ER Thomas Motor Car Company

ER Thomas Motor Company, E.R. Thomas Motor Car Company
legal form	Company
founding	1896
resolution	1919
Seat	Buffalo , New York , USA
Branch	Vehicles , engines

ER Thomas Motor Car Company , previously ER Thomas Motor Company , was an American manufacturer of vehicles and engines .

Company history

Erwin Ross Thomas founded ER Thomas Motor Company in Buffalo , New York, USA . A source gives the year 1896. Other sources do not provide any information on this. What is certain is that it existed in 1900. Thomas initially manufactured engines. The buyer was Buffalo Automobile & Auto-Bi Company , another ER Thomas company. Also in 1900 the production of motorcycles began . They were called Thomas Auto-Bi .

In 1902 the company took over the Buffalo Automobile & Auto-Bi Company and continued its automobile production. A source says that ER Thomas wanted his automobiles to bear his name. From 1904 to 1907, some models were given the addition of Flyer . Business was good for a few years. In 1906 a thousand cars were produced for the first time.

Between 1906 and 1908 there was also the ER Thomas-Detroit Company , in which ER Thomas was involved.

For 1907 the Thomas Auto-Bi Company is named as the manufacturer of the motorcycles.

In 1911 ER Thomas left the company. The New York banking house Eugene Meyer and Company took over. EP Chalfant, who previously worked for Packard , became the new president. The bankruptcy began in 1912 .

In early 1913, CA Finnegan acquired what was left of the company. He continued production on a small scale. Until 1918, vehicles were still made according to customer orders. Production in 1919 is possible, but not proven.

vehicles

motorcycles

Thomas Auto-Bi from 1900

→ Main article : Thomas Auto-Bi

According to some sources, Thomas motorcycles are considered to be the first to be manufactured and sold in significant numbers in the United States.

Passenger cars

Thomas Model 17 from 1902

Thomas Flyer No. 25 from 1905

Thomas Flyer from 1907

Thomas from 1910 in the Louwman Museum

The vehicles of the model year 1903 were further developments of the Buffalo. They had a single cylinder engine with 8 hp . The chassis had a wheelbase of 198 cm . The vehicles were bodied as a tonneau . The choices were Model 17 for $ 1250 and Model 18 for $ 1400.

In 1904 all vehicles had a three-cylinder engine . He made 24 hp. The Flyer No. 22 had a wheelbase of 213 cm and a structure as a tonneau with five seats. Flyer No. 23 was a six-seater sedan with a 234 cm wheelbase.

In 1905 the range was expanded. Three models had a four-cylinder engine . The Flyer No. 25 had a 40 hp engine, 269 cm wheelbase and bodies as a touring car with five and seven seats. Flyer No. 26 had an engine with 50 hp, a wheelbase of 279 cm and was bodied as Victoria . Flyer No. 29 had the same engine, a slightly longer wheelbase at 290 cm and a sedan body. There were also three models with a six-cylinder engine . It was specified with 60 hp. The wheelbase was a uniform 315 cm. Are called Flyer No. 27 as a touring car Phaeton with three seats, Flyer No. 30 as a sedan and a racer .

In 1906 the supply was restricted. There was only the 50 hp four-cylinder engine, a uniform 300 cm wheelbase and seven-seater superstructures. Flyer No. 31 was a touring car, Flyer No. 32 a limousine, Flyer No. 33 a landaulet and Flyer No. 34 a semi-limousine.

In 1907 the 40-Horse was the entry-level model. The four-cylinder engine was specified with 35/40 hp. The wheelbase was 286 cm. Are called runabout with two seats, touring car with five seats and sedan with five seats. The original price was $ 2750. Some of this data fits the Thomas-Detroit model. The flyer ranked above it . Its four-cylinder engine developed 60 hp. The wheelbase was 300 cm. There was a choice of touring cars with seven seats, runabouts with three seats, landaulets with seven seats, demi-limousine, limousine and drop-window limousine. At the top of the range was the DX model . Its four-cylinder engine was specified with 70 hp. The wheelbase was 292 cm between the two other models. The list included touring cars with seven seats, runabouts, tourabouts , limousines and landaulets.

