Buggy Boom

Despite President Roosevelt, there was evidence last week that the U. S. is returning to horse & buggy days. In Huntingburg, Ind., President Herman Heitman of Huntingburg Wagon Works (largest in the U. S.) announced: "The Depression didn't affect us in the least and today we are expanding. Present trends indicate a decided increase in business for 1937."

Buggyman Heitman has 80 men working six days and three nights a week. Last year they turned out 9,000 wagons and 3,000 buggies by hand. More than half were sold in Louisiana, where descendants of French Acadians dislike automobiles. The bearded, button-shunning Amish Mennonites of Pennsylvania also give Herman Heitman much business. Explained he last week: "The Amish people are unalterably opposed to ostentation in any form."

There are only 14 buggy-makers left in the U. S. and only three besides Huntingburg are important. J. G. Smith & Sons of Barnesville, Ga. who claim to be the only buggymen below the Mason & Dixon line, do much business in Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. Their business is up 50% this year. Houghton Sulky Co. of Marion, Ohio, specializes in horse-show buggies and racing sulkies, do not make ordinary "top" buggies. Unwilling to reveal figures, Houghton last week confirmed the current boom. Biggest exclusive buggy-maker is Standard Vehicle Co. of Lawrenceburg, Ind. Almost ruined by the recent Ohio River floods, it has farmed out all its buggy business to Huntingburg pending repairs.

A good rubber-tired buggy with fancy paint costs $125. Buggymen sell to foreign government officials, who usually like them gaudy; to places like Bermuda and Mackinac where automobiles are prohibited; and to parts of the U. S. where roads are bad and people poor. Standard's president E. J. Knapp likes to tell of a sale in the South where a three-year-old Ford brought $12, a 30-year-old buggy $17.

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