The Twentieth CenturyMotor Car Corporation was an automobile company started by con artist Geraldine Elizabeth "Liz" Carmichael, in 1974, incorporated in Nevada. The company's flagship vehicle was the Dale, a prototype three-wheeled two-seater automobile designed and built by Dale Clifft. It was touted as being powered by an 850 cc air-cooled engine and featuring fuel economy and a $2,000 price, which were popular specifications during the mid 1970s US fuel crisis. Liz Carmichael, a trans woman, appeared to be of an imposing size—estimated to be at least tall and. She claimed to be the widow of a NASAstructural engineer; a farmer's daughter from Indiana; and a mother of five. In reality, she had been wanted by the police since 1961 for alleged involvement in a counterfeiting operation. She had changed her name and identity from Jerry Dean Michael. She often introduced Vivian Barrett Michael—the mother of their five children—as her secretary. The company would ultimately prove to be fraudulent when Carmichael went into hiding with investors' money.
Vehicles
Dale
Before meeting Carmichael, Clifft hand-built a car made of Aluminum tubing and covered in [naugahyde. The Dale prototype was designed and built by Clifft, and the project was subsequently marketed by Carmichael. Much of the interest in the Dale was a result of the 1973 oil crisis: higher economy automobiles like the Dale were viewed as a solution to the oil crunch. Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times in November 1974, Carmichael said she was on the way to taking on General Motors or any other car manufacturer for that matter. She said she had millions of dollars in backing "from private parties" and also talked of a corp. offices in Encino ca, R & D and the prototypes were built in Canoga Park Ca a aircraft hanger in Burbank was leased to be the assembly plant, California and over 100 employees on the rolls. The Dale was also marketed as being high-tech, lightweight, yet safer than any existing car at the time. "By eliminating a wheel in the rear, we saved 300 pounds and knocked more than $300 from the car's price. The Dale is 190 inches long, 51 inches high and weighs less than 1,000 pounds," said Carmichael. She maintained that the car's lightness did not affect its stability or safety. The low center of gravity always remained inside the triangle of the three wheels, making it nearly impossible for it to tip over. She also went on record to say that she drove it into a wall at and there was no structural damage to the car. She said the Dale was powered by a thoroughly revamped BMW two-cylinder motorcycle engine, which generated and would allow the car to reach. She expected sales of 88,000 cars in the first year and 250,000 in the second year. The vehicle's wheelbase was. The car never had a BMW motor the working prototypes had a Turbo charged Onan air cooled motor and later a 850 cc Renault R5 motor that was liquid cooled and super charged four cylinder. plus the prototypes had disk brakes and rack and pinon steering and a trunk in the front which was also doubled has a crumple zone features unheard of in a low priced car of the time. Publicity surrounding the car and the company was amazing, even very well known Hollywood celebrities would tour the R & D location and the local Los Angles TV channels news and national networks was an every night event stories about the car and it's potential and some about the woman Liz Carmichael taking on the automotive world. I recall a local new Anchor claiming "Maybe Detroit should wake up" The public couldn't get enough news about a incredible car that got 70 miles to the gallon, at a time when the average car would get 15 miles to the gallon as the media explosion grew so did the number of employees the R&D department in Canoga Park went from a handful to about sixty people in a couple of months. This wild drive and pressure to get the prototypes on the road and get ready for production led to lax hiring in fact the rumors started that some of the new hires were working for General Motors the rumors became more credible when a local TV channel 7 began airing nightly segments of a secret person person claiming to be an employee exposing technical problems with the car. Side Note: Styling of the body was later copied by GM on a car they called the Chevy Monza A non-running model of the Dale was displayed at the 1975 Los Angeles Auto Show. The car was also shown on the television game showThe Price Is Right.
Other vehicles
Two additional vehicles were proposed by Carmichael to complement the Dale: the Revelle and the Vanagen, a station wagon. Both of these featured a three-wheeled design and used the same 2-cylinder engine. None of the vehicles were produced, and only three prototype vehicles of the Dale were made. Only one prototype was able to move under its own power.
Fraud
The company had already encountered legal troubles when California's Corporations Department ordered it to stop offering stock for public sale because it had no permit. Rumors of fraud began to emerge, followed by investigations by a TV reporter and some newspapers as well as the California Corporation Commission began an investigation. Although Clifft said he still believed in the project and said that he was promised $3 million in royalties once the Dale went into production, he only received $1,001, plus a $2,000 check, which bounced. Carmichael went into hiding and was featured in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, which detailed the fraud behind the Dale as well as the fact Carmichael was wanted. She was eventually found working in Dale, Texas, under the alias Katherine Elizabeth Johnson, at a flower shop. She was arrested, extradited to California, tried and sent to prison for ten years.
Legacy
Carmichael eventually died of cancer in 2004. Clifft, never shown to have been involved in the fraud, later formed The Dale Development Co., and developed and received several patents; he died in 1981.
