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CHAPTER TWO Enduring Classics

The Single-Action Autos

The Model 1911

Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole behind a team of 17 Huskies. The most popular song of the year was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” by Irving Berlin. Ty Cobb was the dominant baseball star. Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Milk was 17 cents a gallon, two bits would get you 10 pounds of potatoes and three pennies change, and 18 cents bought a pound of round steak. Louis Chevrolet and W.C. Durant introduced the former’s automobile. Born in that year were Lucille Ball, Mahalia Jackson, Vincent Price, Ronald Reagan, Tennessee Williams, and the Colt Government Model .45 caliber “automatic pistol.”

The year, of course, was 1911. The prices (including that of the Colt) have multiplied. The Chevrolet is vastly changed. The people, for the most part, have passed into history. Only the 1911 pistol remains with us largely unchanged, and still going strong.

The 1911 is a classic that remains in service. This officer wears his Kimber stainless .45 to work today.