History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

<TABLE cellPadding=6 width=750><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

HJManiac, now THAT is an unusual and EARLY hi-performance machine for 1913 !!! From the looks of it, some FINE American and foreign engineering got built into this car. One can IMAGINE it stood out with the quickest Stutz or Mercer in that day! Hey, is it the museum that is handling this resto? What beautiful work.

 

Most of the work is or has been done by us volunteers. Due to financial and mostly political issues with the Western Reserve Historical Society, using the Crawford Museum for a cash cow to subsidize their other faultering museums, the volunteer program has been curtailed until further notice. Such a shame, some really talented craftsmen. My primary roll is research and archiving. I also have been doing some guided wrenching too.

 

The Anderson, built in Rock hill, SC. All Aluminum body. Most were decommissioned and the indestructible engines were used for farm euipment. I believe there are 12 know to exist, and 7 of those belong to the remaining family. Mr. Gill, who lives in the Anderson estate in Rock hill owns one, one of theirs is in the SC state museum, 2 others are in running order, and the others are in parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_(automobile)

<TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" id=AutoNumber1 border=0 cellSpacing=0 borderColor=#111111 cellPadding=0 width="100%" height=82><TBODY><TR><TD height=13 width="100%" colSpan=4 align=middle><HR color=#d3eace SIZE=1 noShade></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" id=AutoNumber2 border=0 cellSpacing=0 borderColor=#d3eace cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=chart vAlign=top borderColor=#d3eace width="40%"> </TD><TD class=chart width="1%"> </TD><TD class=chart vAlign=top width="59%">Rock Hill Body Co. Rock Hill, South Carolina 1920s? - present – beverage trucks, bus bodies, van bodies, furniture bodies, tank trucks, bookmobiles (1940s-1950s)
xxxxx
Started originally in 1889 as the Holler & Anderson Buggy Co., a division of the A.D. Holler's Furniture Store. By 1892 its was renamed the Rock Hill Buggy Co.
ANDERSON - Rock Hill, South Carolina - (1916-1925) - "A Little Bit Higher in Price, but Made in Dixie!" was a slogan of the company and a succinct sum&shy;mation of the marque. The Anderson was among the best built, and the most successful and long-lived, of all the cars built in the South. Its origins dated back to 1889 when the Holler and Anderson Buggy Company was established in the back of a furniture store in Rock Hill. The furniture store belonged to the Holler family, and John Gary Anderson had married one of the Holler girls. Initially repair and rebuilding of carriages and wagons occupied the firm but by the turn of the century, the Rock Hill Buggy Company was founded for the manufacture of horse drawn vehicles. And Rock Hill was the name given to the company's first auto&shy;motive effort, a toy tonneau produced in 1910 that was not successful, the company returning exclusively to its horsedrawn business for the next two years. In 1913, however, a line of commercial bodies for horseless vehicles (adaptable especially to the Model T Ford) was introduced and by 1916 John Gary Anderson believed himself ready to give the automobile industry another try. He imported Joseph Anglada from New York City as his chief engineer. Anglada was available because the cyclecar he had designed in 1914 called the Liberty had failed within a year. He would be much more successful with the Anderson, which he designee as a typical assembled car (Continental six-cylinder engine) but an especial) good one. What Anderson added was the coachwork, and it was exemplary in quality of finish and the quite unusual array of color combinations offered during this generally drab era in the industry. The Anderson automobile was announced in March of 1916, and the Anderson Motor Company was incorporated that December. Initial acceptance of the car was excellent, and profitable government contracts helped the company ride out the difficult war years. In 1920 Anderson had its best year thus far, 1,180 units produced; in 1923 it surpassed that will an output of 1,875 cars. A new offering during the latter year was the Model 41 "Coachbilt (sic) Anderson Aluminum Six," base priced at $1,195, which the company advertised as the world's lowest-priced aluminum-bodied car. Anderson faltered thereafter. Too many special or gimmicky bodies during the firm's later years were among the problems. Engine failures in the Model 41 and the oppressive competition being dealt out by the Model T were further contrib&shy;uting factors. A factory fire in 1924 resulted in $40,000 in damages and 2 damaging production shutdown. In September 1925, after a lifetime production of 10,000+ cars, the company breathed its last.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

yeah, i can see those 3 in a stop light grandprix, dodging horse shit down main street.

