Truth is always stranger than fiction. That adage is confirmed by the four-part series The Lady and the Dale - opens in new window or tab. currently unfolding on HBO. An inveterate con-man named Jerry Dean Michael transformed himself into Elizabeth Carmichael, a transgender woman, and in 1974 somehow convinced investors that she was the brains behind a revolutionary new 70-mile-per-gallon three-wheeled car, the Dale.
It turned out to be a scam. However, Carmichael had the right message for a country reeling from the Arab oil embargo.
Where are the Dales now? The company supposedly made only three, two mockups, and one that barely ran. eBay Motors did some sleuthing. Now we know there’s a fourth Dale. And there are countless three-wheelers like the Polaris Slingshot car/motorcycle recently offered for sale on eBay.
Sadly Overlooked
The Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed has one of the few remaining Dales. (Photo: Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed)
One of those sketchy fiberglass Dale prototypes (shown at the top of this post) is in the Petersen Museum collection in Los Angeles. According to the Petersen, its car—acquired in 1994—once had pride of place in the lobby of Carmichael’s company, the Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation.
The Petersen issued this statement:
Many museum visitors who happen upon the car during a vault tour walk right by it without imagining that such a decrepit piece of fiberglass could have any story worth telling, only to find out that it just happens to be one of the most interesting of all.
Another example, the single running car, nearly capsized during its one demonstration before well-heeled Japanese investors. That Dale is reportedly with a private owner in Glendale, Calif.
The third confirmed prototype has been cooling its mag wheels in a storage shed in Lincoln, Nebr. The owner, the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed - opens in new window or tab., took in The Dale in a 1975 acquisition.
Now a Star Car in the Nebraska Collection
The Dale lacked interior and working doors. (Photo: Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed)
Tim Matthews, the museum’s curator, told eBay Motors that its Dale was discovered soon after TCMCC fell apart. It had been decorating the roof of a muffler shop in Los Angeles. Matthews said:
Dean Moon, a very good friend of our Speedway Motors founder, Bill Smith, decided that this was a wonderful opportunity to pick up the pieces and complete the Dale project. The prototype was abused by the elements, but Moon repainted it in the original bright yellow and started to go through it. He thought he could launch a kit car based on the Dale.
But as Moon got further into the car, he discovered that a huge amount of engineering would have to be done, and it was too big a project. So, he sold it to his friend Bill. Smith also thought he might launch a kit car—the deal included the rights to do that—but he also concluded the project was too enormous.
His Dale was just a shell, without interior and working doors. The wheels were attached by big wooden dowels. Matthews said:
Typically, we’ve kept it in storage. It didn’t attract much attention, and we didn’t see it as one of the crowning vehicles in the collection. The first time I saw it, I thought it was ugly. But now it’s a star car.
That means the museum is wheeling it, complete with cracking paint and deteriorating fiberglass, out for a new exhibit that will open, with the museum itself, on April 1.
Staff of Nebraska's Speedway Motors Museum as they move The Dale Car from storage to a prominent display.
Matthews said that he talked to the HBO series’ executive producer, Nick Cammilleri, who revealed that he had located and purchased a fourth Dale car. It’s a shell that Cammilleri gave to Carmichael’s grandchildren. Maybe other Dales will turn up.
The History of the Dale Car
Jerry Dean Michael was a failed get-rich-quick artist with a winning personality. He sold vacuum cleaners, home jacuzzis, and plans for raising tropical fish. He stayed one step ahead of the law, with an ever-increasing number of children in tow. The family became adept at quick midnight getaways.
At one point, while on the run from the law, she started living as a woman—taking the name of Elizabeth Carmichael. Then she met Dale Clifft at the United States Marketing Institute, where they worked. Clifft wanted to launch his own three-wheeled car.
Carmichael had zero engineering background, but she was a smooth talker with an eye for design. She convinced Clifft to abandon the prototypes shown in the documentary and hire a proper stylist, who eventually produced the credible Dale. The shape was credible—the mechanical integrity much less so. A Dale was eventually made roadworthy, but just barely.
A handsome brochure said the two-seat, featherweight (less than 1,000 pounds) Dale Car would get 70 miles per gallon and cost less than $2,000. Power came from a two-cylinder motorcycle engine, from BMW by some accounts, yielding a top speed of 87 mph. You could “cruise at 55 mph in velvet-smooth quiet,” riding on air shocks.
The whole thing came crashing down because of a crusading KABC-TV reporter named Dick Carlson—Tucker Carlson’s father! Spoiler alert: Carmichael was arrested in April 1975 and jailed. She jumped her $50,000 bail but was recaptured in Texas and returned to prison. On getting out, she resumed life as Geraldine Carmichael and died in 2004.
A Long History of Cars Like The Dale Car
Elio Motors is still trying to make its revolutionary three-wheeler a reality.
Launching a profit-making automotive enterprise is incredibly difficult. Only Tesla Motors has done it since Chrysler in the 1920s. eBay Motors sells many examples of other contenders that didn’t quite make it.
The list includes:
- Bricklin - opens in new window or tab. (a gullwing-doored sports machine)
- DeLorean - opens in new window or tab. (more gullwing doors, but also an “ethical car”)
- Fisker Karma - opens in new window or tab. (a plug-in hybrid rival to Tesla)
What about three-wheelers like The Dale Car? The Elio - opens in new window or tab. was another three-wheeled car that was supposed to get 84 mpg and cost just $6,800. Entrepreneur Paul Elio has not yet been able to get his “revolutionary” car off the ground, despite 65,000 deposits and millions of dollars in investment.
But there’s one viable three-wheeled legacy to The Dale that you can buy today. We've posted about the somewhat successful P - opens in new window or tab.olaris Slingshot, - opens in new window or tab. and you can find Slingshots available on eBay - opens in new window or tab. these days.
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