The Dale

[HarleyEarl]

This was a facinating story about a three wheeled car, a transvestite and fraud in the 70's.

The Dale three wheeled car was designed by Dale Clift and marketed by Liz Carmichael. It was covered widely in print and television media during the gas crisis of that period. But things weren't all that they appeared. The company was investigated and fraud, grand theft and securities violations was discovered. Only about 3 prototypes were built. One is in the Petersen Museum. And Liz went to prison.

Later it was also discovered that Liz Carmichael was a 200 lb transvestite who was born Jerry Dean Michael. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

1975 Dale brochure:

Edited July 22, 2006 by HarleyEarl

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I saw a story about this on Unsolved Mysteries once. Photos of one of the prototypes cracked me the hell up.

If I remember correctly, the whole bodyshell of the car was made of yellow plastic and you could bend the doorframes back and forth. The door hinges were like those you would find on a barn door. The frame was made out of balsa wood, two-by-fours, and plywood.

Even funnier, one of the executives that worked with Liz Carmichael refused to acknoledge she was a man! "She'll always be a woman to me," he said. "I just can't see it any other way."

:rotflmao:

[Sixty8panther]

The First Space Age Automobile?

Not quite... more like "The Car For Space Cadets."

[FAPTurbo]

Even funnier, one of the executives that worked with Liz Carmichael refused to acknoledge she was a man! "She'll always be a woman to me," he said. "I just can't see it any other way."

:rotflmao:

169925[/snapback]

The poor guy... probably ashamed of himself after one night of too much drinking and mushrooms with Liz...

One thing probably led to another... and BOOM!... Coyote Ugly...

[ocnblu]

Or he woke up next to "her", still sleeping, and sees something poking out from under her lacy teddy...

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Goddam, the front overhang on the Dale is offensive. Looks like a friggen vaccum cleaner. And GM thought the 1990MY vans were "dustbusters."

Another memory of the Unsolved Mysteries story concerns the factory, which was nothing but an airplane hangar. Now, seriously folks, how in the hell are you going to mass-produce a damn car from an airplane hangar?

[balthazar]

An airplane hanger is merely walls & a roof, same items you'll find around ANY manufacturing facility. It's what's inside that counts. Tucker built 50 (the prototype was built elsewhere) of the Newest Car in Fifty Years and arguably the greatest automobile ever in a converted airplane factory.

The Dale always reminds me of the '48 Davis- another failed 3-wheel attempt starting with a 'D'. No transvestite involved in that story, tho.

[HarleyEarl]

'48 Davis. Transvestite not included.(although not sure about the swimsuit model...hard to tell)

[Guest YellowJacket894]

An airplane hanger is merely walls & a roof, same items you'll find around ANY manufacturing facility. It's what's inside that counts. Tucker built 50 (the prototype was built elsewhere) of the Newest Car in Fifty Years and arguably the greatest automobile ever in a converted airplane factory.

170054[/snapback]

Good point, but this -- ahem! -- facility shown on Unsolved Mysteries was pretty damn small. It was probably around 7,000, 8,000, hell maybe even 10,000 square feet, which isn't small, but probably not large enough to house a car factory mass producing the number of cars the Dale Corp. was hoping to produce. (What was that number exactly, by the way? I know it was well over or around the half-million mark, although I'm probably mistaken.)