Chevrolet: The French revolution

The brand is world-renowned: What of the men behind the badge?

A QUICK way to get a reaction from fans of American automobiles is to make mention Stateside of the fact that Chevrolet is an ‘import’.

Once you have their attention you can clarify and explain that you were talking about the man, not the car.

Louis Chevrolet, above, was born the son of a maker of watches and clocks in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland on Christmas day 1878. He had six siblings including two brothers, Arthur and Gaston, who would follow Louis into auto racing.

From an early age Louis displayed a unique talent for developing mechanical solutions for problems. As an example, in his early teens while working for a wine merchant he designed and produced a wine-barrel pump that streamlined the process.

In the early 1890s as bicycle mania swept the world, he launched a bicycle repair and manufacturing business under the Frontenac name, and established a local reputation for his racing prowess. The bicycle business proved to be a short lived and costly venture. The name would resurface for another Chevrolet venture years later. And the penchant for losing money on business endeavors would dog Louis Chevrolet for the rest of his life.

During the last years of the 19th century he began learning the basics of the internal combustion engine as an apprentice in the workshops of French automakers Darracq and Mors. In 1900, Chevrolet accepted a position as a mechanic and chauffer in Montreal for a Swiss associate that owned an engineering company with offices in Canada and the United States. The following year he transferred to the company’s New York City office but within a few months was working for the Brooklyn branch of the French car manufacturer de Dion-Bouton. Then came the big break in early 1905, employment with Fiat and his first opportunity to drive in an automobile race, something that he excelled at.

On May 20, 1905, Louis drove a 90hp Fiat at the Hippodrome in Morris Park, N.Y. taking first prize. Before the year was out, he had bested the now legendary driver Barney Oldfield three times. In 1906, Chevrolet moved to Philadelphia to work with J. Walter Christie, a pioneer in the development of front wheel drive cars who had accepted a contract to build a race car for Autocar.

The racing successes and mechanical skills of the Chevrolet brothers caught the eye of William Crapo Durant who was looking to promote Buick through motor sports. This was the beginning of a tumultuous business relationship, and the first step toward the establishment of an American icon.

Arthur was hired as Durant’s personal chauffer, while Gaston and Louis became the face of the Buick racing team. After Durant’s launch of General Motors in 1908, Chevrolet continued to head the company’s race team, but he also established a machine shop on Grand River Boulevard in Detroit where he designed and built an overhead valve six-cylinder engine. This was but another manifestation of Louis Chevrolet’s increasing desire to launch a company for the manufacturing of high-performance cars.

William Durant was a swashbuckling and reckless entrepreneur. His unbridled expansion that included the acquisition of companies and aggressive initiatives to compete with Benjamin Briscoe and Jonathan Maxwell’s United States Motor Company soon put General Motors in a precarious financial position. To protect their investment, and under pressure from stockholders the corporation’s board of directors removed Durant from the company in 1911.

Durant was not intimidated by failure or loss, he had a reputation for making money that made it easy to attract investors and he had an ace up his sleeve, Louis Chevrolet. Chevrolet was a personality, a man with name recognition and a man eager to launch an auto company.

On November 3, 1911, Durant and Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with investors William Little, manufacturer of the Little automobile, Durant’s son in law, Dr. Edwin R. Campbell, and Samuel McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Car Company of Canada Ltd.

As Louis Chevrolet worked out the bugs on prototype models completed earlier in the year, Durant was building a company. Meanwhile Arthur and Gaston continued racing and building high performance cars. Arthur drove in the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500, but mechanical problems forced him out of the race, and he failed to finish.

The 1916 Indianapolis 500 was a repeat performance as mechanical issues prevented him from completing the race. Gaston competed in numerous races and in 1920 won the Indianapolis 500 driving a Monroe designed by his brothers. The following year he was killed in a racing accident.

While not as active as his brothers, Louis continued racing. In 1914 behind the wheel of a Chevrolet he competed in the last of the grueling Desert Classic races along the National Old Trails Road from Los Angeles to Ash Fork, Arizona, and then south to Phoenix. When an accident resulted in the mixing of gasoline and water occurred in Seligman, Arizona, Chevrolet was forced to quit. Louis also drove in the Indianapolis 500 four times, with a best finish of 7th place in 1919.

Resultant of serious disagreements over direction of the company, and Durant’s reckless financial practices Louis Chevrolet sold his stock in the namesake company in 1914. This and the loss of use of the Chevrolet name as Durant held the rights, was the first in a serious of calamitous decisions made by Louis Chevrolet.

In 1915, Louis Chevrolet and his brothers established a company for the manufacture of aircraft engines. Bankruptcy marked the end of the company before the end of the year. In 1916 with financial investment from Albert Champion they founded the Frontenac Motor Corporation to make racing parts for the Ford Model T. Even though the company enjoyed moderate success profit proved elusive.

 During the same period Louis Chevrolet also partnered with Howard E. Blood of Allegan, Michigan, to create the Cornelian racing car. Louis drove one of these cars to a 20th place finish in the 1915 Indianapolis 500. Also, in 1916, American Motors Corporation was formed in Newark, New Jersey, with Louis Chevrolet as vice president and chief engineer. By 1918 the company was producing cars in a plant at Plainfield, New Jersey but the post war recession crippled the endeavour.

