15. The Dixon & Kyro Store

With Lincoln Supply Company providing a good income for two of the Kyro children, William began to think about a business for his third child, Laura and her husband Leonard. William investigated the Simplex motorcycle (also known as the Servicycle). This was a lightweight machine with a modest 125 cc engine. At this time the “Whizzer” was very popular. This was a motor sold in kit form that could be installed on a standard bicycle, converting it into a “motorbike”, a very light motorized vehicle. Although this combination did work, a typical bicycle was not heavy enough to stand up to motorized service. Whizzer breakdowns were frequent. William could see that the Simplex was far better designed, stronger, more reliable and better looking than the Whizzer, but sold for $249, only a little more than a Whizzer. William thought that the Simplex would sell well and would be a good business that would interest his son-in-law, Leonard Dixon.

In the fall of 1948 William Kyro and son-in-law Leonard Dixon opened a store called Dixon & Kyro on Seven Mile Road in Detroit. The business sold Simplex motorcycles (also known as the ServiCycle). After a few months the business was moved to a more favorable location at 13444 West McNichols (Six Mile Road) near Schaefer Road in northwest Detroit. John Dixon, then 14 years old, was put to work driving the stock of about two dozen motorcycles from the the old store to the new one. It was a task he thoroughly enjoyed.

The Dixon & Kyro store was located in a busy shopping area which included a large Federal Department Store, two supermarkets, a movie theater, and dozens of smaller shops.

Leonard Dixon traveled to the Simplex factory in New Orleans to learn motorcycle repair so that the store could become an authorized dealer. Dixon & Kyro was thus able to repair motorcycles and also sell spare parts.

One day John brought home Jim Strickland, a friend from school. Jim was interested in looking at the Simplex motorcycle, but had no intention of buying one. Nevertheless William Kyro fanned the flame of his interest and within a few minutes had maneuvered Strickland into signing a sales contract. John Dixon was amazed at this demonstration of masterful salesmanship.

After living five years in Wyandotte, the Kyro family and the Dixon family found that their houses had increased substantially in value. More capital was needed for the new business so, in March 1949 both families sold their houses on 18th Street and moved to an newly built house at 16644 Hubbell in Detroit. Both families lived under the same roof to save money. John Dixon made an 8 mm movie of himself riding one of the Simplex motorcycles in front of the new house. (This movie was transferred to DVD in 2004 and distributed to family members at Christmas time.) This new house was only half a mile from the Dixon & Kyro store.

In the spring of 1949 William rented a booth at the Sportsman’s Show. This was an exposition to display boats, fishing and hunting equipment and other items of interest to sportsmen. The show was held on the State Fair Grounds in the north part of Detroit. Thousands of people paid admission to attend this week-long extravaganza. Some live entertainment was also provided. Several Simplex motorcycles were on display. William insisted that the best way to sell motorcycles was to “keep them shined up.” John Dixon was employed to keep the machines shiny, pass out leaflets, and answer questions.

The Sportsman’s Show booth was a huge success for Dixon & Kyro. All summer long prospects walked into the store, still carrying a leaflet picked up at the show. Many of these prospects did in fact purchase a Simplex motorcycle. Sales exceeded 100 machines per year.

The new business was quickly expanded to include Schwinn bicycles, paint, wallpaper, and greeting cards. Business was brisk and the store supported both families. Leonard Dixon, William Kyro and Laura Dixon worked in the store. A college student was hired to provide extra help. John Dixon worked in the store after school and on Saturday. John washed the windows, waited on customers, repaired bicycles and motorcycles. Riding motorcycles to test them after repairs was his favorite part of the job.

Operating a store required long hours of work. Dixon & Kyro was open six days of the week from 9 am to 9 pm. It was possible to go out to lunch only if others were available to mind the store. The store was located in a shopping center that included the Mercury Theater. Both families often attended movies at this theater after store hours or on Sunday.