 

Rickenbacker?

Started by WW1 ace Eddie Rickenbacker?

 

FurBiscuit wrote: "yeah, i can see those 3 in a stop light grandprix, dodging horse shit down main street."

Jimi: You're killin' me here, Furry! Best laugh I've had all day actually. But you are (obviously) right! Those cars wouldn't hold a candle to today's hi-perf factory cars, much less carefully built and tuned hotrods.

But, in their day, these were the shizniks for younger people with a desire to have THE fastest cars in whatever town they lived in. I know from hearing the old guys "gas" (brag) about their cars that accelleration, top speed and (oddly) gas mileage were things guys bragged about in the early days.

That SAID, you still gave me the best laugh of the week, buddy! Horse shit down Main Street!!! LOL

 

Ol'Chevy, dude, THAT Anderson looks like it would take up TWO parking spots! We cover the Andersons earlier, BUT, it's GREAT to see an actual pic AND all the detailed info you had/have at your disposal.

Gosh, I am glad that people have been enjoying this resurrection of an older, earlier thread. It is juts FUN to know WHERE the CURRENT stuff we love had its original roots (AND al lot of those OLD guys were just as speed-crazy and inventive as us "modern" guys. It's just that the technology employed was much different back then. THANKS for the cool post! God BLESS the HAMB! Over a solid CENTURY of making things go FASTER than stock!!!!!!!

 

BangerMatt: Thanks for bringing up the Rickenbacker, guy. No, they are definitrely NOT extinct. BUT, they were the product of Eddie who was an engineer at heart, an Indy racer, THEN a WWI flying ace!!! (This comes from someone who lives near his grave.) But rare as shit, yes.

The Rickenbacker cars (as a MAKE) were not some short-lived stab at automaking. A ton of people don't know that Eddie R. and his business partner made a wide variety of body styles and were very dedicated to using the best state-of-the-art auto tech available (remember Eddie's pre-war racing expereince), AS WELL as making the cars a SAFE as possible in that day.

One of the LAST models Eddie pushed to market featured sporty cycle-type fenders and the best brakes available in the industry. No matter. Rickenbackers could not be produced as cheaply as other cars, so Capt. Eddie finally moved on to other sucessful pursuits.

 

I wanted to mention a Rickenbacker auto not extinct but very rare. Built by Eddie Rickenbacker the WWI flying ace. The auto had four wheel brakes ahead of it's time. He also started Eastern Airlines, Later Ed

 

OOPS ^^ I see someone already mentioned it sorry.

 

Cool thread!
I have a few old grillshell emblems my uncle gave me...he'd pop 'em off shells when in wreckin' yards.. Erskine, Whippet, Star, and some other goofy ones I'll have to dig out.

Gardner....I pinstriped one of those not long ago for a freind's dad.....

 

Ed D, NO problems! You were just thinkin' in that parallel universe people talk about all of the time, man! The "Rick" WAS a cool car. If anybody searches the OWNERS club on the 'net, you will be AMAZED at how stylish and tech-modern they were (juts not super-cheap -- the downfall of MANY good makes!).

 

Sinister Custom, buddy! Would it be GREAT to see pix of some of those porcelainized grille emblems!!! Talk about RARE stuff. One of my own most treasured pieces is the glass & metal trunk emblem showing the 3 "heroic" Graham brothers. Came from the mid-'30s, I think.

 

1915 Stevens Duryea D6, 5 passenger touring.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmuseums/3507207823/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmuseums/3507204793/



http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmuseums/3508020840/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/chmuseums/3507217397/

 

<TABLE border=0 width=424><TBODY><TR><TD height=336>

1910 Stevens Duryea Model Y 7-passenger Touring ​

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Stevens-Duryea was an American manufacturer of automobiles in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts between 1901 and 1915 and from 1919 to 1927.