In a hope of staving off complete collapse, there was a merger with the Bessemer Motor Truck Company of Pennsylvania and reorganization as Bessemer-American Motors Corporation in 1923. This merely exacerbated the financial woes and in 1924 there was another merger with the Winther and Northway companies and reorganization as Amalgamated Motors. By 1926, the entire operation collapsed.

The onset of the Great Depression marked the end of the brother’s corporate ventures, and age had brought their racing careers to a close. Financially devasted Louis returned to Detroit to work in General Motors Chevrolet division in a mechanical engineering capacity. A dramatic decline in his health, including atherosclerosis which led to a leg amputation in the late 1930s forced him to resign. On June 6, 1941 he died of massive coronary in Detroit. He was buried in the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. His brother Arthur died by suicide five years later. Their deaths were the end of an era.

Fare from Michigan’s ‘other’ Detroit

The Jackson, the Jaxon and the Orlo – heard of ‘em? From 1903 to 1923, the Michigan city of Jackson was home to an enterprising car maker.

A 1903 Jaxon … from the Jackson motor company, which started with this model but delivered many more until its eventual demise in 1923.

PERHAPS only a few eccentrics, trivia buffs and passionate collectors of brass era cars remember the Jackson.

That would be a pity. For more than two decades the Jackson Automobile Company produced a durable, reliable automobile that inspired international brand loyalty and pioneered development of four-wheel drive trucks. And it all began with the bicycle.

In 1890 there were less than 25 bicycle manufacturers in the United States. Five years later that number had soared to more than 300 and countless businessmen rushed to profit on the tsunami of bicycle mania that was sweeping the country.

One of these men was Byron C. Carter of Jackson, Michigan, the owner of a successful printing and rubber stamp manufacturing business. And so, in 1894, he partnered with his father, Squire Carter, and established a store for the sale and repair of bicycles. A few years later the company added manufacturing when Frederick P. Hinckley, a Jackson resident, developed and patented the “coaster brake for bicycles.”

Bicycles may have been the focal point of personal transportation evolution during these years but lurking in the shadows was a contender, the horseless carriage. Byron Carter began his automotive experimentation in 1897 and produced his first vehicle in 1899. This initial prototype utilised a gasoline engine, but Carter was of the opinion that steam was a more practical option.

In 1901 he introduced the Carter Stanhope, a steamer, and in limited partnership with the Michigan Automobile Company in Grand Rapids initiated production. It was to be a short-lived venture as the Michigan Automobile Company in 1902 transitioned to the production of automobiles with gasoline engines. 

This left Carter in an interesting position as he had just perfected and invented a three-cylinder steam engine. And so, in the summer of 1902 he returned to Jackson and initiated a meeting with George Mathews, owner of the Fuller Buggy Company and director of the Jackson City Bank, and Charles Lewis, president of Lewis Spring and Axle and director at Union Bank of Jackson. We can only speculate about the conversation at this meeting, but we do know that it resulted in the incorporation of the Jackson Automobile Company to produce steam-powered cars under the Jaxon name in 1903 as well as gasoline engine models, the Jackson, and a companion line, the Orlo.   

The Jaxon was sold in two models both of which used Byron Carter’s three cylinder, six-horsepower engine and featured a folding front seat that was "placed so low as to avoid interfering with the view of the driver.".

The steamer was an anemic seller compared to the gasoline powered models and so the Jaxon was dropped after just mere months of production. This led to the first fracture between Carter, Lewis and Mathews. The second issue, Carter’s insistence on the development of a friction drive model, was insurmountable and he left the company in the spring of 1905 and then formed the Motorcar Company featuring a friction drive car sold under the Cartercar name.

Without the innovative vision of Carter, the Jackson Automobile Company became a manufacturer of conventional vehicles. But the Jackson soon developed a reputation for rugged dependability, and a fierce brand loyalty among owners. The company’s slogan, “No Hill Too Steep, No Sand Too Deep” was earned through participation in endurance runs and events such as the Glidden Tours, and within a few years was even exporting vehicles.

The 1903 models were available in one and two-cylinder configurations and were given impressive names. King of Belgium Touring Car. Side Entrance Tonneau. Surrey. Runabout. The price range was equally broad, from $US650 for the two passenger Model A with single cylinder engine up to $US1250 for the King of Belgium model. 

Sales growth remained steady and was not diminished by the economic panic of 1907.  In 1908, to accommodate plans for increased production, the company was relocated to the former factory of National Wheel Company, a manufacturer of wagons, carts, surreys, sleighs, and buggies. This complex remains a rare and often overlooked site from the first decades of the American auto industry with the former offices and headquarters for the company, dominated by a distinctive tower, now housing the Commercial Exchange Building. Dating to 1895 the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

To remain competitive the company began offering four-cylinder models in late 1905. Oddly enough the company continued offering the two-cylinder model until 1911 even though it sold poorly. In 1913, in limited partnership with Northway, the all new Sultanic line with six-cylinder engines were introduced. This was also the year that the company introduced the Duck with back seat driving, another companion model, that was a replacement for the Fuller. The big news for 1916 was a new series, the model 348 and model 68 with Ferro built V8 engines.

 The Jackson Automobile Company, like dozens of other automobile manufacturers during this period, should have survived. The company had cash reserves and was professionally managed. The vehicles were competitively priced and had a favorable reputation. Even though it was never able to challenge the industry giants like General Motors, Ford, Maxwell, Studebaker, or Hudson, sales were consistently strong. And the company had proven itself adept at adapting to changing markets.