The new business flourished and by 1950 the two families were ready to purchase their first television set. Regular scheduled television broadcasting began in 1938 at the World’s Fair in New York City. But growth of the industry was blocked by W.W.II. TV broadcasting continued during the war, but there was only one broadcasting station and only a few hundred receivers, all in New York City. After the war, national expansion began. TV broadcasting arrived in Detroit in 1946. In that year John Dixon saw a television picture for the first time on the 13th floor of J. L. Hudson’s downtown store.

At first, live TV existed only for local events. Means for sending live television signals from one city to another did not exist. National programs were made in New York and distributed to other cities on movie film. But the telephone companies soon constructed microwave relay towers and laid coaxial cable to carry TV signals for long distances. The was considerable excitement in Detroit when the cable to New York began operation. One evening in 1948 John Dixon and his friends were able to view the first live broadcast from New York. They watched on the TV set at the Wyandotte YMCA, since few people had home television receivers at the time.

On a memorable night in 1950, William Kyro and Leonard Dixon closed the store at 9 pm and then picked up the new TV set, bringing it home about 9:30. The new television set used vacuum tubes (transistors had just been invented and were not yet available for consumer products). The set was quite heavy -- both men were needed to carry the set into the house. Both men were hungry after a long day of business and announced that they would eat dinner before unpacking the TV. John Dixon suggested that they get the set working before eating because broadcasting would soon end for the night. However they insisted on eating first and John was amazed at their indifference to this technical wonder.

Around this time William Kyro decided to expand the motorcycle business by importing machines from overseas. Dixon & Kyro began to sell Ambassador motorcycles from England and Jawa machines from Czechoslovakia. The Jawa was available in 250 cc and 350 cc models. The Jawa 350 was the most powerful machine sold in the store. It was fast enough to break the speed limit anywhere in the United States, while going uphill.

William also planned to sell the imported machines at wholesale to motorcycle dealers in other towns in Michigan. He put some motorcycles on a trailer behind his Chevrolet and drove off to make sales calls. John Dixon went along to help with loading, unloading, and demonstrating the machines.

One dealer in a small town showed slight interest, but remarked that business was poor and he had no money available to invest in new motorcycles. After talking for an hour, William and John went to lunch. At the end of the meal, William predicted that “We will now go back to that dealer and sell him some motorcycles.” John replied that it was a waste of time trying to sell goods to a man who had no money. Then William Kyro passed on some of the wisdom of a master salesman. He said, “Listen, Johnny, when a man tells you he has no money, you can be sure that he has plenty.” They returned to “poverty stricken” dealer and sold six machines.

The success of the business allowed the Dixon family to purchase a home of their own. In January 1951 the Dixons moved out of the Kyro home on Hubbell Avenue and into their new home at 17569 Greenview. It was a newly built three-bedroom about 2 miles west of the store. (Leonard and Laura would live in this house for the rest of their lives.)

One day a woman came into the Dixon & Kyro store with her son. The boy had seen the Simplex motorcycle at the Sportsman's show and wanted one for himself. William Kyro waited on the pair. The mother was a divorced woman interested in buying the machine for the boy, but, for some reason, was not quite ready to sign the sales contract. For several hours William tried one method after another to “close” the deal, with no success. John Dixon was working nearby and overheard much of the negotiations. Taking a brief break, William whispered to John, “I finally understand this lady. Now watch me get her signature.”. It was the dramatic, daring gambit of a master. It was like Babe Ruth pointing with his bat, predicting where his next home run would go, putting his reputation on the line. Going back to work. William said to the lady.” I don’t know what sort of trouble there was between you and your husband, but it seems to me that he was a fool to let you go.” The lady smiled, picked up the pen and signed the contract.

William Kyro was a member of the Finnish community in Detroit. He was acquainted with other prominent Finns. He knew the famous Saarinen architects, father and son. Eero Saarinen designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Dulles Airport in Washington DC. The Kyro family were several times invited to the lakefront mansion of Charles Helin. Helin was perhaps the wealthiest Finn in Detroit. His fortune was made in the fishing tackle business. The Kyros frequently socialized with Dr. George Sippola, president of the Michigan Finnish American Historical Society.

