Dile Motor Car Company

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Dile Motor Car Company stock blank chain

The Dile Motor Car Company was a short-lived American automobile manufacturer .

description

The company was founded in November 1913 by Fred K. Dick and Irvin D. Lengel in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania . The name results from the combination of the first two letters of the surname of the founder. The vehicle was sold as a Dile .

Dile Model A

The company's first and only model was a very light sports car presented in 1914. With a wheelbase of 96 inches (2438 mm), the attractive roadster was longer than a typical cycle car and even the rather popular Voiturette Metz 22 . The size, design and performance of the Dile Model A correspond most closely to the Saxon from Detroit, which was introduced a little earlier , but was offered at significantly lower prices and proved to be a great success.

However, with a new price of a little under US $ 500, it was around 20 percent more expensive than one (or the Saxon 14 ). There is slightly different information about this: US $ 485 or US $ 495. Instead of the usual motorcycle engine, it offered a four-cylinder with 11 bhp (8.2 kW) power, a planetary gear instead of a friction gear and two seats next to each other instead of one behind the other. The vehicle was left-hand drive .

A custom-made product with black and white stripes to match her favorite costume was delivered to the film actress Pearl White (1889–1938).

Regardless of whether the Dile was a “real” cycle car or not: It shared the fate of most representatives of this category. The company was in August 1916 in the bankruptcy , the production ended in early 1917. The reasons are multiple material shortage as a result of the entry into the war respectively the US this year. the production changeover called in its consequence. Both appear less likely, as vehicles were still being completed by the company's new owners until 1918.

The decision to discontinue production of the Dile was also made easier by the general market situation. The Ford Model T already played a dominant role. During the preparation period for the Dile , around 1913, a Ford Model T runabout at US $ 525 cost slightly more than this one. That changed in 1914 when the price dropped to US $ 440. By 1917 Ford had lowered the list price to US $ 345, which also significantly undercut the Saxon .

cylinder W × H Displacement power wheelbase tires Weight
R4 6.67 x 10.17 mm 1420 cc / 86.6 ci 11 bhp (8.2 kW) 2438 mm / 96 in 28 × 3 in 385 kg / 850 lb

An occasionally mentioned touring variant has not yet been proven.

A Dile Model A Roadster is in Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles in Boyertown ( Berks County , Pennsylvania issued).

The end

The bankruptcy process took a long time. At the beginning of 1918, a buyer was found in the commercial vehicle manufacturer Belmont Motors Corporation in Lewistown (Pennsylvania) who not only took over the facilities and movable assets of the Dile Motor Car Company , but also the patents, construction plans, trademark rights and even material stores and vehicles that had been commenced .

The takeover fueled rumors that the recently founded Belmont Motors Corporation also wanted to get into the automotive industry. This was not the case; After completion of the vehicles that had been started and some built from existing spare parts, they were sold and the company was used for truck production.

Belmont did not begin its own production until the 1919 model year.

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI (1985), ISBN 0-87341-111-0 . (English)
  • 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)
  • 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 978-0-7864-7136-2 , pp. 192 (English, 220 p., Limited preview in Google book search).
  • George Nick Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles ; MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI (1979); ISBN 0-87341-024-6 ; Hardcover

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Kimes (1996), p. 454.
  2. ↑ Kimes (1996), pp. 454-455.
  3. ↑ Kimes (1996), pp. 1324-1325.
  4. ↑ Kimes (1996), p. 455.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Dluhy (2013), p. 192.
  6. ↑ a b c d D.W. Thomas: Photo page about the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles; Dile Model A
  7. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 554.
  8. ↑ Kimes (1996), p. 554.
  9. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 556.
  10. ↑ Facebook page of the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles
  11. ↑ Georgano; Commercial Vehicles (1979), p. 82.