoe’s in the city of Philadelphia, and became the largest volume seller of those automobiles in the United. And as a result, he was given the position of national sales manager for Maxwell Briscoe.