Son Remembering His Father

Dear Franklin Club Members:

It might interest you to know that my father, Milton Stone, at age 31, won an arduous steeple chase race in 1923 in Mexico with a 1923 Franklin. (A copy of his "Diploma De Honor" is being mailed to the H.H. Franklin Club under separate cover.) Though a U.S. citizen, he worked for a Franklin dealer in Mexico City. The race, from Mexico City to Cuernavaca and back to Mexico City thru the rough mountain roads was entered by many makes and models of automobiles (I believe about 50) and sponsored by "El Automovil En Mexico". Each auto held one driver (my father's position), one judge, one mechanic and one news reporter. He told how, prior to the race, many would ridicule the air-cooled Franklin, saying that it would "burn-up" while climbing the mountains, yet my father knew that running it in gear actually kept the engine cooler. Everytime a car would stop for repairs or other reasons, "demerits" would be applied against the car by the judge. He once saw a car he was passing with a mechanic on the fender trying to change a spark plug while the car was running in an attempt to avoid "demerits".

My father's Franklin won the race and the only other car that came in later with a grade of 100% was a 1923 Hudson. Strangely enough, the excellent showing by the Franklin did not result in increased sales at the Franklin dealership.

I thought you would like to know about the outstanding durability of the Franklin car in that very arduous steeple chase race. Today, I still enjoy owning and driving my grandfather's (and father's) 1929 Chryser "75" (wish it were a Franklin).

Thank you for allowing me to relay this story which I had heard since I was a boy.

Sincerely,

Gordon R. Stone, Ed.D.