The company was founded after a falling out between J. Frank Duryea and his brother Charles in 1898. In 1900, Frank went on to form Hampden Automobile and Launch Company Springfield, Illinois, while Charles joined J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company , who were about to enter the developing car business; they took over the factory of steam car and bicycle maker Overman (car company) (sharing the premises for several months).

Stevens-Duryea's first product was a two-cylinder, 5 hp Runabout that sold for $1,200.00 in 1901. No production numbers are known for 1901 but the firm produced 61 cars in 1902 and 483 in 1903. (A 1903 example can be seen at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI) By 1904 the runabout, a tube chassis 6hp (4.5kW) flat twin buggy runabout victoria, was called the Model L. It had a flat-mounted water-cooled straight twin, situated amidships of the car, four speed gearbox (three forward, one reverse), wire wheels, full-elliptic springs, and tiller steering. Weighing 1300 lb (590 kg), it sold at US$1300. This would be imported to Britain by Joseph Baker, but would not succeed there; in the U.S., it would survive several years. It was joined in 1905 by the US$2500 Model R, an aluminum-bodied, five-seat, 20hp four with three-speed gearbox and live axle.

The model line grew in 1906, adding a US$2400 runabout and a US$3300 limousine. There was also the new Big Six, with a 9.6 liter six cylinder motor, seven-seater tulipwood
body, weighing 2900pd (1315kg), at US$5000.

In 1907, both the L and R were dropped, and Stevens-Duryea focused on sixes. Yet the company was hampered by the shortage of skilled labor; only some fifty units were sold in 1904, and maximum production did not exceed 100 a year.

The 1915 Model D was the company's last new design, an 80hp (60kW) 472ci (7740cc) six. It was this year Frank Duryea sold out; production stopped in 1915 because of financial problems and the plant was sold to Westinghouse. Several former employees bought the name and goodwill and in 1919 restarted production of the D as the Model E, at a stratosphereic US$9500 (at a time when a physician might earn US$3000 a year).

This did not improve the company's prospects, and it was purchased by Ray Owen in 1923 to produce gas and electric cars under the Rauch and Lang brand. After this venture failed in 1924 (though inventory continued to be sold into 1927), coachbuilding
continued there, supplying the likes of StanleyStanley Steamer and RuxtonRuxton

.

 

1921 Anderson parks in 'perfect place'

Touring car, made in Rock Hill, back home after half-century of Sunday drives in Michigan

By Karen Bair - Karen Bair
<!-- CLOSE: #story_header -->Its chassis a satin midnight blue, its wood spokes and steering wheel a lustrous patina, the rare 1921 Anderson car returned home safely to Rock Hill on Tuesday.
It is one of only 11 known to exist and made by Rock Hill's former Anderson Motor Co., the car manufacturing company of the South in its time. The Model C, five-passenger touring car had been lovingly housed and tended in a Michigan family's garage for about half a century, only venturing out for Sunday afternoon drives.
At least half a dozen members of the Anderson family turned out Tuesday to await its arrival by truck. Of those Anderson cars known to exist, four are owned by the Anderson family and one is at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia.




<!--This code for image caption was commented out on 1/30/2009 to prevent the auto rotate in the image gallery from jumping. --><!-- Re-enabled 04.13.09 to see how to get it to work correctly -->


CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

• <!-- CLOSE: .image thumbnail -->
• <!-- CLOSE: .image thumbnail -->

<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> setupCycleSlideShow(); </SCRIPT>


<SCRIPT language=JavaScript type=text/javascript><!--if(typeof(miyahoo) == "undefined" || miyahoo.ads[mi_live_or_preview].dart.enabled){document.write('<scr' + 'ipt language="JavaScript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/mi.rhh00/News/Local;dcove=d;pl=story;lvl6=Local_State;loc=ats;pos=MREC01;' + dart_reg + dart_segs + dart_tk + kw_str + 'sz=300x250;tile=4;ord=' + ord + '?" type="text/javascript"></scr' + 'ipt>');}//--></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT>
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript type=text/javascript><!--if(miyahoo.ads[mi_live_or_preview].yahoo.enabled){yld_mgr.place_ad_here("slot_3");}--></SCRIPT><!-- SpaceID=2022775853 loc=LREC noad --><!--flv has invalid value--><!--XCH-->

