PB 308 new page 14-18.indd - Plymouth Club

Asers
know, I’ve
BULLETIN read-
Asmany
spent a lot of time
researching the story of
Mrs. Ethel Miller, the
Turlock, California, hotel
operator who claimed to
have owned the very first
Plymouth car built. The
car in question, a 1928
Model Q sport coupe, was
driven by Mrs. Miller to
the Chicago World’s Fair
in the fall of 1934, where
she took possession of the
one-millionth Plymouth.
Two years later, she would
make a second trip, this
time to Detroit, to claim
possession of the two-millionth
Plymouth. Then, it seems, Mrs. Miller
fell off the face of the earth. Where was
she when the three-millionth Plymouth
was built? We know she wasn’t there
when the four-millionth was built,
when it was child actor, Mickey
Rooney, who was present to receive the
milestone car.
For thirteen years, I tried tracking
down the “mysterious Mrs. Miller,” as I
came to call her. With her having a
common name like Miller, I knew it
wasn’t going to be an easy task. I
started my search with two assumptions.
First, that she was probably
deceased and second, she may have
remarried. Thanks to the help of many
people involved in the search, the mystery
of Mrs. Miller was finally solved
Benji's Page
The Enduring Mystery:
Ethel Miller, Miller,
Harry Har y Mook
and the First Plymouth
(see BULLETIN 271, March-April 2005).
I found I had been correct on both
assumptions: she had passed away in
1967 and she had remarried—several
times! But with answers always come
more questions. What really became of
her car?
During this entire time period, I
was aware that Chrysler Corporation
had possession of a ‘28 Plymouth
Model Q sport coupe. There was a
problem, however. The serial number
of the car showed it had been built in
the middle of the model run and was
NOT the first Plymouth. I had personally
examined and photographed the car
so I could “prove” it wasn’t the first car.
So the question arose: what became of
the First Plymouth? And when and
where did Chrysler acquire the car they
owned? A recently discovered photo-
-8-
graph offered for sale on eBay may have
solved that problem, but it raises even
more questions.
Thanks to club member Mark
Olson, I was alerted to a photo being
offered on eBay showing Chrysler vicepresident
Harry G. Moock* and Jack
Rose standing alongside a ‘28 Q sport
coupe outside the Statler Hotel in
Detroit. The photo, dated March 29,
1949, was taken by a Detroit News
photographer, identified only as
“Martin,” to accompany a news story
by a reporter identified only as “Watts.”
Mr. Moock, who had
been Plymouth’s General
Sales Manager, was retiring
from Chrysler and
had arrived in the old car
for breakfast at the
Statler. Close examination
of the photo reveals
that the car was being
driven by what appears
to be a chauffeur—making
one wonder how
three grown men could
fit into the small confines
of the car. One of
them, perhaps Mr. Rose
(who has yet to be identified
beyond his name)
may have ridden in the
Chrysler product car that
can barely be seen behind
the Plymouth.
I remembered that years earlier, former
BULLETIN editor Donald Wood, had
written about Chrysler’s “first
Plymouth” in an earlier issue. I pulled
up the story he had written about the
car in BULLETIN 110, May-June 1978. I
also contacted him with several questions.
Donald’s original story states
that “the car was purchased in the early
1930s (the exact date unknown) and has
been used for numerous historical milestones
in Plymouth history, publicity
photos, parades and social events as
symbolic Plymouth #1. It is, in fact,
not the number one Plymouth by virtue
of its serial number which places it near
the middle of that model run.”
I sent Donald a copy of the eBay
photo and asked for his thoughts on the