Motor Company of San Francisco: One man’s contribution to Bay Area history
It all started with the Gold Rush of 1849 that brought people from all over the world to San Francisco. When the gold was gone, San Francisco continued to be a magnet for people to seek their fortunes and follow their dreams.
During the growth of San Francisco, some men succeeded in making their mark and we are intrigued by those “rags to riches” stories.
Some of these stories are well known, such as Levi Strauss who saw the need for rugged jeans for gold miners, while others, such as Paul Kleiber of Kleiber Motor Company, faded into San Francisco’s foggy mist, but not before leaving his fingerprints on the pages of history.
In Germany, Paul Kleiber was a blacksmith and wagon maker earning about 50 cents a day. In 1889 at the age of 25, he left his German homeland for America.
When Paul Kleiber arrived in San Francisco, he worked his trade as a blacksmith in a small shop on Natoma Street. Being a master craftsman, hard worker and a careful financier, Paul Kleiber built up a very profitable business.
By 1900, Kleiber & Company was formed to manufacture wagons and buggies of Paul Kleiber’s own design. Kleiber had such high standards that it wasn’t long before the company gained a reputation for building high quality products, a standard that remained throughout his leadership.
Business expanded rapidly and Kleiber & Company became one of the leading horse-drawn vehicle makers in San Francisco. A contributing factor to his success was that wagons and buggies were made, sold, repaired and financed by Kleiber & Company.
On April 18, 1906, an earthquake rocked San Francisco. The people were still in shock by the quake when the ensuing fires started and began to engulf the city.
During this terrible time, Kleiber & Company remained open to lend his wagons and buggies to the people of San Francisco so they could move their belongings and themselves out of the fires path to safety.
Although it was several months before all of the vehicles were returned, Paul Kleiber refused any form of compensation for this gesture. It was this gesture of generosity that earned Kleiber the nickname “The Honest Blacksmith”.
In 1912, Kleiber & Company was sold for $175,000 and with this capital the Kleiber Motor Company was founded to make trucks at 1424 Folsom St. again on a chassis of Paul Kleiber’s own design.
In those days, the streets of San Francisco were made of cobblestone and the first Kleiber trucks had hard rubber tires and no shock absorbers, which made for some shaky rides. We have no records of anyone falling asleep while behind the wheel of a Kleiber truck.
Paul Kleiber did very little advertising. He believed that if you built a good solid and dependable product, the word of mouth would be the best form of advertising. That philosophy must have worked because in the early 1920’s fleets of Kleiber trucks were hard at work for Shell Oil, Standard Oil (Chevron), American Can Company, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Del Monte and many others.
By 1923, the Kleiber Motor Company had employed 350 workers and was having a difficult time keeping up with production demands. The current facility had become too small and obsolete for his growing business and the aggressive plans for the future. A new facility was completed in early 1924 at the corner of 10th and Folsom street (which still stands today).
By this time, Paul Kleiber diverted his attention from manufacturing trucks to automobiles. He believed that an automobile manufactured in San Francisco would be more suitable for the West Coast terrain and would also eliminate shipping costs from the East.
The transition from building trucks to cars was an easy decision. He already had the chassis, so all he needed was the body. In 1924, he helped form the Fischer-Gaffeny Body Company in San Francisco. And with no advertising and little fanfare the first Kleiber car appeared in late 1924.
The new Kleiber cars (like the trucks) were assembled by hand. Kleiber believed that an assembly line vehicle could not match the quality of one being assembled by hand.
Here is something to consider, the Kleiber car had an auto body mounted on a truck frame which may have made it the first SUV?
When Kleiber Motors was only selling trucks, they were sold direct to the end user, so when it came time to sell automobiles, it was an easy decision to again sell to the end user. The new factory at 10th and Folsom had a showroom that was open to the public. He encouraged people to visit the new showroom to either purchase a car or truck off the showroom floor or have one special ordered. One could walk through the factory and watch his or her Kleiber being made.
By 1927, the Kleiber Motor Company had reached its peak in popularity and production and now was as much a part of San Francisco as the Cable Car, Fisherman’s Wharf and sourdough French bread.
Even though Kleiber believed that his hand assembled cars were superior to ones made on an assembly line, he couldn’t escape the fact that the Kleiber car was not distinguishable from any other car of the day. A Kleiber car sold for around $2,100 when others were selling for less then half that amount and at the time, people did not want to pay four times more for a car that drove and handled like a truck and looked like any other car of the day. By early 1929, Kleiber was faced with two realities; sales of cars had fallen and that cars assembled by hand had become too costly. So instead of embracing the coming age of mass production by installing an assembly line and reducing the quality, he decided to cease production of the automobile.
The Roaring ’20s was a decade of prosperity and fun times for many people in this country despite prohibition that began in 1920. But the good times came to an abrupt halt on Oct. 25, 1929 when the stock market crashed crippling the nation’s economy. It would take years before the stock market would regain its losses.
Prohibition ended on Dec. 5, 1933 and while many people were chanting the phrase “Happy days are here again,” the Kleiber Motor Company lost 60 percent of its business between 1929 and 1934 and would never regain its losses or position in the industry. In 1937, while the first tires were rolling across the new Golden Gate Bridge, the last tires would roll out of the Kleiber Motor Company.
This 1925 Kleiber Coupe was found and purchased by Harrah’s auto museum in 1965. It was restored by Harrah’s in 1978 and was their car of month in September of that year. In 1984, most of Harrah’s automobile collection was sold at auction, including the 1925 Kleiber. When the gavel came down, the successful bidder was the builder’s Grandson Paul Kleiber III. This piece of San Francisco history is one of only two cars known to survive. The other one is in the Jay Leno collection.
The 1925 Kleiber Coupe will be on display at The San Francisco Chronicle 61st annual International Auto Show running from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25 at Moscone Convention Center.