Clark-Hatfield Automobile Company

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The Clark-Hatfield Automobile Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer.

history

The company emerged from the very successful carriage construction company Clark & ​​Company, founded by JL Clark in the 1890s . His son and successor, Herbert M. Clark, decided around 1908 to start producing automobiles. Did Charles B. Hatfield, Jr. only stood by as a technical advisor or invested himself is not known. Together with his father he had designed a highwheeler of a similar concept and was used as a buggyabout from 1906–1907 . Unique in its Hatfield Motor Vehicle Company in Miamisburg ( Ohio produced).

The Clark-Hatfield Model 23 was the only automobile the company ever made. The starting product was actually a horse-drawn buggy , which received a purchased two-cylinder engine of unknown origin with a displacement of 113.5 ci (1860 cm³) and an output of 14 hp as well as a friction gear . The only unconventional element of the otherwise typical high wheeler was that this friction gear was mounted in front of the engine instead of behind, which, however, did not improve the functionality of the vehicle.

The vehicle weighed 1200 lbs (544 kg), the wheelbase was 78 inches (2377 mm), and the wooden-spoke wheels were 38 x 1.5 inches.

The car, which was publicly announced in July 1908, was in the upper end of the market segment with a sales price of US $ 650 and was exactly as expensive as the seriously designed and extremely successful Oldsmobile Curved Dash, which had been discontinued the year before . A Success highwheeler was initially available from US $ 250; most competing products cost between US $ 300 and 400.

The number of items produced for Model 23 is not known; It is unlikely that many were there until 1909 when production ended and the company began manufacturing superstructures for commercial vehicles.

Overview of car brands from the US, the Clark include

brand Manufacturer Marketing start End of marketing Location, state
Clark Clark Manufacturing Company 1897 1901 Moline, Illinois
Clark Edward S. Clark Steam Automobiles 1900 1909 Boston, Massachusetts
Clark AF Clark & ​​Company 1903 1905 Philadelphia, Philadelphia
Clark Clark Motor Car Company 1910 1912 Shelbyville, Indiana
Clark Furgason Motor Company 1910 1911 Lansing, Michigan
Clark Electric Toledo Electric Vehicle Company 1909 1910 Toledo, Ohio
Clark Electric Brunn Carriage Manufacturing Company 1910 1910 Buffalo, New York
Clark-Hatfield Clark-Hatfield Automobile Company 1908 1909 Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Clark-Norwalk Norwalk Motor Car Company 1910 1910 Norwalk, Ohio
Clarkmobile Clarkmobile Company 1903 1904 Lansing, Michigan

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, Iola 1996, ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 . (English) (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (hardcover). (English)
  • Robert D. Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era: Essential Specifications of 4,000+ Gasoline Powered Passenger Cars, 1906-1915, with a Statistical and Historical Overview. Mcfarland & Co Inc (2013); ISBN 0-78647-136-0 ; ISBN 978-078647-136-2 ; soft cover (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Kimes / Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. (1996), p. 337
  2. ^ A b Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era, 1906–1915 (2013), p. 66