As an example, during WWI when nationwide automobile sales slumped the company curtailed auto production, transitioned into the manufacturing of military equipment, and even launched a line of trucks, including a 4x4. When the post war recession decimated the auto industry, the company shifted exclusively to the manufacture of heavy-duty trucks. This would prove to be a fatal mistake.

When the company resumed automobile production in 1920, their marketing edge had evaporated, and truck manufacturing was an extremely limited market. Within twelve months the company was on the brink if bankruptcy. To stave off complete collapse, Jackson chose merger in a valiant attempt to remain solvent. In 1923 the Jackson Automobile Company merged with National of Indianapolis and Dixie Flyer of Louisville, Kentucky to form Associated Motor Industries.

For 1924 the Jackson was marketed as the National 4-H, and the Dixie Flyer as the National 6-51. That was it. With little fanfare or notice Jackson, National and Dixie Flyer, and Associated Motor Industries closed their doors in 1925. It was the end of an era in more ways than one as a dozen automobile manufacturers closed their doors or merged that year.  

Surprisingly, Jackson automobiles are a relatively common brass era car. This is not to say that they are plentiful. After all, annual production never exceeded 10,000 cars per year. 

Some models, however, are extremely rare. The Ye Old Carriage Shop museum in Spring Arbor, Michigan, has in its collection the only existent Jaxon and housed at the fire engine restoration shops owned by Ken Soderbeck in Grass Lake, Michigan, is the only known Jackson 4x4 truck.

Did any come to New Zealand? Feedback appreciated.

The Stanleys: In the age of steam, they were on the boil

Little complexity, a technology anyone of the age understood … when it came to teapots with wheels, twin brothers stood tall.

this 1910 Model 10 was one of America’s first sports cars, known as Gentleman’s Speedy Roadsters

THE Stanley brothers, Francis Edgar (1849-1918), F.E. to his friends, and his twin brother Freelan Oscar (aka F.O), who lived until 1940, will forever be associated with steam-powered automobiles.

However, as with many automotive pioneers these were men of diverse talents and interests that made tremendous contributions to an array of industries.

The brothers were born June 1, 1849. From an early age they displayed a talent for music, for playing practical jokes that centered on their identical appearance, for business and for mechanical aptitude.

In 1859 with support from their father they started a small business refining and selling maple sugar. The brothers had also developed a local reputation for their ability to play the violin and with tutelage from their grandfather, Liberty, began making these instruments. Freelan had completed three violins by the age of 16. This was the birth of a lifelong hobby.

At the age of 20 the brothers began attending Western State Normal School with a goal of becoming teachers. Then for a brief time, they parted ways.

Freelan Oscar continued on course and became an educator, and then launched a small business to manufacture the Stanley Practical Drawing Set as a sideline. Francis Edgar chased his dream of becoming a portrait artist, and in 1874 moved to Lewiston, Maine where he opened a photography studio. Two years later he perfected the photographic atomizer, a forerunner of the modern air brush, which he patented in 1876.

Then in 1882 the brothers began experimenting with various photograph development processes and established the Stanley Dry Plate Company in Boston. As an interesting historic footnote, the brothers would sell their company and patents to a gentleman named George Eastman. He would use these as the foundation for a multifaceted photography company named Kodak.

In the late 1890s, the experimentations of men like Ransom E. Olds, and the demonstration of a steam powered carriage in nearby Watertown, Massachusetts captured the attention of Francis Edgar.

Soon he and his brother were deeply engaged in experimentation of their own, first with an electric horseless carriage and then with an internal combustion version.

By 1896 they had decided that steam was the better option because “it is reliable and easily understood.” Using components from Francis’s wagon and bicycle parts from Sterling Elliott's bicycle factory they completed their first vehicle the following year.

After extensive testing and refinement, the Stanley Brothers took the vehicle to the 1898 Boston Auto Show. The resultant orders for three vehicles served as incentive for the brothers to launch a new enterprise, the Stanley Steam Company.

Later that autumn they entered a race at Boston’s Charles Park, and with speeds nearing 45 kilometres per hour bested a De Dion tricycle and a Whitney, another steamer. Then they entered the hill climbing competition and their steamer was the only one to reach the summit. It was a day well spent as the publicity from the event garnered 200 orders for the fledgling company. 

The success of the company was noted by wealthy publisher John Brisben Walker who was eager to enter the automobile manufacturing business. In 1899 he offered to purchase the Stanley’s company and assume all outstanding debts.

Reluctant to sell, the brothers countered with an offer they deemed ridiculously excessive - $250,000. Much to their surprise Walker accepted the counteroffer.

However, Walker and his partner, Amzi Barber, began a feud almost immediately and soon divided the company to create two new manufacturers, Mobile and Locomobile.

 This was not the end of the Stanley brothers’ automotive endeavors. It was merely the first chapter. With the sale of the company the brothers now had capital for experimentation and development, and in 1901, they launched a new company – Stanley Motor Carriage Company.

Production commenced that year from their Newton, Massachusetts factory even though advancements with internal combustion engines was already encroaching on the steam car market. This did not deter the Stanley brothers.

They steadfastly adhered to perfecting their steam powered vehicles even though sales were constrained. And they continued garnering headlines. In 1906 at Ormond Beach in Florida, now Daytona Beach, Fred Marriott, the company’s repair department manager piloted the streamlined Stanley Woggle Bug racer to a new land speed record –  205.3kmh (127.6mph) for the standing mile. The following year, with an improved model, Marriott crashed at around 240kmh (150mph).

