Dont click the link unless you have a LOT of time to waste. I thought there would have been about 200.... Wow! I guess I was a little short. Cool list with some links... And since it's wikipedia, if you have any information, you can add it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_United_States_automobile_manufacturers
Hmm. Hudson, Rambler, Nash, Studebaker, Willys now, plus Plymouth and DeSoto in the past. That's not too bad.
Amazing what steam, petroleum refining, and bright minds had started. If we have anybody to thank, they started our way. Some names are like a penny in a pocket, or a rare coin put back in a safety deposit box. Sterling trucks. Plymouth. Ransom E. Olds---REO. Imperial. Zora Arkus Duntov didn't manufacture a car, but seriously revolutionized how to make them run. And then he helped GM develop the first non-traditional engine.
I know this isn't the correct place to holler this out, but relates. Saxon is on this list, the car I have in mind is not a hot rod type car and shouldn't ever be made that way. I have no connection to the owners, no vested interest. This car needs to be saved from them. Saxon touring car, may have been painted or restore attempt within the past twenty years. Now I've made ten attempts with phobucket photoblock and got phucking tired of it. PM if you want to know where the car was in Alabama back in April. One pic in photobucket, patrickmoran1966.
".... plus Plymouth and DeSoto in the past..." I look at cars like Plymouth, DeSoto, and probably Edsel, as models that were dropped by car companies that are still in business. I would not consider a Vega or Corvair as something from a defunct car maker either. Cars like Hudson, Nash, Packard, Terraplane, Auburn, etc I would consider defunct automakers. Let me see that list. I wonder how many I recognize....
Well I flunked that test. I thought I knew plenty or them, but what I knew was such a small number compared to the whole list. I had a very low score.... I didn't see Amphicar or Goggomobile. Shouldn't they be on the list? Not American I guess? Maybe there's more. I'll go back....
Defunct brand of car is a defunct brand of car, you can't go out and buy a brand new 2009 from a dealer in the morning. Technically my Imperial counts, it's from the years that was considered a seperate brand, too. Otherwise you can argue Hudson+Nash = AMC = Eagle = Chrysler and thus don't count. Willys and Kaiser can be blended into that, too, through Jeep.
Edsel= Ford A bunch of Chevy names have bit the dust as well (we had a Citation when I was a kid), but the company is still in business
They also missed Fiat, which had a US plant in Poughkeepsie NY from 1909 to 1915. True, you can still buy a new Fiat in Europe so they are not defunct but Fiat USA is. The plant had floors made out of herringbone wood blocks like the Packard plant someone posted here a while back. It was torn down in 1998 and they put up a fucking Staples.
I wonder why they listed Dodge 1914-15? Dodge Brothers made cars starting in '14, name changed to Dodge in '38.
There was a guy at Minnesota Dragways in the early sixties that ran a "B" Gasser (I believe) that was a 1933 "Beacon". As I understood it, it was manufactured by the "Continental" engine company to use their engines that had been used by many other makes. This particular car was a typical early thirties-looking four door sedan with a small block Chevrolet, (as best I can remember). It was a real popular car back in the day and very successful.
It's amazing when you look at that list how many of the companies went under between 1908 and 1927 - When the Model T was being built, I guess they just couldn't compete with Ford
My family on my Dad's mom's side was Moyer,of Moyer Coach and Buggy,they made cars in the 1910's USA,and even made a Speciel Coach for the Queen of England,the only Coach she has not made in England.
If you go to the Q's. The Quick was my Great, Great uncle. I know he made a few cars but I did not know it he was listed as a manufacturer. I am going to Jesrset to see my Mom in a few weeks, I will see if I can dig up some pics theat were floating around. Todd
They did a pretty good job- got the McKay and Whitney steam cars. McKay is our family name... Dad did a ton of research into the Stanley/Whitney/McKay history. I don't remember half of it, but the story is pretty cool, plus he's got most of an engine in the basement waiting for project/pipe dream #infinity + 1 to start...
I have a 24" x 36" poster with a lot of these names on it and everyone that walks into my garage stops and looks at it and then shakes their head in disbelief of the numbers of automakers that there have been...
The Jalopy Journal
