In my last blog, I told you about my trip to the Fate Root Heath family reunion. Percy Root is the founder of the SIP division of the Fate Root Heath Company. I met his son, Tom Root, several times and he told me some wonderful stories. One of my favorites was when Walter P Chrysler came to visit the Fate Root Heath factory. Coincidentally the P stood for Percy. In 1932, FRH began manufacturing a very innovative compact tractor. It was the first to use pneumatic tires and was geared to have a top speed of 35 miles per hour. This made it ideal for the small farmer. It was affordable and could be driven on roads for trips into town and it was named after the town in which it was built, Plymouth. It proved very popular and Mr. Chrysler thought that it infringed on his Plymouth automobile brand so he showed up with a bevy of lawyers to try and intimidate FRH. The story goes that Chrysler paid $1 for exclusive rights of the Plymouth name for motor vehicles and that FRH had to rename the tractor “Silver King” as it had been painted silver.

Well I got the real story from the horse’s son’s mouth, Tom Root. As it turns out, FRH had been building trucks with the Plymouth name beginning in 1910. Chrysler started using the name on automobiles in 1925 and said the Plymouth tractor was too much like a car and that their use predated FRH’s use. Just one problem. FRH built a car in about 1911 and drove it from Plymouth Ohio to New York. They got a lot of press coverage for the feat but decided against putting it into production. Since their use of the Plymouth name on a car predated Chrysler’s, Chrysler agreed to a hefty fee for exclusive use of the name and were sent back to Detroit with their tail between their legs.