In 1908 the Model F was the middle of three models. The engine was specified with 48.4 hp. The wheelbase was 323 cm. These include touring cars with seven seats, limousines, landaulets, runabouts and tourabouts. The Model G was placed underneath . The engine was specified with 18.2 hp. The wheelbase measured 262 cm. There was a choice of Cabriolet , Limousine, Taxicab , Town Car , Brougham and Landaulet. Top model was the Model K . It had a six-cylinder engine that was specified with 72.6 hp. The wheelbase was 356 cm. The range of bodies corresponded to the medium model.

In 1909, the Model F engine was listed as 53 hp. The runabout has been replaced by a flyabout. The sedan was now specified with seven seats. The other bodies remained unchanged. The Model G was given as 18 hp. The only body shape was a town car. With the Model K , the engine was specified with a smooth 72 hp. Here, too, a flyabout replaced the runabout. Model L was new . The six-cylinder engine was specified with 31 hp. The wheelbase was 310 cm. Listed were touring cars with six seats, flyabouts with four seats, tourabouts and limousines with six seats.

In 1910, the number of cylinders and the engine power could be seen in the model name . The F-4-60 model had a 323 cm wheelbase. These include touring cars with seven seats, tourabouts, flyabouts, limousines and landaulets. The model K-6-70 with 356 cm wheelbase had the same body offer. The model M-6-40 did not have a flyabout, while the touring car only had five seats. The wheelbase measured 318 cm. The 312 cm wheelbase model R-4-28 was only available as a sedan, brougham and town car.

In 1911, the model name only roughly indicated the performance. The E-4-30 model had a 28.9 hp engine. The wheelbase measured 312 cm. The only structure offered was a brougham. For the K-6-70 model , the engine was now specified with 72 hp. The bodies did not change compared to the previous year, apart from the fact that the number of seats for the touring car is no longer known. The M-6-40 model had a six-cylinder engine with 43 hp and a wheelbase of 318 cm. Here are touring cars with five seats, flyabouts, torpedo , gunboat, limousine, and landaulet.

The four-cylinder models were discontinued in 1912. The model KC-6-70 now had a 70 hp engine again. Listed were touring cars with seven seats, flyabouts with four seats, runabouts with two seats, touring limousines, touring landaulets, vestibules limousines and vestibules landaulets. The MC-6-40 model had a 40 horsepower engine and a 320 cm wheelbase. The options were Runabout with two seats, Surrey with four seats, Coupé , Phaeton with five seats, Limousine with seven seats, Landaulet with seven seats and Inside Drive Brougham with seven seats.

In 1913 the offer was limited to the Model 6-46 . The wheelbase was 340 cm. Six and seven-seater touring cars, five-seater Phaeton, four-seater Surrey and two-seater runabout were available.

For the period from 1914 to 1915, it became the MCX model . The engine was now specified with 43 hp. The wheelbase remained unchanged. Only touring cars were offered that had either five or seven seats.

The MF model followed from 1916 to 1917 . The engine remained the same, only the wheelbase was lengthened to 345 cm. Touring cars, roadsters , coupes and three different sedans have come down to us.

