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METEOR
or, Records and Hearses in Piqua, Ohio

(circa 1920-1921)

This scarce label was produced for the Meteor Motor Car Company of Piqua, Ohio. According to the 1917 Talking Machine World Trade Directory, the Meteor Motor Car Company marketed a single phonograph model. At the time, TMW did not mention Meteor records (which probably were not introduced until the early 1920s), nor did it offer any explanation of why an automobile company was also dealing in phonographs.

The Meteor label drew on masters from several loosely affiliated sources, including the Arto Company, the Clarion Record Company, Jones Recording Laboratories, and the Lyraphone Company (Lyric). All known issues use material previously issued on their suppliers’ regular releases. The specimen pictured above was pressed from Earle W. Jones' 41000-series masters, and the Arto patent notice at the bottom of the label has been struck over. Meteor adopted the unusual convention of also citing reverse-side titles and master numbers on each label. Although Meteor termed itself "The Star of the Talking Machine World," the label apparently survived for a year or less.

Although Meteor's excursion into the phonograph field was brief, the company enjoyed a long and successful life as a manufacturer of hearses and ambulances. The company introduced their first hearse in 1915 and was supplied by bodymaker A. J. Miller (Bellefontaine, Ohio) for several years before Miller decided to manufacture its own complete vehicles and compete with Meteor. In 1933 Meteor began using the Buick chassis in place of their own. In 1954 the company was acquired by the Wayne Works (later to become a division of the Divco-Wayne Corporation); Miller was acquired by the same company two years later, and the two old competitors were consolidated under the Miller-Meteor brand. The plant closed in 1979, but the name was acquired by Collins Industries, Inc.

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