Martin S. Papazian

A photo from 1930 showing Martin and a buddy in Martin's Kissel Gold Bug. Martin, who went by his middle name Sook, was 20 years old at the time. Sook is sitting in the passenger seat with a cigarette in his mouth, while a buddy is sitting in the driver seat. The name Sook was painted on the drivers door of the car. Photo courtesy of Bruce Papazian.

Martin in a Packard Touring car that he owned. This was most likely an abandoned gangster car given to his father. Photo courtesy of Bruce Papazian.

A photo of Martin with The Cordster from around 1953/1954. Photo courtesy of Bruce Papazian.

A prototype for the automobile wheel alignment apparatus that Martin patented in 1967. Photo courtesy of Bruce Papazian.

Martin Sook Papazian of Worcester, Massachusetts. Martin was known as Sook amongst friends. Martin's father owned a gas station known as the Ballard Filling Station on Ballard Street in Worcester. During the prohibition years, Martin's father would service the cars of several gangsters from Worcester at his filling station. Martin worked at the filing station while going to school, and when a gangster car that had been used for illegal activities was chased or knowingly identified by the local police, the gangsters would often abandon it at the filing station. The cars were sometimes given to Martin's father as well, and he could drive them without risk as he was not part of the prohibition underworld. When Martin was 20 years old, in 1930, he had a Kissel Gold Bug.

During his career, Martin was granted four patents as we know of. One for a stencil attachment for spray guns from 1936, one for an apparatus for making billets and the like from 1944, one for the method of recessing the sinkhead of ingots and the like from 1949, and one from 1967 on an automobile wheel alignment apparatus. The method for recessing the sinkhead of ingots and the like was Martin's most significant patent, as he sued American Steel and Wire Company over ownership rights. Convinced he would win, Martin began building a family sport custom named The Cordster. He past time building and showing the Cordster while the lawsuit was in the courts. He did not win the case, and he never really recovered from that setback. Martin's youngest son Bruce was born in 1953, at the the time he had so much confidence in his lawyer that he named his son after him.

Martin S. Papazian's Cars

The Cordster