Download or read book Elcar and Pratt Automobiles written by William S. Locke and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2007-09-06 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A surprisingly little-known marque today, Elcar once ranked among the finest vehicles on American roads. Built to exacting standards in Elkhart, Indiana, an Elcar could compete head-to-head on the basis of performance, quality, or price with the products of much larger manufacturers. Ultimately done in by weak distribution and the ravages of the Depression, Elcar today stands as an example of an ambitious company that transformed itself, successfully if temporarily, from a maker of buggies and harnesses into a respected car manufacturer in the early days of the automotive age. This remarkably exhaustive history, researched over several decades from all available sources, including interviews with former Elcar employees, details all Elcar models and the Pratt vehicles that preceded them, as well as the personalities behind the cars. Extensive appendices provide a complete model history, with specifications; a full corporate chronology; an illustrated accounting of all Elcars and Pratts known to survive whole or in part today; a roster of company employees; a descriptive list of all ads and brochures ever produced by the company; and a wealth of other data that can be found nowhere else. Lavishly illustrated and surpassingly thorough, this book is a well of information on a significant but forgotten line of automobiles.
Download or read book Pioneers of the U S Automobile Industry The small independents written by Michael J. Kollins and published by SAE International. This book was released on 2002 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hundred years ago a trip by automobile was as much a test of manpower as of horsepower, 'Men had to be men'. In those days, 'Get out and get under' (the song was not composed then) had a direct meaning to the adventuresome, soiled and grease-stained motorist chauffeurs. Happily, these crude, cumbersome, horseless carriages are no more. Here and there a restored one may be found, hidden among the array of glistening new vehicles of modern achievement. Those pioneer vehicles were in fact as na've as the ancient chariots of Egypt and Rome. The early horseless carriages were big, heavy, uncomfortable, noisy, and smelly wagons or carriages, powered by engines having huge cylinders that were gluttons for fuel. Or they were small, fragile, uncomfortable, noisy and smelly buggies, powered by small engines, hardly big enough to propel the buggy. Clanking chains rotated the rear wheels, while noisy engines dripped oil like a sieve. They emitted billowing clouds of smoke, as the drab vehicles trembled on wobbly wheels that seemed ready to collapse.Although the average asking price for one of these 'headaches on wheels' was USD1,000 or more, the greatest expense came later for maintenance and repairs. These vehicles were plagued with engine, clutch, transmission, steering, brake, wheel, and fuel troubles, let alone problems from the weather. The cost of broken and worn-out parts greatly exceeded the cost of operation. Axle shafts fractured, universal joints failed, crankshafts broke or scored, pistons cracked, cylinders scored or wore rapidly, connecting rods broke, bearings burned out, clutches slipped, transmission gears stripped and chattered. Adjustments and overhaul procedures were common operating procedure. The cost of replacement parts was high because of the lack of standardization and volume. These strange and crude-looking vehicles spit, coughed, belched, groaned, backfired, and stalled unexpectedly. They were the source of distrust, despair, doubt, ridicule, and embarrassment to their owners. It was soon quite obvious that the smelly, noisy, imperfect, and expensive automobile needed much refinement and performance proof to convince a skeptical public that it was a viable alternative to travel by horse.Fortunately, the novelty, rarity, or scarcity attracted enough buyers to keep some manufacturers in business, while the brilliant minds of these stalwart men worked to solve the problems, and to regain the publicAs confidence, despite the negatives. These vehicles were the direct ancestors of our modern-day cars, and from their trials, failures, and successes, came knowledge and improvements. It is the purpose of this publication to acknowledge the accomplishments, give credit to, and honor those various selfless individuals who risked all their possessions and toiled to acquire a better means of transportation, which has led to a better and fuller life for all Americans.Contents Include: Introduction Charles and Frank Duryea Studebaker The Pratt Family and the Elcar Motor Car Company Joseph Moon Russell Gardner Louis Clarke George Pierce and Charles Clifton Packard/Joy/Macauley and the Packard Motor Car Company Edwin Thomas; Ransom Olds Peerless; Fred and August Duesenberg Kissel Brothers Hupp/Drake/Hastings/Young and the Hupp Motor Car Corporation Walter Flanders Chapin/Coffin/Bezner/Jackson/Hudson/McAneeny and the Hudson Motor Car Company Harry Stutz Harry Ford; Graham Brothers Charles Nash Index.
Download or read book The New Elcar 75 written by Elcar Motor Company and published by . This book was released on 1929 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Illustrated Dictionary of Automobile Body Styles 2d ed written by Lennart W. Haajanen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-06-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cars today fit a fairly small number of body types--sedan, coupe, station wagon, SUV, hatchback and a few others. The meanings of these familiar terms have changed over the decades as automotive design has evolved. Along the way, a greater number of earlier body types have fallen out of use and become historical curiosities. Who today can identify a charabanc, a dos-a-dos or even a phaeton? This expanded second edition defines all distinct body types since the early days of the automobile, many of which were derived from horse-drawn vehicles. Entries, many including clear line drawings, describe popular types and variations from different countries and time periods as well as terms for body components. Subtypes and subtle distinctions are explained and common misuses of terms and designations are clarified.
Download or read book The Travel Air Elcar with the Shock less Chassis written by Elcar Motor Company and published by . This book was released on 1928* with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Studebaker and the Railroads Volume 2 written by Jan Young and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studebaker and the Railroads is a history of the Studebaker Corporation and of the railroads that served it in and around the city of South Bend, Indiana. Both Studebaker and the railroads of northern Indiana have extensive and dramatic histories and there are many connections between the two. Studebaker lovers and railfans will equally enjoy the stories and facts reported.Divided into two volumes, Studebaker and the Railroads comprises over four hundred fifty pages and contains over three hundred fifty photographs, drawings, maps and diagrams.Volume 1 covers the Studebaker and the steam railroads that once decorated South Bend. Volume 2 covers the extensive electric railroad history of the area and includes a history of Studebaker's private in-plant railroad, the Chicago & South Bend, together with additional topics linking Studebaker and railroading. Both volumes feature detailed indexes. Volume 2 includes an extensive bibliography, numerous maps, and corporate history charts.
