Dragon Motor Company

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Dragon Automobile Company
Dragon Motor Company
legal form Company
founding 1906
resolution 1908
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA
management JE Calhoun
Branch Automobiles

Dragon Motor Company , previously Dragon Automobile Company , was an American manufacturer of automobiles .

Company history

The Dragon Automobile Company was founded in the US state of Maine in the summer of 1906 . There are references to the town of Kittery . Harold P. Knowlton was President and Albert E. Knowlton was Treasurer. The designer was Leo Melanowski, who previously worked for Panhard & Levassor , Établissements Clément-Bayard , Waltham Manufacturing Company and Winton Motor Carriage Company . In late 1906, automobile production began at a Detroit , Michigan plant . The brand name was Dragon . The first vehicles were presented at the New York Automobile Show in December 1906 . At that time, Frank Corlew was leading the company. A little later, a former factory was purchased from the JG Brill Company in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . In December 1907 the company gave up under the direction of John Kane Mills.

JE Calhoun renamed the company the Dragon Motor Company at the time. He planned to make taxis . Bankruptcy followed in March 1908 .

In April 1908, the Gorson Auto Exchange acquired the factory and assets. This included 70 finished chassis . Gorson probably completed 50 of them into complete vehicles.

A total of around 250 vehicles were built, two of which still exist.

There was no connection with Dragon Motors Corporation , which years later also offered cars as Dragon .

vehicles

All models have four-cylinder engines from Herschell-Spillman .

The 24/26 HP model was in the range from 1906 to 1908. The model name was an indication of the engine power. The chassis had a wheelbase of 264 cm . A five-seat touring car was the only body that was available during the entire construction period. There was also a two-seat runabout from 1906 to 1907 and a five-seat town car in 1908 .

The 35 HP supplemented the range in 1908. Its engine developed 35 hp . The wheelbase was 244 cm. The vehicles were bodied as roadsters with two seats.

Model overview

year model cylinder Power ( hp ) Wheelbase (cm) construction
1906-1907 24/26 HP 4th 24/26 264 5-seater touring car, 2-seater runabout
1908 24/26 HP 4th 24/26 264 5-seater touring car, 5-seater town car
1908 35 HP 4th 35 244 Roadster 2-seater

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 492 (English).
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 456 (English).

Web links

Commons : Dragon Motor Company  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr .: Standard catalog of American Cars. 1805-1942. Digital edition . 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2013, ISBN 978-1-4402-3778-2 , pp. 492 (English).
  2. ↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 456 (English).
  3. ↑ 1907 Dragon Raceabout (accessed January 6, 2018)