Page 25 - Sample pages "Raymond Henri Dietrich" by Necah S. Furman

These bodies were originally designed
by Ray Dietrich for the new V12 line. With the V12 redesign ordered by the new bank-appointed management, these handsome designs were mounted on a 132-inch chassis with standard 6-cylinder 100 hp engine. A Deluxe Roadster
was never produced, but Franklin factory blueprints survived for the proposed body, perhaps intended
by Dietrich for the V12 line. Created by Franklin Club member Frank Gardner, the project consumed some eight years with the body having been custom-made for Mr. Gardner in England from the Franklin blueprints. (CCCA Museum)
Dietrich’s victory in Paris represented a high point of his career and enhanced not only his personal reputation but also the reputation of American design abroad. The car itself was sold in Europe.
In addition to Studebaker and Ford, Dietrich during these years established a good personal and working relationship with Herbert Henry Franklin. His association with the Franklin Automobile Company resulted from the death of its talented designer J. Frank de Causse, but not before he recommended Dietrich as his successor. Franklin took his advice and asked Chief Engineer Ed Marks to invite Dietrich to meet with him in Syracuse.
On that first occasion Dietrich recalled that Marks
stopped him before taking him into Franklin’s office. He asked if Ray had ever met the man.
“Only once,” Ray replied, adding: “I noticed that he was very quiet.”
Marks agreed. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you first. You see Mr. Franklin has a harelip and cleft palate and if he’s asked to repeat, it makes him very nervous, and you get nothing out of him.”14
A dapper individual, always immaculately groomed and conservatively dressed, H. H. Franklin did indeed have a serious speech impediment, but Dietrich discovered that he loved to talk if he felt he was being understood. Ray learned from the outset to listen carefully, watch
199 THE DIETRICH HALLMARK, A DESIGN RETROSPECTIVE
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