<!-- END: #mi_story_embedded -->This one will be housed at the Cotton Factory until the Culture and Heritage Museums of York County's Museum of Life and the Environment is built.
Victoria Spector of Michigan has slowly liquidated her father's estate since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago, but the little blue Anderson, one of 15 cars in his collection, was the most difficult to part with. It was his favorite.
The car's appraiser had approached an interested Jay Leno about the car, but Spector had too many memories for that, she said. She sought out the car's origins on the Internet and offered it to the Culture and Heritage Museums in York County.
Museum leaders say the car is significant as an environmental history artifact.
"The automobile is central to some of the most important issues of our time," said Owen Glendening, deputy director for interpretation for the museums.
Spector said she cried when it left Michigan and again Tuesday when she learned "our baby" had arrived safely.
"This is the most perfect place for this little car to be," she said during a phone interview. "A part of my family has gone with this car. This is such the right thing to do."
The Anderson Motor Co. itself is a relic of Rock Hill history. The company grew from the Rock Hill Buggy Co. founded in 1886 by John Gary Anderson and his father-in-law, Adley D. Holler. The Anderson Motor Co. handmade the high-end cars from 1916 to 1925. They sold for $1,650 for the five-passenger touring car to $2,550 for the sedan.
That compares with $345 to $760 for the mass-produced Model T Ford. But the Anderson was assembled meticulously. Among other things, Anderson offered color compared to Ford's inevitable black. The company bought land for its ash trees and made the chassis of wood with steel over it.
The touring car that rolled into Rock Hill on Tuesday still runs. Its clock works. Its radiator cap contains a thermometer visible to the driver. Part of the Anderson motto, "A Little Bit Higher in Price, but Made in Dixie," is emblazoned on the radiator cap.
There is a footrest on the back seat floor. There are no seat belts, but a bar is fixed to the back of the front seat's leather upholstery for passengers to hold onto as the Anderson jostled along rutted, unpaved roads.
Walter Hardin, an Anderson family member and a car aficionado, lifted one side of the hood Tuesday to touch the engine with a gloved hand.
"This is the original engine," he announced to the small crowd. "That's the engine that did in the company."
Aluminum was the new metal of the period, and Anderson made the engine block of aluminum. The Anderson cars with aluminum blocks did well for hundreds of miles, then blew up.
The company went belly up in 1926 and the building sat vacant until 1928 when the Rock Hill Printing & Finishing Co. bought it.
The museums bought the car from Victoria Spector for its appraised value of $60,000. Her father, Nathan Theodore Spector, had purchased it from a Connecticut man in 1955 for $400 and restored it. The car promptly won a blue ribbon first prize for beauty and authenticity of restoration at an annual auto festival at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
Although Spector was an upholsterer, he came from a family of Cadillac dealerships and collected old Cadillacs. But the Anderson was special.
"This little Anderson has been around since I was a baby," she recalled. "It has a lot of memories. The Cadillac and the truck would sit out. This car was always in the garage. We never wore shoes in it."
She remembers sitting beside her dad or in the back seat on Sunday afternoons as her dad drove around the neighborhood, sometimes tooting the horn. The car never went out in the winter.
She had the car polished to perfection before shipping it off.
The Anderson has a two-sided hood. Learning that the hood had been lifted upon its arrival in Rock Hill, Spector issued a word of caution.
"You have to put a towel down when you open both sides of the hood," she said. "It will scratch."

 

The electric vehicle first came around 1830. The first person to invent the electric car was Robert Anderson, a Scottish businessman. A small scale of the electric car was actually built by Christopher Becker in 1935. Christopher Becker was an assistant to Professor Sirbrandus Stratingh of the Netherlands, who had him build it.

