The automotive world has all kinds of stories. But this is one that is not wasted due to the amount of ingredients that make it up.
So much so that on Sunday, January 31, a three-episode documentary will be released, called “The Lady and the Dale: a lie on wheels”.
This work tells the story of one of the biggest scams in the history of the automotive industry. One of the main protagonists is the Go ahead, a three-wheeler touted as a cheap, lightweight, and extremely fuel-efficient car in the 1970s.
Elizabeth Carmichael fooled everyone and raised $ 3 million in advance sales for a car that didn’t exist.
The other protagonist is the American businesswoman Elizabeth carmichael, which created the Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation at the height of the oil shortage in the United States.
While the situation forced the Big Three To make profound changes to its range and lead to a huge downsizing at Chevrolet, Ford and American Motors Corporation (AMC), the Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation promised to give drivers a car that was perfectly suited to the era.
Known as the Dale, it made its debut with two front wheels, a single rear wheel and a total weight of 453 kilos. It was said to be powered by an air-cooled 850cc engine that it had borrowed from a BMW motorcycle parts container and delivered about 40 horsepower.
The Dale was to be the first car of the Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation.
As one of its great virtues, its consumption was promoted to which they fixed in 30 kilometers for every liter of fuel. It was also advertised that it could travel at an average speed of more than 130 km / h.
But with those impressive features, one would have expected a high price, but the Dale started in the US $ 2,000, an unbeatable value for the time.
In addition to the sensational nature of the scam, there was Liz Carmichael’s backstory: She was a transgender woman who had had a series of wives who gave him 5 children and a life on the run while staying one step ahead of the law for many years.
EL Dale promised to run up to 30 kilometers on a liter of fuel and cost just $ 2,000.
In 1973, he discovered the Dale and its inventor, Dale Clifft. Carmichael had the car painted yellow so that the car would draw both attention and the spectacular features and performance the car promised.
He even managed to place it in the pavilion of the Los Angeles Auto Show and was able to give it a prominent place on the television show. The Right Price, a hit of the time.
Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation raised more than US $ 3 millionaccording to Car Throttle, but he apparently built only three Dale prototypes.
Currently, a model with a fiberglass body is on display and is kept in the Petersen Museum.
What’s worse, only one of those three could move under its own power and that was because it was equipped with the lawnmower motor.
Later, private and government investigators realized that the trike was little more than a carefully wrapped scam and that the company had neither the intention nor the ability to mass-produce cars.
The company closed in 1978 and Carmichael fled from California. It was found that he fled to Texas and there began an investigation that began to uncover Liz’s past.
Previously had been Jerry dean michael, a man who had been wanted by the FBI since 1961 on forgery charges.
Carmichael was found in Miami in 1975, just as she was subjected to hormonal treatments to prepare for gender change surgery. Once captured, she was sentenced under her birth name for grand theft, conspiracy and fraud.
Released on bail, several appeals kept Liz out of jail until 1980, when she was to be sentenced to a prison term. But she did not show up for the sentencing hearing and became a wanted fugitive once again.
For 8 years, he managed to evade capture. However, after her story appeared on an episode of a television show, an anonymous call revealed that Liz Carmichael was working as a flower seller calling herself Kathryn Elizabeth Johnson.
She was extradited to California, where she served just over 2 years in prison before being paroled. He died in 2004 of cancer.
Surprisingly, one of the three aforementioned prototypes still exists in 2021. It is a model with a fiberglass bodywork kept in the Petersen Museum.
The documentary will be released on Sunday, January 31 on the HBO signal. The three episodes will last one hour each.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/the-story-of-the-trans-woman-who-ripped-off-a-three-wheeler-and-raised-3-million/
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