[4] While brother John Dodge was the sales-oriented managerial type, Horace was a gifted mechanic and inveterate tinkerer.

[5] In 1902, they won a contract to build transmissions for the Olds Motor Vehicle Company upon which they built a solid reputation for quality and service.

Despite their wealth and growing influence in the business community, the red-haired [6] Dodge brothers' crude manners and aggressive conduct made them socially unacceptable to most of the wealthy Detroit elite.

[citation needed] In 1912, Horace Dodge built a red sandstone mansion in Grosse Pointe called Rose Terrace.

Horace's wife Anna had studied music, and this fact won them acceptance by the city's social order.

A speedboat and yachting enthusiast, Horace Dodge's keen interest in the vessel's engines led him to establish a marine division as part of their automotive business.

[7] The first two large yachts were named Nokomis, both being purchased by the government for World War I use, with the second being described as a "floating palace" even as it was being stripped for Navy use shortly after completion.

In the ensuing years the yacht experienced a sinking, a run onto rocks, and service as a United States Navy patrol boat during World War II.

[10] Having also contracted the flu that December following several relapses, Horace also died from complications of the disease resulting in pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 52 in Palm Beach, Florida.

[4] In 1925, Horace and John Dodge's widows sold their automobile business to Dillon Read investment bankers for $146 million.