Download or read book The Small Independents written by Michael J Kollins and published by SAE International. This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pioneers of the U.S. Automobile Industry uses four separate volumes to explore the essential components that helped build the American automobile industry - the people, the companies and the designs. This volume uses more than 450 photos to help weave the story of the risk-takers who helped shape the automotive industry from the very beginning. Pioneers and companies covered in this edition include: Charles and Frank Duryea Studebaker The Pratt Family and the Elcar Motor Care Company Joseph Moon Russell Gardner Louis Clarke George Pierce and Charles Clifton Packard/Joy/Macauley and the Packard Motor Car Company Edwin Thomas Ransom Olds Peerless Fred and August Duesenberg Kissel Brothers Hupp / Drake / Hastings / Young and the Hupp Motor Car Corporation Walter Flanders Chapin / Coffin / Bezner / Jackson / Hudson / McAneeny and The Hudson Motor Car Company Harry Stutz Harry Ford Graham Brothers Charles Nash
Download or read book Automobile Manufacturers Worldwide Registry written by and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This one-of-a-kind reference work provides essential data on some 10,700 manufacturers of automobiles, beginning with the earliest vehicle that might be so termed (Frenchman Nicolas Cugnot's steam carriage, in 1770) and covering all nations in which automobiles have been built--67 in all. Not an encyclopedia or collection of histories, this is instead a very complete registry providing essential facts about the manufacturers: complete name, location, years active, type(s) of vehicles built, and other basic data. Compiled during more than 30 years of research, this reference even lists companies that produced just one car. Any builder of passenger-carrying vehicles on at least two but no more than eight wheels, of any design, either mass produced or built as one-off specials, experimental cars, prototypes, or kit cars, is included. Builders of internal combustion, steam and electric powered vehicles are all covered; companies that built only trucks, buses, racing cars, or motorcycles are not included. From A.A.A. to Zzipper and Argentina to Yugoslavia, this is an astonishingly comprehensive resource.
Download or read book Motor West written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Motor West and California Motor written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Twilight Rails written by H. Roger Grant and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the start of the twentieth century railroads crisscrossed the nation, yet there were still those who believed that the railroad network in the United States was far from complete. Residents of small towns lacking rail access lobbied hard for steam and electric roads to serve their communities, and investors eagerly started new ventures that would fill the gaps in the railway map. While some of these roads enjoyed a degree of success, most of them were financial flops even before the rise of the highway system made them obsolete.In Twilight Rails, H. Roger Grant—one of the leading railroad historians working today—documents the stories of eight Midwestern carriers that appeared at the end of the railroad building craze. When historians have reflected on these “twilight” carriers, they have suggested that they were relevant only as examples of unwise business ventures. Grant finds that even the weakest railroads were important to the communities they served; the arrival of the railroad was cause for great celebration as residents were finally connected to the outside world. A railroad’s construction pumped money into local economies, farmers and manufacturers gained access to better markets, and the excitement generated by a new line often increased land values and inspired expansion of local businesses. Even the least financially successful carriers, Grant argues, managed to significantly improve their local economies.This thorough and highly accessible history provides a fascinating look at the motivations, accomplishments, and failures of the twilight carriers, granting a new breath of life to this neglected aspect of American railway history.
Download or read book The New Elcar 120 written by Elcar Motor Company and published by . This book was released on 1929 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805 1942 written by Beverly Rae Kimes and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 1546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lists models, body styles, and original factory prices for every model year a car was manufactured plus value listings for collectors.
Download or read book RV Capital of the World A Fun filled Indiana History written by Al Hesselbart and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indiana retains a unique place in the RV industry, going back to the 1930s when pioneering individuals like Milo Miller, Harold Platt and Wilber Schult created the original RV business in the Elkhart-South Bend area. By the end of World War II, Elkhart was identified as the "Trailer Capital of the World." Hesselbart chronicles how the Hoosier State helped families make memories on the open road. -- Adapted from back cover
Download or read book The Automobile written by and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 1468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Studebaker Bibliography written by Jan Young and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-03-29 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Studebaker Bibliography was developed with the intent of cataloging as much as possible of the available Studebaker literature. Our goal was to make information accessible to current and future historians as well as casual readers. The bibliography lists 321 books (both fiction and nonfiction), 1,784 magazine articles and 2,768 newspaper articles. All are related to the Studebaker Corporation, its founders, officers, employees, dealers, subsidiaries, or vehicles, and nearly all of it is available free (or inexpensively) from your local libraryâs interlibrary loan program!
Download or read book Lost Car Companies of Detroit written by Alan Naldrett and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-25 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among more than two hundred auto companies that tried their luck in the Motor City, just three remain: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. But many of those lost to history have colorful stories worth telling. For instance, J.J. Cole forgot to put brakes in his new auto, so on the first test run, he had to drive it in circles until it ran out of gas. Brothers John and Horace Dodge often trashed saloons during wild evenings but used their great personal wealth to pay for the damage the next day (if they could remember where they had been). David D. Buick went from being the founder of his own leading auto company to working the information desk at the Detroit Board of Trade. Author Alan Naldrett explores these and more tales of automakers who ultimately failed but shaped the industry and designs putting wheels on the road today.
