This listing is for a 8-piece collection of vintage/antique memorabilia from The Allen Motor Company. These items include promotional materials, posters, and postcards. They range from about 5.5" by 3" to 30" by 21" when opened and are in good condition overall with some discoloration and minor wear. Please see the photos below to see everything that is included, and contact us with any questions before bidding. We have a low opening bid and no reserve price so don't miss your chance to win!
From the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and University Archives:
"The Allen Motor Company began as a machine shop in Elkader in 1903, established by Albert and Oley Allen. Their primary business was repairing steam engines. In 1908, when General Motors was established, the Allen brothers obtained a Buick franchise for Elkader and Clayton County. In 1910 the brothers remodelled and expanded their shop and changed the name to "garage," a term just coming into general usage in America.
"By 1914 business had grown so much that the brothers decided to expand again. In Elkader they built one of the first and finest Buick service stations in Iowa. This new service station included one of the first gas pumps in Iowa. Prior to that, gas was sold from metal cans. In 1916 the Allen Brothers ordered a train load of Buick automobiles direct from the factory, six of which were sold on the unloading platform before they could be moved to the showroom. In the late nineteen teens over half the cars priced over $1000 sold in Clayton County came from the Allen Motor Company."