 The company continued promoting its cars through racing and performance events but chose to limit traditional marketing. As a result, sales remained anaemic with only 5200 cars manufactured by 1911. The death knell came in 1912 when Cadillac introduced an electric starter as standard equipment. Surprisingly, unlike many of its competitors, Stanley soldiered on to 1929.

Modernisation and changes came slowly for the company. In 1913 electric lights became an option. The commercial line of vehicles, busses, and trucks was discontinued in 1916. Reluctantly in 1917 the brothers agreed to initiate a modest advertising campaign. The following year Francis Edgar was killed in an automobile accident, and by 1923 the company was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Freelan divested himself of the company by selling it to the Steam Vehicle Corporation of America. Even though the new owners attempted to modernise the Stanley with addition of items such as hydraulic brakes, the age of steam had passed.

With a liquidation sale in 1929, the Stanley steamer story came to an end. Even though dozens of companies had manufactured steam powered automobiles during the infancy of the automobile, the Stanley is the one that became synonymous with vehicles that had once been derisively referred to as teapots with wheels.

STeam has lost its puff when this 1920 Model 735 came out. Fewer than 1000 were sold in its first year.

Wheels of imagination: The Reeves sexto-octo cars

‘Just add more wheels’ … to a deep thinker and a problem solver, this approach seemed a pretty good idea.

MILTON O. Reeves was not a man without imagination. He was also a man with steadfast determination and unafraid of ridicule or derision - a particularly important quality if you intend to manufacture and market a six or eight-wheel car.   

Reeves was born on a farm in Rush County, Indiana on August 25, 1864. Even as a child, in his imagination devices were conceived to save time or labor, or to streamline a process. Fast forward to 1879. While working at a sawmill in Columbus, Indiana, Reeves noted that if the speed of the saws could be controlled in a uniform manner there would be a reduction of waste which in turn would result in increased profits. And so, he devised a variable speed transmission that utilized a series of tapered pulleys.

Marshal, Milton’s brother, was a successful inventor as well as businessmen. In 1869 he had patented an improved version of the standard corn plow, and in 1875 had launched the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Company in partnership with his father and an uncle. Milton’s variable speed transmission piqued their interest and in 1888 the Reeves brothers purchased the Edinburg Pulley Company and renamed it the Reeves Pulley Company.

In a moment of insightful brilliance Milton Reeves devised a promotional idea for the company that was linked to the bicycling mania that had become a national obsession in the early 1890s. In 1896 he introduced a motorcycle powered by a Sintz engine coupled to a Reeves variable speed transmission that was the Reeves Pulley Company’s most popular product. The following year Reeves introduced a four-wheel horseless carriage with the same mechanical components.

However, the transmission he had hoped to promote was lost in the public outcry over noise and the horses that were terrorised by the vehicle as Reeves drove the streets of Columbus, Indiana.

Undaunted Reeves devised two innovations that he hoped would resolve these issues, and perhaps, become marketable commodities. The first was a muffler, an ingenious round metal box that housed a set of tubes with holes that dramatically curtailed noise. Reeves and his brother patented the device, the first muffler designed specifically for automobiles in 1897.

Milton Reeves second idea was nothing short of bizarre. He purchased a life-sized papier-mache horse that was being used to promote a blacksmith shop, cut it off at the front shoulders and mounted it on the front of the vehicle. The thought was that this would curtail the nervousness of horses. As if that was not odd enough, Reeves used the hollow horse neck to house the gasoline tank.

The muffler stayed, the horse head was discarded, and the car was given a polished ebony body in late 1897. The Reeves Motocycle garnered a surprising amount of press, and even more surprisingly, the company received unsolicited orders for five vehicles. The first two vehicles used the two-cylinder, two cycle, six horsepower Sintz Gas Engine Company engine and double chain drive unit coupled to the Reeves variable speed transmission. The other three, however, utilized an air-cooled engine designed by Milton Reeves.

After filling the orders, the company announced that they would not continue producing automobiles but would instead focus on the manufacture of the Reeves transmissions and motors only. This, however, was not the end of Milton Reeves automotive ventures.

In late 1905, Alexander Y. Malcomson ordered an entire year’s production (500 units) of air-cooled engines for an automobile manufacturing company that he was launching in Detroit. His Aerocar venture proved to be short lived and so Reeves found himself with controlling interest in a moribund company. Undaunted Reeves began cobbling together a variety of cars; some with shaft drive, some chain drive and even a high wheeler marketed as a Go Buggy in 1907 offered at $450 without body.

The final chapters in Reeves automotive endeavors were truly unusual. After manufacturing a variety of vehicles and evaluating automobiles currently on the market, he had determined that riding comfort, and tire life, would be improved by moving beyond the industry standard of four wheels. The first endeavor was the Octoauto built from a highly modified Overland chassis. The eight-wheeled oddity on a 180-inch (457cm) wheelbase was finished for display at the inaugural 1911 Indianapolis 500.

Reeves honestly felt that the concept was marketable. “The eight-wheel concept is applicable to any vehicle. Therefore, if interested contact any automobile manufacturer or myself.” This is the opening for a promotional brochure published for the debut.

