Courier Motors Company

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Courier Motors Company
legal form Company
founding 1922
resolution 1923
Reason for dissolution closure
Seat Sandusky , Ohio , USA
management Albert C. Burch
Branch automobile

The Courier Motors Company was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer in the early 1920s. The brand name was Courier . The vehicle was the successor to the Maibohm Motors Company (1916–1922).

prehistory

The last Maibohm Model B-6 Sedan looked very similar to the corresponding Courier Model D (1922).

The blacksmith and wagon builder Peter C. Maibohm from Racine ( Wisconsin ) founded the Maibohm Wagon Works in 1886 , which his son Harry C. Maibohm reorganized as Maibohm Motors Company in early 1916 . Conventional, solid and rather sporty mid - range vehicles were created , initially with an in-house light and sporty four-cylinder car, which was replaced in 1918 by a larger model with a six-cylinder engine that was bought in. After a fire, the company started producing in Sandusky ( Ohio ) in spring 1919 .

Company history

Courier Model D 5-Passenger Phaeton (1922).

At the beginning of 1922 Maibohm Motors got into such massive difficulties that the creditors took over the business in May for US $ 110,000 and apparently continued it until July. After the bankruptcy of Maibohm Motors , its facilities were transferred to the Arrow Corporation founded for this purpose . The Courier Motors Company emerged from this in August 1922 . The line took Albert C. Burch , who previously in the commercial vehicle manufacturers Signal Motor Truck Company in Detroit ( Michigan ) and Clydesdale Motor Truck Company in Clyde (Ohio) had gained experience. The company produced the last Maibohm model B-6 in a slightly improved form as Courier Model D . It was believed that by focusing on perfected vehicle lubrication, they could improve their market opportunities, and they built dry sump lubrication for the engine and central chassis lubrication for the chassis in the otherwise almost unchanged vehicle. Apparently a significant expansion of the company was sought, as sales advertisements appeared all over the United States, promoting the "most completely and comfortably lubricated car in America". An export was also considered; at least one Courier that was delivered to Australia as a new car is known. Local patriotism was appealed in regional advertisements: "If you buy a Courier , you are helping Sandusky. Men, money and materials from Sandusky build this car".

All of these efforts proved ineffective. The production of the Courier Model D remained with 373 units in the model year 1923 well below the 623 manufactured copies of the Maibohm Model B-6 in its last complete model year (1921). By July 1922, a further 217 were added, while the production of the Courier Model D , which might have started after that, is included in the 373 vehicles mentioned. There is no information about the production period of the Courier Model D , but it is likely to have lasted from late 1922 to late 1923. The exact date of the dissolution of the Courier Motors Company is also not known. However, there seems to have been a closure without bankruptcy proceedings. Not even the trade press reported about this end.

technology

Courier Model D 5-Passenger Brougham (1922).

The technical data of the Courier Model D are largely identical to those of the Maibohm Model B / B-6 . Deviations could be proven for the engine and central chassis lubrication, which in this class can definitely be rated as unique selling points, the carburetor , the steering and some body variants. There were a total of nine of them (some with different features) and the customer could choose from five colors. The overhead six - cylinder had a displacement of 3.2 liters; the power is deviating with 45 bhp (33.6 kW) or 46 bhp (34.3 kW) and the named on the engine bore parked NACC rating gives a value of 23.4 horsepower, which in the United Kingdom and the applicable tax-PS (RAC rating). However, this value says little about the actual engine performance. As a Phaeton, the Courier Model D weighed 1275 kg.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Predecessor formula for SAE-PS . NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was an association of the automobile industry founded in 1913 and the successor to the ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), which introduced the first standards in US automobile manufacture in 1903. The inaccurate method for measuring performance was also used by the RAC in Great Britain and was mainly used for allocation to a tax class ( RAC Horsepower ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Courier Motors Company  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of the American Automobile , 1996, pp. 916–917 (Maibohm)
  2. ↑ American Automobiles: The Maibohm Automobile & The Maibohm Motors Co.
  3. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of the American Automobile , 1996, p. 916 (Maibohm)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 383 (Courier)
  5. ^ Courier Motors Company (ed.): A Good, Husky Six , Courier sales brochure (1923).
  6. ↑ a b c d carfolio.com: Courier Model D (1922 MY) specifications
  7. ↑ NACC: Handbook of Automobiles 1915-1916 , p. 212 (HP Rating)
  8. ↑ a b classiccardatabase.com: Standard Specifications 1923 Courier Model D