You may be looking at the old car on the mural and think its just that – an old car. But, it is actually at Grant Car!

 

Grant Motor Company began production in Findlay on November 26, 1913, at a plant on Santee Avenue. Founded by brothers George and Charles Grant, the company made affordable, well-built cars at a time when automobiles were still a new and exciting technology. The Grant was a two-seat roadster powered by a four-cylinder engine and sold for $495, making it cheaper than most cars of its day. In 1915 the company expanded its line to include a larger six-cylinder car priced at $795, and production grew rapidly. Grant cars were shipped around the world, including to Great Britain, Australia, and South Africa, and by 1914 an estimated 1,800 Grant cars were in use worldwide. One model got about 35 miles per gallon and could travel up to 50 miles per hour, impressive numbers for the era.

 

By 1916 the company had outgrown the Findlay plant and relocated to Cleveland. The Grant Motor Car Corporation continued making cars until 1922, when it went into receivership, and the company was fully dissolved in June 1923. For a brief but remarkable window of time, Findlay was part of the early story of the American automobile.

 

The Hancock Historical Museum has a 1916 Grant Car in its collection! You can see it in the Transportation Annex. The car was featured in the 1974 movie “Melvin Purvis, G-Man”—later retitled “The Legend of 'Machine Gun' Kelly”—and may have appeared in the sequel “The Kansas City Massacre” in 1975, both starring Dale Robertson. The car was then restored and donated by the Ohio Bank & Savings Company in memory of the late Richard Hollington, and presented to the museum by his son, David