Flint Automobile Company

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Flint Roadster (1903) at the 2011 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
Flint

The Flint Automobile Company was an American manufacturer of automobiles in Flint, Michigan .

description

Alexander Brunell Cullen "ABC" Hardy was a personal friend of William C. Durant and Dallas Dort , with whom he ran the Durant-Dort Carriage Company in Flint. This company mass-produced carriages and wagons and was the market leader in the United States. At the end of 1901 Hardy withdrew from the company, probably because of overhaul, and went on a trip to Europe. Before that, he hadn't been able to convince his partners to invest in automobiles. In France he visited several car factories and was impressed by the progress. Back in the United States, he founded the Flint Automobile Company in 1902 .

The Flint Roadster

The only vehicle in the range was an attractive, two-seat voiturette called the Flint Roadster . The vehicle, sometimes called Hardy , had a wheelbase of only 72 inches (1829 mm) and a runabout body with a stowage compartment in the bow that resembled a hood. The vehicle was powered by a water-cooled 8 HP single-cylinder engine under the seat; the coil cooler was located in front of the front axle . The power was transmitted via a chain to the differential on the rear axle . The car had a steering column with a right-angled lever attached to the outside left next to the driver's seat. The suspension consisted of double elliptic leaf springs all around. The scope of delivery included wire spoke wheels . At US $ 850, the car was more expensive than the conceptually similar and very successful Oldsmobile Curved Dash (US $ 650), but it was also slightly larger and significantly more powerful than the latter.

Only 52 units were completed before the company was sued by the Electric Vehicle Company (EVC) in early 1903 for infringement of the Selden patent . EVC had acquired the rights to it and made the levying of license fees a business model. She also watched over who was allowed to produce cars.

Hardy was unwilling to enter into a humiliating trial and application for admission with uncertain outcome and preferred to stop production instead. He then worked again for the Durant-Dort Carriage Company .

Historical connections

The founding of the Flint Automobile Company also had unexpected consequences that go far beyond the company's importance as a local manufacturer. James H. Whiting (1842–1919), friends of Hardy and still a serious competitor with his carriage construction company Flint Wagon Works , was encouraged by Hardy's approach to invest in automobile production. The company of his choice was the Buick Motor Company in Detroit , which had a good product under development but did not get anywhere. In late summer 1903 Whiting bought the shares of the previous majority owner, Benjamin Briscoe (1867–1945) and arranged for the company to move to Flint.

While Briscoe put the funds released into building the Maxwell-Briscoe Company , which was founded together with Jonathan Dixon Maxwell (1864-1928), Whiting sold his shares because the investment requirements exceeded his financial possibilities. The new owner was, through the mediation of Hardy, William Durant, who had meanwhile realized that the car had a future. Buick became the nucleus of General Motors and Maxwell-Briscoe later became the Chrysler group.

Finally, a compensation process

Hardy appears to have been a resentful man. In 1909 he re-founded his Flint Automobile Company and only for the purpose of suing the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), the legal successor of the Electric Vehicle Company in the exploitation of the Selden license, for damages. He argued that he suffered a loss of US $ 75,000 from the machinations of the EVC. He must never have seen the money because the ALAM collapsed before a verdict was passed.

Flint Roadster today

At least one Flint roadster still exists in private ownership and occasionally takes part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run for automobiles built before December 31, 1904.

literature

  • Lawrence R. Gustin, Kevin M. Kirbitz, Robert A. Lutz (Introduction): David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car: The Men and the Automobile that Launched General Motors , 2nd amended and expanded edition (2011); RateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; ISBN 1-466-26367-9 ISBN 978-1466-26367-3 ; soft cover (english)
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • 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 (Editor), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI (1996), ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9 ISBN 0-87341-428-4 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America ; Editor SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA (2005), ISBN 0-7680-1431-X (English)

Web links

Commons : Flint Automobile Company  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gustin / Kirbitz: David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car (2011) , p. 151
  2. ↑ Gustin / Kirbitz: David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car (2011) , p. 122
  3. ↑ a b c d Kimes (1996), pp. 569-570
  4. ↑ Kimes (1996), p. 1060
  5. ↑ Gustin / Kirbitz: David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car (2011) , p. 82
  6. ↑ Kimes (1996), pp. 161-162
  7. ↑ Kimes (1996), p. 940
  8. ↑ Gustin / Kirbitz: David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car (2011) , p. 131