Anna Kyro and Laura Dixon were members of the Cosmopolitan Cub. This was a club made up of delegations from each of the many ethnic communities in Detroit. Anna and Laura represented the Finnish community.

William Kyro was always restless, always looking for greener pastures, always seeking novel and exciting business opportunities. Some time around 1950 he decided to invest in a new type of popcorn machine. When a customer inserted a dime the machine would put some corn kernels into a pot of hot coconut oil. The buyer could watch his snack being popped and then dumped into a paper bag. The machine had entertainment value as well as providing popcorn that was hot and unquestionably fresh.

William bought six units and hired John Dixon to help transport, install and repair the machines. William arranged with some drug stores and supermarkets to allow placement of the machines in return for a percentage of the coins collected. It soon became apparent that the machines had a design flaw. When the weather was cold and the machine was not used for some time, the coconut oil in the storage tank would become solid and the pump that brought oil to the cooking pot would no longer function. John Dixon was interested in electronics and knew something about electricity. So John was able to solve the problem. A 10 watt electrical resistor of the hollow ceramic type was placed around the intake tube inside the coconut oil tank. That resistor was wired to the 110 volt power line so it would provide a small amount of heat whether the machine was used or not. This insured that there would always be some liquid oil in the tank . Thereafter the machines functioned correctly, even in cold weather.

William Kyro visited the machines every week to collect the coins and add more corn or oil as needed. The coins were counted and the store owner given his share. The popcorn machines brought in good money when first installed in a new location, but after a month or two the novelty would wear off and revenues were disappointing. After a few months William gave up the popcorn machine business.

Erick continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve at Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan, from 1946 to 1951, attained the rank of lieutenant colonel as commander of the 439th Troop Carrier Group equipped with C-46 Curtiss Commando aircraft. (The C-46 is the military version of the famous DC-3 airliner)

On April 1, 1951, Erick was recalled during the Korean Emergency for twenty-one months of active duty with the 12th Fighter Escort Wing (F-84 Thunderjet fighters) of the Strategic Air Command and was home-based at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas. Erick was assigned an additional responsibility as Wing Mobility Officer. He planned, coordinated, and served on a four-month deployment of the wing to Manston, England. Upon Erick's 1951 call to active duty, Harri Virjo purchased Erick's share of Lincoln Supply Company under the terms of their formal partnership agreement.

In the spring of 1951, John Dixon passed an examination in radio theory and Morse code, and received an amateur radio operator’s license from the Federal Communications Commission. His call letters were WN8IPJ. He designed and build a radio transmitter. William Kyro loaned him an old radio receiver that had short wave bands. John was soon “on the air” chatting with other amateurs in Morse code.

John’s home built-radio transmitter was admired by other radio amateurs and John decided that the design had commercial potential since it was well suited to the new novice class license. With the advice and help of William Kyro , John established his first real business. It was called Dixon Electronics Company. Radio transmitters were sold by mail. William Kyro went to the bank with John to help him obtain a commercial checking account, since John was only 17 years old. This radio transmitter was reviewed in “CQ - Radio Amateurs’ Journal” magazine” of May 1953.

In 1952 William Kyro’s niece, Armi Kuusela, won the title of “Miss Finland.” Armi’s mother was Martha Kyro (Kuusela), a sister of William Kyro who had remained in Finland. Armi then traveled from Finland to Universal Studios in Hollywood and won the very first Miss Universe title on June 29, 1952. She was, at the time, only 17 years old.

Since Armi spoke little English, William Kyro’s daughter Helen and Armi’s sister Sirkka helped her negotiate with the studio. The prize for winning the contest was a 7 year movie acting contract with Universal. But Armi refused to sign the contract, saying she did not like the first part the studio asked her to play in a movie with Abbot and Costello. She was also unhappy with the studio’s suggestion that she marry actor Tony Curtis to avoid legal problems with her work permit. This was perhaps an example of sisu. The studio officials were amazed that a young girl would reject a dream job with a high salary, but contest rules did not require the winner to accept the contract. (The rules were changed - in 1953 every girl entering the Miss Universe contest agreed to sign the contract, if she won)

After winning the contest, Armi came to Detroit to visit the Kyro family. A photo taken during this visit appears in the Finnish-language book “Armin Tarina” (Armi’s Story).