For obvious reasons, the project ended with the single prototype. And so, Reeves set out to build the Sextoauto, a six wheeled vehicle. Two were built. The first was the Octoauto with one front axle removed. The second was manufactured on a modified Stutz chassis and promoted as a luxury car with variable speed transmission. There was even an abbreviated promotional tour that included a cross-country jaunt. The endeavor was as successful as the Octoauto.

Reeves, the first patent for an automotive muffler, the Octoauto and Sextoauto are today forgotten chapters in the history of the automobile industry. They are examples of the stories that I like to share, in these exclusive written and spoken features, for Motoring NZ.

jimhinckleysamerica.com

Benjamin Briscoe - part three

The amazing story of United Motors - and how a grand dream came apart.

the only surviving argo

BENJAMIN Briscoe had correctly assessed the state of the America auto industry in late 1907 when he formulated a plan to dominate the market through the merger of major manufacturers and the creation of a new corporation.

And the creation of the United States Motor Company with Maxwell-Briscoe as the cornerstone was an insightful move. Likewise, with William Durant and the creation of General Motors with Buick as the cornerstone. However, the ensuing battle between the conglomerates to acquire companies that manufactured automobiles and ancillary components was ill conceived.

  United States Motor Company was organised in December 1909 as a consortium of numerous independent automotive manufacturing companies.  Initially this consisted of Alden-Sampson Manufacturing Company, Brush Runabout Company, Columbia Motor Car Company, Dayton Motor Car Company, and the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company. The first year’s success was encouraging with the production of 15,000 Maxwells, 10,000 Brush Runabouts, and a combined production of 10,000 Stoddard-Dayton, Columbia, and Alden Sampson Trucks.

In late 1910, Briscoe diversified the company through creation of United Motors International, Ltd. to handle international sales of the vehicles manufactured under the United States Motor Company umbrella. The initial sales focus was on the British commonwealth. To entice investors a company prospectus in 1911 noted that United States Motor Company had eighteen manufacturing facilities with a combined floorspace of 49 acres, had 14,000 employees and was projecting production of 52,000 vehicles for 1912. A claim was also made that sales were up fifty-seven percent from the previous year.

and here it is … a Briscoe

The reality was not as rosy. The company was deeply in debt and seriously overextended.  As a result, in 1912, the company went into receivership and the banks appointed Walter Flanders as manager for the receivers committee to oversee reorganization. In 1913 the company was reborn as Maxwell Motor Company and operations were centralized at Highland Park, Michigan. As per the terms of the reorganization, all association with Benjamin Briscoe was severed.   

Durant’s vision and management style were different from Briscoe’s, but the result was the same. In its first two years, Durant used General Motors to knit together thirty companies including Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland, and numerous parts manufacturers. But, overextended and deeply in debt, in 1911 the board of directors forced Durant to quit the company.

The loss of the United States Motor Company marked Briscoe’s first defeat. It would not be his last. Within twelve months of his departure he had established Briscoe Freres with a manufacturing plant for production of the Ajax cyclecar in Billancourt, France to design and manufacture an automobile “built by American methods.” The company enjoyed moderate success put production ceased when the factory was converted to the manufacturing of artillery shells during WWI. By this time, however, Briscoe had limited his association with the company, returned to the United States and launched other enterprises.

The first endeavour was the Argo car, an American version of the Ajax manufactured in Jackson, Michigan. However, by the time he was ready to initiate serious production the cyclecar craze had evaporated. So, he established the Briscoe Motor Corporation, with a factory in Jackson, Michigan.

In October of 1915, just a year after the launching of the company, with the help of Tom Storey a director of the Brockville Atlas Automobile Company in Ontario, Canada, Briscoe launched a major expansion of Briscoe Motor Corporation to form the Canadian Briscoe Motor Company. This would prove to be a short-lived endeavor that hindered development of the stateside Briscoe automobile.

The 1915 Briscoe was promoted as “The First French Car at an American Price.” Except for a single headlamp faired into the radiator shell there was little in appearance to differentiate the Briscoe from dozens of other vehicles produced at the time. It was powered by a 33-horsepower four-cylinder engine and the Cloverleaf roadster model featured compressed, laminated papier-mache body panels over wood framing. The first-generation Briscoe sold for a relatively modest $750 but this did not include optional top or windshield or starter.

Rather than invest in innovative development Briscoe relied on catchy gimmicks and marketing. As an example, for 1916 he offered two engine options, a slightly improved four-cylinder engine or a Ferro manufactured V8. Brochures and advertisement noted, “Buy the Four. Use it a month. If then you decide you want the V8, simply pay the difference and a small charge for installation work. Later that year the V8 engine was dropped and, in its place, a four cylinder, 24-horsepower, air-cooled engine was offered as an option.

Sales were relatively anemic with only 8,100 vehicles built in 1916, the company’s best year, but Briscoe was a man with ideas. After WWI he returned to France and attempted to find investors for a company that would offer any community an opportunity to become a center of automobile manufacturing through the purchase of easy to assemble plans, Briscoe engines and Bellanger chassis. The idea was stillborn.

The final gasp for the Briscoe Motor Corporation came in 1920. Working with his chief engineer Jules Haltenberger, Briscoe devised a radical plan for simplifying the manufacturing process and thus reducing the cost. These plans included a reversable propeller shaft, a single design for all spring shackles, one size bolts to be used in all suspension components, identical clutch, and brake pedal castings, and one drill/bolt size for the chassis. Production was simplified but at the cost of durability.

