Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company

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Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company
legal form Corporation
founding 1905
resolution 1906
Seat Detroit , Michigan , USA
management JP La Vigne
Branch Automobiles , delivery vans

The Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company was an American automobile manufacturer . Brand names were La Petite (until 1905) and Paragon (only 1906). There is no connection to the Detroit Automobile Company by Henry Ford .

JP La Vigne

The designer JP La Vigne had already built a three-wheeled automobile prototype in 1898 and then made another one every year. It was unusual at the time that his daughter Olive was increasingly giving him technical advice. After La Petite and the Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company , he founded the Griswold Motor Company in 1907 and after its failure or sale, he built the La Vigne Cyclecar and the Traveler , a solid mid-range car . None of his projects were ultimately successful, although the La Vigne is currently being certified as one of the best representatives of its genre. JP La Vigne is assigned 224 patents.

La Petite

In 1903 La Vigne built his first four-wheeled vehicle, which was followed shortly after by a second. The latter was shown under the brand name La Petite ("The Little One") at the 1903 Detroit Automobile Show . The vehicle had an air-cooled single - cylinder two-stroke engine from La Vignes construction with 4-5 hp (3-3.7 kW) power, a three-speed planetary gearbox and a cardan drive . It only cost US $ 375.00 as a two-seater runabout and US $ 425.00 as a delivery van .

The Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company , based at the intersection of Rivard and Mullet streets in Detroit, was hastily founded for production and marketing . The engines were manufactured by a local manufacturer according to La Vignes plans. La Vigne was evidently dissatisfied with their quality and therefore gave up the whole project. From La Petite Model A about 200 copies were made. According to one source, La Petite was still available in 1906.

La Vigne left the company in a hurry and turned to a new project, the Griswold automobile, the specialty of which was a specially designed engine and its arrangement in the vehicle. The engine was built in such a way that its crankshaft was vertical in the vehicle and therefore the flywheel was horizontal. La Vigne, however, was not the inventor of this principle, from which one expected smoother running and less vibration vehicles. However, the concept did not catch on.

Paragon

The Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company continued business without La Vigne. La Petite Model A got a slightly longer chassis and a new name: Paragon . Another revision took place after a short time; the vehicle was now on a four-stroke - two-cylinder powered unknown origin. It had a square ratio of bore and stroke of 3 inches (76.2 mm) each, a displacement of 42.7 ci (695 cm³) and made 5 bhp (3.7 kW).

It is unclear whether a delivery van was built in addition to the runabout. It turned out that the Paragon had no market opportunities either. The Detroit Automobile Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1906.> The system was sold to the Marvel Motor Car Company , which only built the Marvel there in 1907 , a similar but slightly larger runabout with 14 bhp.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 662 (Griswold)
  2. a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 852 (La Vigne)
  3. Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1477 (Traveler)
  4. a b c d Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1150 (Paragon (1906))
  5. a b c d Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era. 2013, p. 92 (La Petite)
  6. a b c d e Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 841 (La Petite)
  7. a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, pp. 933-934 (Marvel)
  8. ^ Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era. 2013, p. 107 (Paragon)