In 1842, Thomas Davenport and Robert Davidson, an American and Scotsmen, built an electric car that was even more successful. They were also the first builders to use non-rechargeable electric cells.
France and Great Britain were among the first countries that were in great support of the electric vehicle. In 1865, Gaston Plante came up with a storage battery that was even better then before. In 1881, the storage battery was again improved and this helped to get the electric car on its path to the public.
Before the introduction of the ICE vehicle, internal combustion engines, the electric car was impressive in its numbers regarding speed and distance. Camille Janatzy held a record of beating more then 62 miles per hour in 1899 riding in his Jamais Contente rocket shaped electric car, going just over 65 miles per hour.
The first introduction into the United States of the electric car was in New York City with taxis. The electric car was doing well and even outsold gasoline powered cars in the early 1900’s for a time. The electric car was sold to upper class people and was said to be a good car for women because they were a clean, quiet running car. The downside to the electric car at this point was its speed factor, it was only able to go about 20 miles per hour.
Electric cars were the most to sell in the early 1900’s, even over the competition of gasoline based cars and and steam based cars. There were advantages that the electric car had over the competition at that point. The electric cars did not vibrate as did gasoline and steam based cars and it did not have the smell of a gasoline car either. With gasoline based cars shifting was very difficult, however, shifting was not required with an electric car. Steam vehicles took a long time to start up, especially on cold mornings. Electric cars did not have this problem. Plus, most driving was done locally as those were the best roads so this was the perfect use of the electric car.
The electric car was the popular choice made by many for some time. Then the decline came about. When America started to build roads that connected between cities in the 1920’s, cars that had better long range were needed, something the electric vehicle did not have. Also the price of gasoline became more affordable when the Texas crude oil was reduced. This allowed more purchasing power with the average customer. The need for the hand crank was no longer in 1912 when Charles Kettering invented the electric starter. While the price of the electric vehicle was rising, gasoline powered cars were not. Henry Ford was a mass producer of the gas run vehicles and this made them affordable and available more widely.
Even though some vehicles, like construction vehicles, were still electric based, the vehicle was completely phased out in the 1930’s. There are some fork lifts that are electric based and also golf carts that are still in use today.

 

[QUOTE=HJmania
Stevens-Duryea was an American manufacturer of automobiles in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts between 1901 and 1915 and from 1919 to 1927....

a older friend of mine was telling me about the stevens duryea his dad bought in 1919. he said when his dad picked it up, they allowed you to do a maximum speed run in two miles. he supposedly acheived a speed of around 120 mph and had to have a new set of tires put on before he left. unfortunately the only reminant of the car he has is one of the headlights. its about a foot wide lol, ill have to get a picture the next time i visit him

 

First automobile?

First Automobile accident!

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarssteama.htm

 

From near me, and I have seen the car at the Historical Society in Wilson.........swi66

The Lockport "Covert" Motor Car<!--mstheme-->

By Clarence "Dutch" Adams​

Byron V. Covert came to Lockport from Ovid, Seneca County, New York, in 1891 with wife Calista, and their son, Klare. Byron Covert set up a bicycle repair shop at 56 Market Street in Lockport and was an agent for Rochester, Columbia, Victor, and other bicycle manufacturers.​