In mid-1921, Briscoe sold the entire enterprise to Clarence A. Earl, a Jackson industrialist. Earl continued building cars with parts on hand through the end of 1922 and sold them under the Earl name.

This would be the end of Benjamin Briscoe’s automotive endeavors. However, it was not the end of his ambitions or dreams. Before his death he would  launch a Canadian company that refined crude oil with a process that he had invented, and fund gold mines in Colorado before retiring to an estate in Florida where he experimented with development of hybrid fruit trees.

Even though not all his endeavors were successful, Benjamin Briscoe was truly an automotive pioneer. In light of the fact that he can be credited with playing a pivotal role in the launch of Buick and General Motors, and Chrysler as that company was built on the foundation of Maxwell-Briscoe, his obscurity today is rather surprising.     

Benjamin Briscoe – the story continues

Part two of the intriguing story of the forgotten ‘father’ of the American automobile industry.

FOR astute businessmen like Benjamin Briscoe the fledgling automobile industry represented unprecedented opportunity in the opening years of the 20th century.

Briscoe’s automotive ventures started with the manufacture of components for Ransom E. Olds, a project that led to a fortuitous meeting with Jonathan Maxwell, a talented mechanical engineer. This endeavor ignited a desire to own an automobile manufacturing company.

In the meantime, David Buick again turned to Briscoe as he had exhausted the funds derived from the sale of his plumbing supply company. Briscoe agreed to lend an additional $1500 provided the company would be reorganized with debts secured by the issuance of stock, backed by David Buick’s intellectual property. As per the agreement, if Briscoe were not paid back in 12 months, or bought out, he would become the sole owner of the Buick Motor Company.

Concerned about his investment Briscoe asked Jonathan Maxell to evaluate Buick’s innovative “valve-in-head” stationary engine that was being modified for automotive use. That engine would eventually become the cornerstone of the company’s success, but after Maxwell’s evaluation Briscoe decided to divest himself of association with Buick. As it was a sellers’ market for automotive companies Briscoe quickly negotiated the sale of his interest in the Buick Motor Company to the owners of Flint Wagon Works. One of those men was William Durant. 

By the summer of 1903 Briscoe had fully committed to development of Maxwell’s automotive project. In the closing months of the year Maxwell-Briscoe Company was organised with a major investment from financier J. P. Morgan. The company was launched in Tarrytown, New York after the lease for the moribund Mobile Steamer factory was successfully negotiated.

By 1904 the company was prepared to begin the manufacture and marketing of Maxwell’s car that featured a two-cylinder water cooled engine mounted in front under a hood, a honeycomb radiator, a two-speed planetary gear set, shaft drive and right hand steering. At $750 for the two-passenger “tourabout” the car was well received.

Ten cars were produced and sold in 1904. The following year 825 cars rolled from the factory. With the introduction of a four-cylinder model in 1906, as well as a Dr. Maxwell runabout designed to meet the grueling needs of country doctors and a five-passenger touring car, sales soared. In 1907 nearly 4000 cars were manufactured, and soon production was nearing 10,000 cars annually.

As Briscoe focused on expansion that included establishment of additional manufacturing facilities in Indiana and Rhode Island, and the creation of a dealer network as well an export department, Maxwell concentrated on development. A weak link in the company’s development and growth was marketing. That problem was resolved in a rather spectacular way when Cadwallader Washburn Kelsey joined the company.

Kelsey was an ambitious and talented young man. At age 17 in 1897, he built a car. It never ran but it reflected his interests and skills. His second endeavor built the following year was driven to classes at Harvard. The third endeavor was more conventional in that it had four wheels rather than three. In 1902, with money provided by his father, he established an Autocar dealership and garage. Within six months he had also secured rights for the sale of Locomobile. Then in 1906 he wrote a letter to Maxwell-Briscoe requesting approval as the Maxwell dealer in Philadelphia.

The franchise was negotiated directly with Briscoe and after paying the $5000 fee, Kelsey established a showroom and garage on Broad Street. Then he began marketing. He contracted with Lubin Film Studios to film stunts such as driving up the courthouse steps. These were shown in area Nickelodeon’s and the filmed auto commercial was born.

His stunts, and the occasional arrest of drivers, made headlines that Kelsey deftly transformed into sales. Briscoe and Maxwell soon took notice as Kelsey was selling more cars in Philadelphia that all the dealers in the United States combined. And so, they hired him as the Maxwell-Briscoe company sales manager, and by 1909 Maxwell was the third largest automobile manufacturer in the country.

Briscoe dreamed big. To counter dilution of the market that resulted from hundreds of manufacturers selling automobiles he initiated meetings to create a combine that could provide a vehicle for every market and every budget. In early 1908, Briscoe headed a conference at which he presented a detailed plan for the merger of Maxwell-Briscoe, Buick, Reo and Ford, the four largest US automakers, under the International Motor Car Company name. The ambitious project was stillborn when Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds withdrew.

William Durant, however, recognized the merits of the proposal and with Buick as the cornerstone established a new corporation, General Motors. The company was incorporated on September 16, 1908. Within two weeks of the founding he had issued $12 million in stock and purchased Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland.

Undaunted Briscoe used Maxwell-Briscoe as the hinge pin for a new corporation, United States Motor Company. Immediately after incorporation he purchased Columbia, Alden-Sampson, the Dayton Motor Car Company, the Gray Motor Company, and Brush Runabout, which was owned in part by Frank Briscoe. The bidding war between Briscoe and Durant for the purchase of manufacturers and ancillary companies that produced auto parts would prove to be calamitous for both companies.

