Adopt a Dodge
Be a driving force at Meadow Brook Hall!
Meadow Brook Hall seeks the help of our friends to preserve the Dodge Brothers automobiles in our collection. Your tax-deductible adoption will help us make necessary repairs, provide preventative maintenance and pay insurance for the historic vehicles in our care, ensuring they are there to inspire, educate and “spark” the imaginations of this and future generations.
How it Works: You will adopt the vehicle for a period of one year, beginning November 14 through November 13 the following year. (November 14 is the anniversary of the day John and Horace Dodge revealed their first car in 1914).
Cost: $750 per Dodge per year of adoption
Benefits:
- Recognition of your adoption displayed by the car and on the Meadow Brook website for one year.
- An invitation to a special event to meet the volunteer team that maintains the cars and to receive a driving lesson (one eligible driver per car adoption).
- Opportunity for a photo shoot for you and family members and/or friends with the car.
- Information and updates on how your car was cared for during the year.
Cars for Adoption (From left)
1919 Graham Brothers Truck—This is a Dodge Brothers chassis with a Graham Brothers truck kit built into it. Famously dependable and suited to handle tough terrain,Dodge Brothers cars were a popular choice for being modified into trucks. On loan from the Dodge Brothers Club.
1927 Dodge Brothers Depot Hack—This superior example of a Depot Hack shows a rare 1927 Cantrell body, restored in 1985. This hack, with its leather seats and screens (for winter travel) would have been used at a sophisticated resort or hotel in the 1920s and ‘30s.
Gift of the Van Zandt Family.
ADOPTED by Arthur Ashley.
1947 Dodge Truck—This WC half-ton pickup is meant for hauling. Built in the heyday of Dodge trucks, it spent most of its life working on a farm in the state of Washington. The custom Meadow Brook Farms logo applied on both doors was designed to look like the original.
Purchased by a gift from the McMath Family Trust.
ADOPTED by NOMM, Inc.
1915 Dodge Brothers Touring Car—This touring car is one of the first built by Dodge Brothers. It is identical to “Old Betsy,” the car John and Horace Dodge famously drove out of their factory, Dodge Main, on November 14, 1914. Early Dodge Brothers cars did not have model years; any necessary changes in production were made immediately.
Gift of the family of Robert J. Petz, Jr., great-grandson of Horace Dodge.
ADOPTED by Jeanne Gartner in memory of her grandfather, Lewis Reed, who founded Reed Brothers Dodge in Rockville, Maryland in 1915.
1925 Dodge Brothers Depot Hack—Depot Hackneys, later called station wagons, were designed to transport tourists and luggage from train stations to area hotels. Several companies made the wooden bodies, which would be installed on the chassis of different brands of cars.
1964 Dodge Truck—This D200 Dodge pickup with a Slant Six engine was restored by the donor and is used at Meadow Brook to haul everything from landscaping materials to the holiday gifts collected for the Salvation Army toy drop. Painted in iconic Desert Turquoise and with a camper attachment, this truck is equally at home at work or on a road trip down Route 66.
Gift of Scott Kunselman.
ADOPTED by Arthur Ashley.
1938 Packard Twelve Limousine—This Packard Series 1608 Twelve Limousine was once owned by Horace Dodge’s widow, Anna T. Dodge, who then gave it to her son, Horace Dodge, Jr. It is in 99% original condition with under 15,000 miles, plus this luxe limousine is a rarity as one of twenty that remain from those that were built between 1932 and 1939.
Interested? Contact Meadow Brook Hall curator Madelyn Rzadkowolski by phone at 248-364-6253; by email at ; or by US mail at 350 Estate Drive, Rochester, MI 48309.
