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As the auto company that he built began to strain under the weight of unsold cars, Jordan’s marriage was also heading for divorce. The couple, who had one son Jack, and two daughters Joan and Jane, ended the marriage in early 1930. Publicly the separation was amicable, but Jordan was bitter about the
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From the first, the Jordan was a success for a car of its type. While production never exceeded 10,000 per year, given the type of operation and the intended market, Ned Jordan and his products were an instant hit, especially with women. Jordan bet that in the upper-class car markets, women would be
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would be an "assembled" car - that is to say that Jordan would build the cars but not manufacture the vehicle parts from scratch. Instead, it would rely upon the best standardized components available. Jordan also decided that he would outsource the production of components that were unique to his
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Charlotte
Hannahs Jordan's family (The Hannahs Company made children's furniture at 1324-1330 52nd Street) had connections within Kenosha society, and it is believed by Jordan biographer James Lackey that she asked her family to make a contact with Thomas B. Jeffery about securing a position for her
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the first "compact" luxury automobile. With the Jordan Little Custom, Jordan guessed incorrectly that
American car buyers would spend as much money for a well-appointed car that was compact and European in size. Had he attempted his gamble sixty years later perhaps he could have succeeded, but in
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Jordan automobile production continued through 1931, but as losses from Little Custom mounted Jordan Motor Car bankers who held the liens assumed more of the daily control of the company. Both Jordan and his wife began selling off their stock shares in 1927 after the Little Custom failed. As the
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automobile, where he served as secretary and manager of advertising, publicity and sales, and eventually as general manager. Jordan married
Kenosha native Charlotte (Lottie) Hannahs on February 1, 1902 and the couple relocated to Cleveland, Ohio after 1906 where he was a reporter for the
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For Jordan and his company, 1926 was the best year of his life. His family was doing well, his cars were selling even better than they had in 1925. However Jordan made one calculated move that set the stage for his automobile company's failure when he introduced the ill-conceived 1927
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In 1909, Thomas
Jeffery died and the leadership of the company passed to his son Charles, who, in 1914, renamed the car the Jeffery in honor of his late father. While successful, Charles Jeffery decided to leave auto making in 1915, following a harrowing ordeal in the sinking of the
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in 1927, advertising for all automobiles to 1922 was based on extolling the benefits and features of the automobiles themselves. Ned Jordan took another path - towards evocative advertising copy. Jordan’s style and wording captured the feeling of the restless "lost generation" that
360:, returned to the United States, remarried and started a second family. He joined the McArthur Corporation, maker of military aircraft seats, between 1935 and 1945, and later joined the McArthur Advertising Corporation in New York. By 1950 he began writing "Ned Jordan Speaks" for
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Nash extended an invitation to Jordan to stay on, but Jordan decided to pursue building his own type of car. According to Jordan, "Cars are too dull and drab." He reasoned that since people dressed smartly, they were willing to drive "smart-looking cars" as well.
156:. Jeffery’s wife had purchased a high-quality life preserver prior to her husband’s trip, and it saved his life. However the event also caused Jeffery to re-evaluate his life and priorities, and automaking wasn’t one of them; he sold the Jeffery concern to
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cars and designed by his engineers. While this raised the cost of each Jordan built, Ned Jordan’s target market was not one in which price mattered much. He managed to raise $ 200,000 within a day to start the Jordan company.
135:. From Patterson, Jordan learned that success was built upon doing one thing a little better than anyone else. Patterson also added the caveat that the "Husband is only half sold until his wife is sold" on the item at hand.
231:"there had to be a Jordan (automobile) if for no other reason than to allow Ned Jordan the unfettered license in the prose that he chose to extol it. And how the man could write, lyrically, romantically, emotionally."
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One engineering hallmark that all Jordan vehicles were known for were their suspension systems, which were supple but without sacrificing stability or handling. Designed by
Russell Begg, the system used oversized
35:(November 21, 1882 – December 29, 1958) was an American entrepreneur, automotive industrialist and pioneer in evocative advertising copy, which he wrote and used to advertise the automobiles produced by his
282:"She can tell what a sassy pony, that’s a cross between greased lighting and the place where it hits, can do with eleven hundred pounds of steel and action when he's going high, wide and handsome.
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half-elliptical springs. The design also did away with a soft suspension's tendency to sway. Jordan advertised that system as the lightest of its type and unabashedly "the best on the road."
302:"There's a savor of links about that car - of laughter and lilt and light - a hint of old loves - and saddle and quirt. It’s a brawny thing - yet a graceful thing for the sweep o' the Avenue.
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situation became more and more dire, Jordan and his wife still had their personal fortunes, but neither was willing to plow their own money into the company to save it.
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However it was Jordan’s flair for turning a phrase that raised his cars above the din of makes that were available to consumers in the 1920s. Automotive writer
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would gain fame from writing about. The ad that changed the automobile advertising world did so through sweeping prose and lack of detail about the car itself.
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in 1882, the only son in a family of six children. His mother, Kate
Griffin Jordan, supported the family by running a series of small general stores along the
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The tottering Jordan
Automobile Company produced the magnificent Speedway Ace model at the start of the 1930s, a model which is today considered a full
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312:"Then start for the land of real living with the spirit of the lass who rides, lean and rangy, into the red horizon of a Wyoming twilight."
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on
December 29, 1958. Per James Lackey, Jordan's body was cremated and given to his daughter Jane Jordan Rogers for disbursement.
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While major automobile companies wouldn’t embrace automotive styling as a major factor in their cars until the arrival of the
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automobile in
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drawn to fine upholstery, richly detailed interiors, as well as a wide array of body types and colors.
292:"Built for the lass whose face is brown with the sun when the day is done of revel and romp and race.
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hunkered down behind the wheel in abstract fashion, racing a cowboy and the clouds.
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divorce, causing a strain between himself and his now adult children.
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is considered a breakthrough in the art of writing advertising copy.
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for a year, and in 1907 began a nine-year affiliation with the
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Somewhere West of Laramie advertisement for the Jordan Playboy
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husband at Jeffery’s automobile company which produced the
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297:"She loves the cross of the wild and the tame.
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