He not only repaired bicycles, but also began manufacturing bicycles and introduced many improvements on those bicycles manufactured in his shop. He also began developing automobiles in his shop on Market St., and in 1902 he moved to 57-61 Richmond Ave. and concentrated entirely on the manufacture of automobiles.
There were other larger automobiles being manufactured at the time, but Byron Covert wanted to build a smaller and cheaper model. His first auto had the power of three horses, could speed from 5 -20 miles per hour, and sold for $500. The power was carried from the engine to the wheels by a chain. Byron Covert then began building a chainless auto which sold for $750-1 one of the first chainless autos ever built. The first transition was built in 1907, forward speeds only. If the customer wanted a reverse gear, it was an extra $35. Without the reverse gear if the driver wanted to back up, he got out and pushed the vehicle back. These horseless carriages were taken to the Bronson Carriage Shop where they were painted and finished with upholstery of the best grade leather.
In 1904 Harold Hoag and Edward Fritton drove one of the Covert automobiles in an auto contest from Buffalo to the World's Fair in St. Louis. The Covert auto was the smallest entered and was called the baby." Because of its size it was the center of attention at every stop. There were no paved roads and much of the drive was in six inch deep mud, making it necessary for the larger cars to use tire chains. On the last day 63 cars left Springfield and only 24 arrived in St. Louis, but the Covert auto was one of the ones arriving in St. Louis.
By 1910 production at Covert Motor Vehicle Company had increased to the point where larger facilities were necessary, and the company moved to 91-95 Grand St. The old building on Richard Ave. was taken over by Herbert Harrison, who established the Harrison Radiator Company there. Herbert Harrison was president of the Harrison Radiator Company, Byron V. Covert was vice-president and treasurer, and Fred D. Moyer and Oscar A. Loosen were directors. William Upson was also one of the original investors in Harrison Radiator Company, but he was involved with his own company and soon left to spend more time with it.
Byron Covert had developed a chainless automobile with a transmission, which proved to be very popular. Because there was so much competition among the many new companies manufacturing automobiles, and because of the many orders for the transmission he had developed, after the move to Grand St., Byron Covert gave up automobile manufacturing and concentrated entirely on transmissions and gears. Covert Motor Vehicle Company became Covert Gear Company, Inc., Byron V. Covert, President.
Byron V. Covert remained president of the Covert Gear Company until 1915 when he retired. He and his wife, Calista, lived at 154 Genesee St. Covert died on Dec. 18, 1943.
Covert Gear Co. Inc. became Covert Gear and Manufacturing Corp. and continued to manufacture transmissions, differentials, and gears until 1933. In 1914 the chief of the purchasing department at Covert Gear was Arthur H. Dittmer, and by 1919 Dittmer had become director of products and purchases. However, in 1920, Arthur Dittmer left Covert Gear to start his own company, Dittmer Gear and Manufacturing Company at 193 - 219 Grand St. Dittmer Gear and Manufacturing remained in operation until 1958.
In 1975 a letter from Terence F. Roe of South Africa was sent to Mayor, City of Lockport, New York, USA. The letter stated that a Covert auto was still being used in South Africa but that it was being retired. It was built "by a man by the name of B. V. Covert who must have been a very clever engineer at that time." Terence Roe sent the letter because he thought Lockport might be a good place for the auto to spend its retirement since that was where it was built. Apparently there was no money available at that time to purchase the Covert auto.
There is a Covert auto in the area, however. A 1904 Covert auto is owned by the Wilson Historical Society and is in the Wilson museum. The auto had previously been in the Ford museum, Greenfield Village, in Michigan and was offered for sale. Dr. John Argue of Wilson sent in a bid for $10,000, but there were two higher bids. However, when the museum officials noticed that the auto would be placed in a museum near the area where it was originally manufactured, they sold it to Dr. Argue even though his bid was the lowest.
In 1997 the Niagara County Historical Society was contacted by the Barrie Bell Restoration Committee from Barrie, Ontario, inquiring into the possibility of acquiring a Covert transmission, model A101, manufactured by the Covert Gear Company in Lockport. In 1916, business at the Barrie Carriage Company had been declining so they negotiated with the Bell Motor Company of York, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of the Bell automobile, to assemble between 20 and 40 Bell automobiles at the Barrie plant. In 1997 they had a Barrie Bell automobile they were attempting to restore and the Bell automobile was using the Covert transmission. The search is continuing for such a transmission to complete the restoration.

 

Great input, guys. Now & then I need to remind everyone, though, of the meaning of extinct versus merely defunct.

DEFUNCT = No longer manufactured (out of business).

EXTINCT = Not even one remaining in existence.

Obviously, there have been THOUSANDS of makes go out of business (defunct). But, on this thread we have, indeed, come up with NUMEROUS car makes that are represented by only ONE survivor, or even just PARTS remainng, or only a photo.

A Jewett, for example, is a RARE car AND DEFUNCT. But there are Jewetts in the hands of collectors and in museums, SO they are NOT extinct. On the other hand, only ONE Beaver automobile was made, in Oregon, and it was eventually burned up, SO it's officially EXTINCT.

 

Me thinks you just killed the thread with your last posting.

 

No, you're killin' me here. LOL All I am saying is that ANYBODY can list an old car not made anymore. What we're trying to determine is actual RARITY (even extinction) of certain makes.

It's ALL fun (especially the ones that have been listed that WERE early sort-of hi-perf cars).

