LaFayette Motors Corporation

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LaFayette Motors Corp. stock dated August 15, 1923
This 1921 vehicle was called the 4-door coupe

The LaFayette Motors Corporation was an automobile manufacturer in the United States .

description

The company was founded in 1919 as the LaFayette Motors Company and named after the Marquis de la Fayette . The company's automobiles had a Marquis plaque as a logo.

Originally based in Mars Hill, Indianapolis , Indiana , LaFayette manufactured luxury automobiles. The first model came out in 1920. LaFayette cars had many modern features, such as the first electric clock in an automobile. In 1921 Charles W. Nash became the boss of LaFayette. Nash was already founder and CEO of Nash Motors , but the two brands continued to operate separately for a while, despite Nash being the major shareholder in LaFayette Motors. In the 1920s there were rumors that Pierce-Arrow wanted to merge with LaFayette Motors, Rolls-Royce or General Motors , but these were not confirmed.

In 1922 or 1923, the company was renamed and moved to Milwaukee , Wisconsin .

In 1924, Nash Motors became wholly owned by LaFayette Motors and the LaFayette name was discontinued soon after. The factories were given a more profitable purpose: this is where the Ajax automobiles were manufactured.

From 1934 to 1940 the name LaFayette was used for the smallest series of passenger car models from Nash's own production, see Nash LaFayette .

Brand name

One source writes Lafayette throughout , another LaFayette , while a third uses both spellings. In advertisements, the company often used capital letters with a slightly smaller first A, such as L A FAYETTE .

Quantities

One source gives 685 vehicles for 1921, 349 for the following year, 384 for 1923 and then 441. In total, that's 1859. According to another source, a total of 2267 vehicles were built.

literature

  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark, Jr.: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI, USA 1985, ISBN 0-87341-111-0 . (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 . (English)
  • Brooks T. Brierley: Auburn, Reo, Franklin and Pierce-Arrow versus Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln and Packard. 1st edition. Garrett & Stringer, Coconut Grove, Florida, ISBN 0-9615791-1-0 . (English)
  • Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1920-39. Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-026-8 . (English)

Web links

Commons : LaFayette Motors Corporation  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Lafayette.
  2. ↑ 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. 833-834 (English).
  3. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 2: G-O . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 845-846 (English).
  4. ↑ Automobile Quarterly Volume 39, Issue 4, p. 71.