MacFarland Touring Car

You're spelling it wrong. Try McFarlan. Do a google seasrch & all sorts of stuff comes up.

I do not have my Standard Catalog on me, but they were very low production, high end cars built in Indiana through about 1928. They were aimed at a similar demographic as a Duesenburg was later, and in fact it seems I read that Duesenburg recruited former McFarlan dealers that were available when the Model J was introduced, a natural fit for marketing.

This 1923 McFarlan Town Car was owned by the notorious '20's film star, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Larger; the imposing vehicle lives at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, CA, a suburb north of Los Angeles.

TG

TG probably knows this, but legend has it that car was designed for Arbuckle by Harley Earl himself when he was working in Los Angeles before his time at GM. Arbuckle was a large figure, probably 300 lbs, and the body of the car was proportioned so that when he was driving the car he looked average size. Love the eccentric coachbuilt car stories! Todd C

PS--to TG, my only concern with my little legend is that if this car is a 1923 that would put it AFTER Arbuckle's trial and the demise of his film career--not the time for a guy to buy an expensive coachbuilt car. Any thoughts on this? Or were there previous Harley Earl cars that started the story?

poci1957,

You raise a very interesting point. Knowing something of the timeline regarding Arbuckle's carreer decline, 1923 seems like an absolutley absurd time for him to purchase a new (and astronomically expensive) McFarlan.

By 1923 Arbuckle was at the nadir of his movie life, his finances in shambles, he'd lost his home and cars to cover his legal bills, which topped $700,000 (pre-inflation dollars). This information alone would be enough to call in the validity of his purchasing the McFarlan at that particular time.

Makes one wonder what the exact paper trail is on that '23 Towne Car.

Best,

Greg

I don't know the exact time line your dealing with but a custom built coach like this takes time to build the chassis and later the body. The car could have been ordered a year in advance.

I took that into consideration as well. It's very possible Arbuckle ordered the car 2 years prior when his carreer was at its apogee. A two year build time (?), delivered after his demise. It's possible the car was built for him and turned over to his creditors directly upon completion.

So, technically, the car may have been built for Arbuckle but it's equally possible he never drove the car. Much like Rudolph Valentino's custom built yacht.

Interesting stuff...

That is a good point.

I don't think the car was custom-built for "Fatty" except for some custom appointments. The car is called a Knickerbocker Cabriolet, and there was more than one built. Also, Fatty was still working (directing), and was the second highest paid actor in the business at the time, making millions of dollars. I'm sure he still had money after the trial to afford this car.

TG57Roadmaster's link to "Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle" gives a fairly accurate synopsis of the actor's decline in popularity and fortune and a vivid time line.

His first trial ran from November 1921 to December 1921.

Second trial from January 1922 to feruary 1922.

Third trial from March 1922 to April 1922.

With no income stream and a steadily declining fortune this just seems like an inopportune time to purchase that new Knickerbocker Cabriolet.

The Hays office forbade him from working in pictures. No theaters would run his films and it wasn't until after 1930 that he had the opportunity to direct a few pictures under a psuedonym.

I'm not saying the car did not belong to Arbuckle. Just that there certainly seems to be enough evidence here to question what is actually correct. After 87 years it's easy for urban mythology to become fact.

Case in point:

I live in Palm Springs. At the north end of town there was a hotel originally built and owned by screen legend Errol Flynn. Everyone in town new it was so because everyone had always said so. I was fortunate enough to correspond with Flynn's daughter and the subject of the hotel came up. The family new nothing of this hotel and, after a day or two's research of title, it turned out Flynn had never owned the property. No one had ever bothered to research it.

History's mysteries....