So, all I'm asking is that guys/gals do a little searching in their own libraries (mag stacks, etc.) and, then TELL just how scarce the car(s) is/are. That's all. Anybody can find the name of one of the THOUSANDS of car makes that aren't manufactured anymore -- how about Roosevelt (named for Teddy not FDR)?

 

This is an interesting thread and I have enjoyed it but I was wondering the same thing. At the risk of getting reamed, I'm a believer in the precision of language and sorting this out is fine with me. Hopefully the thread will continue with cars that are extinct or practically extinct. For rare cars use this other great thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201100

 

Yeah, Al, I sort of felt responsible (since I sort of revived a previous thread that got bogged down itself!) that this thread got a little "freewheeling" & broad. And I kind of caught a little flak for trying to steer it back a tad.

BUT, at least we have actually nailed down a few makes, so far, that really are extinct, have only one survivor, or a mere handful.

I do hope guys & gals will continue to dig for info and pix, 'cause it's been fun.

[THANKS for the link to the other thread, too! I wanna go check that out myself.]

 

1902 Pierce Motorette Knockabout​

[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1896: "George N Pierce Company" creates a first prototype with great difficulty. His associate treasurer in France comes and goes at De Dion "to see "[/SIZE]

1900: creation of a second prototype powered by a single cylinder De Dion developing almost 3hp. Then on the same basis it produces 25 copies. To do this he hired an English experience with steam engines and oil, David Fergusson.

[SIZE=-1]1902: it goes to 3.5 hp and its total sales passed the milestone of 125 units[/SIZE]

1903: power increases to 5hp and two new models 4 and 6 places 8hp are created and marketed

While the Pierce-Arrow became one of the most prestigious automobiles made, the beginnings of Pierce-Arrow were humble. At the time of the Civil War, George Pierce began his career in manufacturing household items, including ice-boxes, birdcages, and bathtubs. After being associated with several companies, he formed his own company, the George N. Pierce Company, in 1878. At first, the new company followed the product line of earlier companies. As the bicycle craze hit the country in the late nineteenth century, Pierce found that the experience gained making wire products, like their bird cages, easily transferred to the manufacture of bicycles. High quality standards and an attractive price made Pierce cycles highly desired.

By the turn of the century, the Pierce company began experimenting with automobiles. While early efforts involved a steam-powered unit, the first production Pierce automobile of 1901 used a single cylinder, 2 3/4 hp deDion engine. In 1903, Pierce replaced the deDion engine in the Motorette with one of their own manufacture. About 170 Pierce Motorettes were made between 1901 and 1903. In mid 1903, the Pierce Stanhope was introduced. Similar the the Motorette, the Stanhope used a Pierce made engine mounted beneath the driver's seat. An additional fold-out seat was added in front of the driver. The Stanhope had two forward speeds, plus reverse. The George N. Pierce company started toward the line that would make them famous in 1903 with the introduction of the Arrow. A bigger car with the engine mounted in the front of the car rather than under the car, the Arrow carried four adults and was powered by a 15-hp deDion engine. A Pierce made engine followed in 1904. The Arrow paved the path for the Great Arrow, which made its debut in 1904. The Great Arrow used a 93 inch wheelbase and featured a four cylinder Pierce engine. The Great Arrow also introduced the user of cast aluminum body panels. The Great Arrow also had a great price: $4000! The Great Arrow defined the basic car that Pierce would produce, with refinements, for the next several years. It was the Great Arrow that helped gain Pierce its great reputation by winning the first five Glidden Tours.

 

I'm actually enjoying the thread.
I've been going nuts here trying to find this book I have somewhere about Cars made in NY State. It was not a widely published book and was pretty much sold at swap meets in the area.
I live in Gasport NY.
Supposedly there weas a car manufacturer set up here.
According to the story, they made one!
Think I can find the reference!

And in reference to the previous posting.
The Buffalo Transportation Museum is also known as the Pierce Arrow Museum
http://www.pierce-arrow.com/
Pictures of Pierce Arrow items andf factory
http://www.buffaloah.com/h/pierce/pierce/index.html

http://www.buffaloah.com/h/pierce/museum/index.html