Pan Motor Company

The Stearns History Museum chose to share the story of St. Cloud's Pan Motor Company and its owner, Samuel Pandolfo. View the design for the Pan Motor Car below, and check out more photographs of the car, its plant, and machinery in MDL.


Background

“People just don’t meet a crook with a brass band,” commented Samuel Pandolfo years later after his prison release and return to St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1926. The automobile tycoon, who built his Pan Motor Company into a national name, was indicted on mail fraud in 1919 upending his bid to make the Granite City another manufacturing hub like Detroit. His nearly three-year incarceration left his company in shambles with little hope of financial recovery.

His start a few years prior was a promising one. Pandolfo’s vision was to build a car with innovative features based on his experiences as an insurance salesman traveling the rough roads of the Southwest. Ideas included: higher ground clearance, sleeper cabin, and extra storage space for supplies. He chose St. Cloud as his manufacturing center that already served as a railroad hub, access to the Northern Minnesota Iron Range for ore, and a community with a strong work ethic.

By mid-1916, Pandolfo had investors in hand. Stock sold for $10 a share with half going to a surplus expense fund. The local community pledged city services for his new plant and support from the Commercial Club. To foster interest, he hosted in 1917 a Fourth of July barbeque. Thousands attended. The highlight? Pandolfo managed to show off his Model 250 prototypes with the flair of a showman. Within a year, he raised thousands of dollars to start factory construction on St. Cloud’s west side.

Coordinating these moving pieces for Pandolfo throughout 1918 became a logistical problem. He did not have his Model A in production yet much less a factory to produce it. A few stockholders of the 23,000 nationwide were anxious even as he provided direct mail updates at a tune of a $35,000 postage bill. Problems surfaced from a variety of sources. World War I limited production supplies and his design team were just getting started.

As the calendar flipped to 1919, legal forces gathered against Pan Motor, accusing the firm of false publicity. The company was cleared but the wave of legal troubles continued. Two more cases were filed with the second in Chicago reaching a trial. This time the charge included Pandolfo and the Board of Directors. While the Board was acquitted, Pandolfo was found guilty of fraud in December 1919 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He quickly resigned as Chair and President. Appeals took place over the next several years but ultimately failed.

Through all the legal distractions, the finally completed St. Cloud plant and its employees produced 750 Model A’s. Reviews by the press of its design were generally favorable. But Pandolfo’s resignation and prison sentence effectively halted any production due to damaging publicity.

Upon his return to St. Cloud in 1926 after parole, Pandolfo picked up the pieces and started several businesses. He ventured into the health food business, a downtown St. Cloud café, and his Made-O-Metal household product line. None gained the fanfare of the car and by 1930 Pandolfo headed west to Colorado.

Significance

The Pan Motor Company brought a significant amount of local and national publicity to its car, the design features, and state-of-the-art manufacturing plant. There was also a neighborhood development built, a company town that housed workers employed at Pan Motor. Today, some of these structures remain, such as the business office and the Pantown houses. Even Pandolfo’s residence still stands!

The story of the Pan Motor Company is important to the St. Cloud region and Stearns County because it symbolized entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and business promotion. Pandolfo’s optimistic attitude captivated locals and others nationwide into dreaming St. Cloud could become another manufacturing hub like Detroit, Michigan.

Why I Chose This

After 100 years, the Pan Motor Company story still carries an aura about its relatively brief but fascinating past. Was Samuel Pandolfo a swindler or an honest business owner unfairly accused of a crime? This occurred not only once but on several different occasions! Lawsuits aside, the car is a really great piece of history and amazes me every time I see one.


About the Stearns History Museum

The Stearns History Museum in St. Cloud, Minnesota, collects photographs, printed materials and artifacts related to the history of Stearns County. They share this information in a two-story exhibit hall, a library and research center and through educational programming. The Stearns History Museum contributed to the Minnesota Digital Library images that show early street scenes from towns across the county, business activities, granite quarries, farming, and transportation.


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