CVI Motor Car Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The CVI Motor Car Company was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer from the pioneering days of the early 20th century .

description

The company was founded in Jackson, Michigan in October 1906 with a capital of US $ 100,000 to build a luxury car based on plans by the engineer Charles D. Cutting . The investors were WS Kessler , WM Thompson , HS Reynolds , PH Withington , Wintrop Withington and HL Smith .

Cutting had in February 1907 a prototype successfully on the road and the company unveiled the car in the same year at the International Auto Show Chicago ( Illinois ). It came on the market as CVI , where the C stood for cutting and VI was derived from the Roman number VI (six), corresponding to the number of cylinders in the engine. In January 1908, production started in a new factory in Jackson. The planned annual output should include 50 handmade automobiles. At the end of 1908, the investors withdrew from the project. How many cars were actually built is unknown.

The CVI 40 HP automobile

This decision probably had nothing to do with the vehicle itself. Well-known automotive journalist Hugh Dolnar tested a CVI under adverse circumstances during a violent blizzard for the Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal . The open touring was sealed against the storm with side curtains and Dolnar was full of praise for the car.

The CVI was a luxury vehicle. This started at around US $ 2500; the CVI cost US $ 4,000 in each of the three available, open variants. In 1908, the list price for a Ford Model T Touring was US $ 825 (1908). The large-volume six - cylinder engine of the CVI developed 40 hp according to the calculation method used at the time; usually according to NACC (North American Chamber of Commerce) or ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ).

It seems that Cutting had no problem setting up a new factory; this, too, suggests that with the CVI he had brought a solidly constructed car onto the market. Production of the successor started in 1910 in the same facilities in which the CVI was created. To this end, a new company was brought into being with the Clarke-Carter Automobile Company . The new car was a four-cylinder , called Cutting, and was significantly cheaper than the CVI

Construction year model power body wheelbase Price US $ source
1908 A. 40 Runabout , 3/4 pl. 117  in (2,971.8  mm ) 4000
1908 A. 40 Touring , 5 pl. 117  in (2,971.8  mm ) 4000
1908 A. 40 Touring , 7 pl. 117  in (2,971.8  mm ) 4000

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr .: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI, USA 1985, ISBN 0-87341-111-0 . (English)
  • George Nick Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 394.
  2. ^ Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 550.
  3. ^ Kimes: The Standard Catalog. 1985, p. 393.