There are those cars whose looks are so good that, no matter how nicely they run, their performance is just a bonus. Coey Mitchell Automobile Co. advertised in 1912 that it wanted agents “for the greatest seller on the market,” and its Flyer’s styling and appearance probably made that claim a somewhat believable one. Factor in the car’s 60-hp six-cylinder, and the ad’s second claim — “world’s best value” — seems more like sales hyperbole than an outright lie. And salesmanship was something that came easily to Charles A. Coey, with his mile-wide entrepreneurial streak.
Besides his more adventurous roles as a race car driver and a balloonist, Coey sold Thomas Flyers, ran a “school of motoring,” rented cars and operated a garage. Setting aside the balloons, all of his undertakings seen as a whole point to his becoming a manufacturer of automobiles, since they gave him