Car model overview

year	model	cylinder	Power ( hp )	Wheelbase (cm)	construction
1903	Model 17	1	8th	198	Tonneau
1903	Model 18	1	8th	198	Tonneau
1904	Flyer No. 22nd	3	24	213	5-seater tonneau
1904	Flyer No. 23	3	24	234	6-seater sedan
1905	Flyer No. 25th	4th	40	269	5-seater and 7-seater touring cars
1905	Flyer No. 26th	4th	50	279	Victoria
1905	Flyer No. 27	6th	60	315	Touring car Phaeton 3-seater
1905	Flyer No. 29	4th	50	290	limousine
1905	Flyer No. 30th	6th	60	315	limousine
1905	Flyer racer	6th	60	315	Racer
1906	Flyer No. 31	4th	50	300	7-seater touring car
1906	Flyer No. 32	4th	50	300	7-seater sedan
1906	Flyer No. 33	4th	50	300	7-seater landaulet
1906	Flyer No. 34	4th	50	300	7-seater semi-sedan
1907	40-horse	4th	35/40	286	Runabout 2-seater, touring car 5-seater, limousine 5-seater
1907	Flyer	4th	60	300	7-seater touring car, 3-seater runabout, 7-seater landaulet, demi-limousine, limousine, drop-window limousine
1907	Model DX	4th	70	292	7-seater touring car, runabout, tourabout, limousine, landaulet
1908	Model F	4th	48.4	323	7-seater touring car, limousine, landaulet, runabout, tourabout
1908	Model G	4th	18.2	262	Cabriolet, Limousine, Taxicab, Town Car, Brougham, Landaulet
1908	Model K	6th	72.5	356	7-seater touring car, limousine, landaulet, runabout, tourabout
1909	Model F	4th	53	323	7-seater touring car, flyabout, tourabout, 7-seater limousine, landaulet
1909	Model G	4th	18th	262	Town Car
1909	Model K	6th	72	356	7-seater touring car, flyabout, tourabout, limousine, landaulet
1909	Model L	6th	31	310	Touring car 6-seater, flyabout 4-seater, tourabout, limousine 6-seater
1910	Model F-4-60	4th	60	323	7-seater touring car, touabout, flyabout, limousine, landaulet
1910	Model K-6-70	6th	70	356	7-seater touring car, flyabout, tourabout, limousine, landaulet
1910	Model M-6-40	6th	40	318	5-seater touring car, tourabout, limousine, landaulet
1910	Model R-4-28	4th	28	312	Limousine, Brougham, Town Car
1911	Model E-4-30	4th	28.9	312	Brougham
1911	Model K-6-70	6th	72	356	Touring car, flyabout, runabout, landaulet, limousine
1911	Model M-6-40	6th	43	318	5-seater touring car, flyabout, torpedo, gunboat, limousine, landaulet
1912	Model KC-6-70	6th	70	356	7-seater touring car, 4-seater flyabout, 2-seater runabout, touring limousine, touring landaulet, vestibuled limousine, vestibuled landaulet
1912	Model MC-6-40	6th	40	320	Runabout 2-seat, Surrey 4-seat, Coupé, Phaeton 5-seat, Limousine 7-seat, Landaulet 7-seat, Inside Drive Brougham 7-seat
1913	Model 6-46	6th	46	340	Touring car 6-seat and 7-seat, Phaeton 5-seat, Surrey 4-seat, Runabout 2-seat
1914-1915	Model MCX	6th	43	340	5-seater and 7-seater touring cars
1916-1917	Model MF	6th	43	345	Touring car, roadster, sedan, coupé

motor race

The winning car in the 1908 New York City to Paris race

The vehicle still exists

Lewis Strang with his racing car at the 1908 French Grand Prix

In 1906 a vehicle was used in the Vanderbilt Cup and reached eighth place.

In 1908 a race around the world was held from New York City to Paris . Six vehicles took part. Thomas used a vehicle. George Schuster and Montague Roberts were the drivers. They reached goal after 169 days. You were declared the winner. For the Protos of Hans Koeppen , who indeed arrived rather in Paris, was downgraded.

In the same year it was registered for the French Grand Prix and again for the Vanderbilt Cup .

Car production figures

By 1913, over 8,000 passenger cars were built . Figures for the time thereafter are not available.

year	Production number
1903	250
1904	353
1905	637
1906	1000
1907	1000
1908	703
1909	817
1910	1036
1911	1173
1912	736
1913	313
total	8018

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. 1463-1466 (English).
• George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 3: P-Z . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 1585 (English).

Web links

Commons : ER Thomas Motor Car Company  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 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. 1463-1466 (English).
2. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 3: P-Z . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 1585 (English).
3. ↑ Antique Motorcycle Club of America (accessed June 8, 2019)
4. ↑ Tom Laferriere offered a 1901 motorcycle (accessed June 8, 2019)
5. ↑ The Great Auto Race 1908 (accessed June 8, 2019)