The mayor of Detroit came to Kyro home at 16644 Hubbell Ave. to present the key to the city to Miss Kuusela. Several reporters and cameramen also attended the ceremony. They interviewed the beautiful 17 year old girl, took still photos, and shot film for TV. Anna Kyro provided snacks and alcoholic drinks which were enthusiastically consumed by the newsmen. William Kyro was in his element chatting with the mayor and the reporters. The story, with photos, appeared in all three of the local papers. The film appeared on the evening television news programs. John Dixon was able to take a still photo of himself from the TV screen.

The next day Miss Kuusela and the Kyro family were invited to eat lunch at the Detroit Boat Club and then cruise the Detroit river on the 60 foot yacht of Mr. Gardella, a wealthy Detroit businessman (owner of Blue Valley Butter). Later, the Kyro family and many people from the Finnish community attended a reception for Armi Kuusela at the Lake St. Clair mansion of Charles Helin (the fishing tackle magnate). Mr. Helin took Armi for a ride in his seaplane. Armi also met the Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen, designer of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

At the end of summer school, 1952, John Dixon graduated from Cooley High School. William and Anna attended the graduation ceremony. John was still 17 years old and Anna pointed out that he was the youngest high school graduate in the family. In September, John began the study of electrical engineering at Lawrence Institute of Technology, then located in Highland Park next to the large Ford factory. John continued to live at home on Greenview Avenue and traveled to college on the bus each day.

Erick Kyro returned from active duty in December 1952 and went to work for Briggs Corporation, an automotive body manufacturer, as a production planner in January of 1953. Briggs was purchased later by Chrysler Corporation. Erick continued to work as an executive for the Chrysler Corporation until his retirement. He also continued to serve in the Michigan Air National Guard.

About this time Erick Kyro and his family moved to a house on Plainview in Detroit. The Dixons were nearby on Greenview while the Virjos were close by on Westmoreland. Thus all the Kyro children lived within a few blocks of each other in northwest Detroit near Emerson Elementary School. In fact, the younger grandchildren all attended that school. Social visits were easy and happened often. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays were celebrated at one or another of these houses. William and Anna Kyro lived only two miles away and also attended many of these gatherings.

The Kyro family continued to follow the activities of Armi Kuusela in the newspapers. After winning the Miss Universe contest, she had become moderately famous in the United States and very famous in Finland. In May 1953 Armi gave up her Miss Universe crown before the year was over. She married Filipino businessman Virgilio Hilario and settled in the Philippines. She made one movie in Finland and one in the Philippines. For many years Armi’s picture appeared frequently on the covers of Finnish magazines. She was sometimes called “the Elizabeth Taylor of Finland.”

It is dangerous to ride a motorcycle. One one occasion Dixon & Kyro sold a motorcycle to the parents of a 16 year old boy. William Kyro rolled the Simplex machine into his trailer and delivered it to the home of the buyers. The boy jumped onto his shiny new machine and rode off to buy a mirror. William talked with the parents for a few minutes and then began the drive back to the store. A few blocks away he came upon the scene of an accident. The boy had been run over and killed by a truck. With a heavy heart, William removed the smashed motorcycle from the street.

Another motorcycle customer was a married man about 30 years old. He was killed in a collision. His widow called the store many times and accused whoever answered of being a “murderer.” Both William and Leonard received these calls. They began to realize that these motorcycles were more dangerous than they had first imagined. Having low horsepower did not make the machines safe. Most of the danger is from car and truck drivers who do not notice the motorcycle. In fact the death rate per passenger mile for motorcycles is about ten times that for automobiles. Although the store was making good profits, selling about 100 machines per year, both William and Leonard began to think of motorcycles as an unsavory business. It was resolved that Dixon & Kyro would phase out the motorcycle business and concentrate on paint, wallpaper and bicycles.