To be continued …

The forgotten father of the US car business

If one person can be said to have started the domestic American automobile industry, a strong case could be made for Benjamin Briscoe.

ON June 28, 1945, the Detroit Free Press, New York Times and other leading newspapers throughout the world noted the death of Benjamin Briscoe.

“BENJAMIN BRISCOE, President of First Maxwell Company, Financier That Launched David Buick’s Automotive Endeavours and Founder of United States Motor Company Dies.” 

So, who was Benjamin Briscoe, “the founder of the domestic American automobile industry” and the man behind numerous pioneering automobile manufacturers? 

Briscoe was born in 1867 to a family of successful entrepreneurs and inventors. His grandfather was a railroad mechanic that was attributed with numerous innovations, and his father was the founder of Michigan Nut and Bolt, a company that produced an array of products using machines of his design.

At age 18, Benjamin Briscoe using his own money established Benjamin Briscoe & Company that used metal stamping to manufacture buckets, barrels, a variety of cans and even bathtubs. And that led to an association with David Dunbar Buick that would later prove pivotal to the development of a pioneering automotive endeavor.

Buick was an innovative manufacturer of plumbing fixtures with more than a dozen patents to his credit, but profit remained elusive until Briscoe began supplying a wide array of related stamped metal supplies on credit. And then Buick perfected and patented a successful process for affixing porcelain to metal, expanded his endeavors, and began manufacturing toilets, sinks, bathtubs and related goods. Success was imminent.

Shortly after entering into the arrangement with Buick, Briscoe sold his business for a tidy profit and established the Detroit Galvanizing and Sheet Metal Works, and using a machine of his invention, began manufacturing corrugated pipe as well as sheet metal components for stoves, ranges and furnaces.

In 1900, Briscoe’s brother Frank joined the company that was then reorganized as the Briscoe Manufacturing Company, and the product line was expanded to include cast iron radiators and copper units used to facilitate the cooling of industrial engines. It was the later which led to a project for Ransom E. Olds.

First, however, Briscoe had to overcome a major hurdle. The Detroit bank used by Briscoe had failed which in turn left Briscoe’s company facing bankruptcy. Undaunted by this potential disaster Briscoe brazenly, without introduction or endorsement, traveled to New York City, and talked his way into a meeting with financiers at J.P. Morgan and Company that included J.P. Morgan himself. Briscoe returned to Detroit with a commitment of a $100,000 investment in his company.

The arrangement with Olds was rooted in disaster. R.E. Olds chief engineer Jonathan Maxwell had perfected an improved cooling system for the Oldsmobile. However, a devastating factory fire in 1901 had decimated the company forcing Olds to seek an outside supplier for a radiator and so he approached Briscoe to negotiate the purchase of 4,500 radiators. Briscoe quickly closed the deal but, in the process, had negotiated for the manufacture of gas tanks as well.

In 1899, David Buick answered the Siren’s call that was the infant auto industry, sold the plumbing supply company and turned his attentions to the development of a valve in head engine, the first step in what he envisioned would become an automobile manufacturing company.

By late 1902, Buick had exhausted his funds and yet his prototype being built in partnership with Walter Marr was not ready for display. As a result, there was little hope of attracting investors. Fortuitously Buick turned to Briscoe who agreed to forgive an outstanding loan, to pay off Buick’s other outstanding debts, and to provide the funds needed to finish the prototype. As per their agreement, Briscoe would become the owner of the completed vehicle, but Buick would use it to solicit for investors to initiate manufacturing.

Briscoe would eventually loan Buick an additional $1500.  To protect his investment this arrangement included the stipulation that if the loan were not repaid within twelve months, Briscoe would become the sole owner of Buick Motor Company.

As Buick focused on development of the fledgling automobile company, Briscoe met with Jonathan Maxwell, the former Olds engineer that was now planning to launch a company of his own, and asked that he evaluate Buick’s project. Sensing an opportunity Maxwell noted the various flaws in the Buick design and presented Briscoe with a business plan for the establishment of a company to manufacture Maxwell’s automobile.

This partnership would lead to the building of two automotive empires, one of which would become the foundation for Chrysler. It would also lead to the establishment of two companies that forever transformed the international auto industry, the founding of an automobile company with a quirky claim to fame, and Briscoe’s diversification into an array of endeavors that would underpin many aspects of the infant auto industry.

Eccentric visionary bucked every trend

Today the remarkable tale of Julian Brown, a well-heeled dreamer who delivered something different to motoring: A radial-engined car.

The infancy of the auto industry was an era of swashbuckling entrepreneurs, dreamers and swindlers. It was a period of unprecedented societal evolution and technological advancement. And it was an almost magical opportunity for eccentrics and visionaries to craft their vision of transportations future.

Alexander T. Brown made a fortune as an inventor, an industrialist and as an investor in a diverse array of automotive endeavours including Brown-Lipe Gear Company and H.H. Franklin, a leading manufacturer of air-cooled automobiles. His son Julian benefitted greatly from his father’s wealth and enjoyed the best automobiles available. And, in spite of time invested in development of a reputation for being a leading New York playboy, he also obtained a first-class education with a focus on mechanical engineering.

In 1911, with backing from his father and his father’s friends as investors he launched the Julian Motor Company. There are scant details about the six-cylinder engine that he developed for use in trucks, automobiles and boats but it was billed as the most expensive engine in America. Needless to say, this was not a suitable basis for the launching of a successful marketing campaign and within one year the company had closed its doors.

