Ted Jordan forwarded me the following photos of a rare American Bantam plow with serial plate he just acquired.  He also forwarded several emails about the plow and Barry Thomas’ efforts to learn more about it. I’m sure Barry will continue to dig into this issue. You can follow his efforts at http://farmjeep.com & his farm jeep blog.

That got me doing my own research. There’s an interesting interrelationship between the Monroe Auto, Newgren and American Bantam companies. I’m sure some of you have information you can add to this, but for now the history below is what I managed to cobble together.

Monroe Auto Parts senior project engineer Ivan N. Schatzka helped the company develop a hydraulic lift in 1946. In the same year the Newgren Company became the distributor of the Love hydraulic lift, developed by J. B. Love. At some point Monroe Auto acquired the Newgren company (and discontinued the Love Hydraulic lift in favor of the Monroe lift?). By 1948 Newgren was advertising that its implements were operated in conjunction with the Monroe lift.

August 4, 1946, Bantam Trailer Ad

Meanwhile, American Bantam was struggling. During WWII American Bantam had annual sales around $25 million. In 1945 that amount dropped to $19 million. In a failed attempt to shift course and sell post-war civilian trailers, American Bantam sales plunged to  $3.8 million in 1946 and further to $3.7 million in 1947. Unable to meet dividends, American Bantam struggled, and may have been close to shutting its doors.

For reasons that aren’t quite clear to me, on July 5, 1948, Monroe Auto Parts offered American Bantam directors a proposal. Monroe wanted to sell the Newgren Company to American Bantam. In exchange, the MacIntyre brothers, who led the Monroe Company, would take over American Bantam. Thus, Monroe was divesting itself of the Newgren company, but maintaining control of Newgren by gaining control of its new parent company, American Bantam. All of the common stock in American Bantam would become non-voting preferred stock. In exchange for the Newgren Company, American Bantam would pay the Monroe Company $600,000 in a new class of stock.

July 5, 1948, article in the Toledo Blade

My theory is that Monroe’s management was not optimistic about the future of jeep implements, but were bullish on the auto part industry in general. Fearing Newgren could become a drag, due to its focus on jeep parts, they moved it to American Bantam. This put the Monroe company on a path to focus on the auto parts industry, yet allowed them to maintain control of Newgren by selling it to American Bantam.

As deals like these often go, not all the American Bantam shareholders supported the move. However, as the article below indicates, the leaders of American Bantam and Willys Overland agreed with the buyout. Perhaps they knew how precarious American Bantams situation was?

July 16, 1948, article in the Toledo Blade

In July of 1948 the deal was approved.

July 28, 1948, Toledo Blade … deal approved.

In September of 1948 the MacIntyres moved Newgren from Toledo, to Butler. Why they thought moving farther from Toledo and Willys-Overland headquarters was a good idea is puzzling to me, but maybe they felt the manufacturing advantages in Butler trumped what they had in Toledo?

September 09, 1948, Toledo Blade

Below is an example of a Newgren special equipment brochure with a split personality. It lists both Toldeo, Ohio, and Butler, Pennsylvania. Perhaps it was printed during the transition?

Courtesy of a Barry Thomas email via Ted Jordan

At some point the equipment manufactured under American Bantam, like Ted’s plow at the very top of this post, was rebranded as an American Bantam plow. How many pieces of equipment were created under this brand remains a mystery to me (and likely most everyone else). However, given that Ted’s plow is a rare item, I imagine there weren’t many.

By 1953, shareholders of American Bantam were incensed at Monroe’s management of the company. So they filed a suit against Monroe for the “wanton and reckless mismanagement” of the company.

July 3, 1953, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

It seems Monroe’s management was correct regarding jeep implements. While Monroe Auto flourished over the next decades, both American Bantam and Newgren expired pretty quickly.