In 1918, Julian launched a new endeavour, a company organised to manufacture “an exciting and revolutionary automobile.” It was truly a manifestation of his eccentricity. First, there was the engine, a “Twin Three” that he had designed. This V6 was set in a specially designed chassis that allowed for a 21-inch ground clearance, not overly practical in an era of deeply rutted roads. Incredibly the entire car weighed a mere 300-pounds (136 kilograms). 

The Julian Motor Car Company had been organised with the goal being manufacture of the radical vehicle. However, the project never progressed beyond construction of one prototype and this company also closed within one year. This did not deter Julian Brown. He had money and he was a dreamer, an eccentric visionary.

In 1925 he unveiled another vehicle and launched the Julian Brown Development Company. This car was unlike anything else on the road and the June 4, 1925 issue of The Automobile / Automotive Industries devoted several pages to the vehicle.

After extensive study of radial aeronautical engines, and the Adams-Farwell automobile that had been produced with a radial engine around 1905, he developed an engine of his own design.

“The engine is a six-cylinder fixed radial air-cooled type mounted at the rear of the chassis; it drives through a combination sliding pinion and planetary type of transmission giving four forward and two reverse speeds.

“Each of the rear axle shafts is connected through a universal joint to one of the side gears of the differential. The wheel bearings are mounted on tubes which terminate in a ball joint over the universal joint, which is fastened to the housing of the powerplant and differential.” Another unusual feature was four-wheel brakes that could be adjusted with thumb screws on the brake pedal.

Styling was somewhat antiquated. Fleetwood developed the custom body designed by Brown using aluminum panels over wood framing. The interior also was a reflection of his eccentricity. The drivers’ seat was centered in front and immediately behind was a bench for two passengers. Additionally, there were two folding seats on the sides behind the driver.

This venture proved to be far more successful than previous endeavors in that six vehicles were hand-built and sold before the company declared bankruptcy. As with previous enterprises the last of Julian Brown’s attempt to build an automobile ended with extensive, costly and lengthy lawsuits.

To learn more about Julian Brown take a listen to the exclusive MotoringNZ podcast from Jim Hinckley’s America (jimhinckleysamerica.com).  

Pomeroy – treading lightly in the 1920s

Aluminium has become a common material in modern cars. But who was first to put this lightweight material on the road? The answer might surprise.

Exactly why the Aluminum Company of America decided to diversify and initiate plans for the development of an automobile is a mystery.

The timing is equally curious as in late 1919 the world was gripped by an intense post war economic recession. Another fascinating aspect of the project is the fact that the company retained the services of Laurence H. Pomeroy to oversee development.

Born in London, England, Pomeroy had apprenticed as an engineer with the North London Railway Company. In 1905 he accepted a position with Vauxhall Ironworks Company and in late 1907 was tasked with a project to redesign one of the company’s engines to allow for Vauxhall to compete in the 1908 RAC 2000-mile trial run.

The cars modified by Pomeroy won several classes and as a result he was promoted to the post of Works Manager. In 1910 he modified a 20hp Vauxhall that reached speeds of 100 miles per hour at Brooklands.

This was also the year that he designed a car to participate in the German Prince Henry Tours that were held from 1905 to 1911. This would become the basis for the now legendary Vauxhall “Prince Henry” models manufactured by Vauxhall from 1911 to 1914.

These limited production models were internationally acclaimed for speed as well as durability. In 1914, H. Massac Buist, a leading automotive journalist noted that, "Of the three Vauxhalls which ran in the Prince Henry Tour, two got full marks for reliability, and all did about 65 miles an hour in the speed trial, which was really quite good for that engine with a four-seated body and a full complement of passengers.

“So many people desired cars of this special type that in 1911 it was made a regular product of the Vauxhall works, and, during the last year or so a new style has sprung up. In this the engine dimensions are 95 by 140 mm., the old bore-stroke ratio having penalised the car under many hill-climbing formulae. All such formulae which do not involve the cubic capacity of the engine are by common acceptance considered advantageous to engines with small bore and long stroke. The chassis follows the lines of the original Prince Henry but has rather a longer wheelbase."

Pomeroy was also an early proponent for the use of aluminum in automobiles. However, in this he was not alone. Numerous automobile manufacturing companies, most notably Franklin of Syracuse, New York, were pioneering the use of the lightweight metal to enhance the performance of their durable air-cooled vehicles. Still, the car envisioned by the Aluminum Company of America, was to be a true industry leader.

The Pomeroy, as the car was named, was to utilize aluminum in eighty-five percent of its construction including body panels, crankcase, transmission case and dashboard.

Purportedly several hundred thousand dollars was spent on the top-secret project before six cars were completed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1921. The four-cylinder cars were vigorously tested before their introduction to the public the following year.

Then arrangement was made with the luxury automobile manufacturer Pierce-Arrow to develop an extended wheelbase, 133-inches versus 126-inches, model powered by a 75-horsepower, aluminum six-cylinder engine. It was a logical partnership as Pierce-Arrow was another early proponent of aluminum having made extensive use of the metal in the 1916 Model 66.

A few Pomeroy’s were completed and tested before the entire project was unceremoniously dropped. Today the Pomeroy automobile is largely a forgotten chapter in the history of the American auto industry. It is also but one of many interesting chapters in the history