Lanpher Motor Buggy Company

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The Lanpher Motor Buggy Company was an American automobile manufacturer . The vehicles were sold as Lanpher .

Company history

Before the brothers Earl and Norman Lanpher began producing a highwheeler in Carthage (Missouri) in 1906 , they worked with their Lanpher Motor Buggy Company in coach and wagon construction on a regional level.

High wheelers were a natural choice because they were cheap to manufacture, their carriage construction resulted in a lot of technical and personnel synergies and the vehicles were well suited for the predominant, mostly bad roads. Like most high wheelers , the Lanpher was built comparatively primitive. The automobiles equipped with their eponymous, huge wooden spoke wheels were intended for the unpaved roads outside of built-up areas. They had their heyday between 1907 and 1912. With a production period from 1906 to 1916, the Lanpher was able to hold out longer than most of its competitors.

This was not least due to the pragmatic way with which the Lanphers approached the automobile industry. Their high wheelers were created side by side with their horse drawn products. Earl was responsible for the motor vehicles, Norman for the carriage building. Sales were regional and advertising was kept to a minimum. There were hardly any local advertisements and none at all nationally. The Lanpher was also not shown at automobile exhibitions.

technology

The Lanpher did not have to hide from the competition. The handcrafted vehicle was a very typical example of its kind. It was constructed like a carriage. Due to the lack of factory documents, a model overview is not possible. After all, the data for the L 2-passenger buggy model from 1910 are known. It had large wooden wheels with hard rubber - tires and a horizontally arranged under the seat two-cylinder V-engine with air cooling and PS 12/14 (12 Control-PS; 14 bhp = 10 kW). The power was transmitted to the rear axle via a two-speed planetary gearbox on two drive chains. The simple structure made it possible to meet special requests regarding the body. List price was US $ 550, which was a competitive price in 1910; even a Ford Model T with a two-seater runabout body cost significantly more at US $ 900. That changed in the following year and at the end of 1916 you could get it for only US $ 345. That was significantly less money for significantly more cars.

Little is known about the company's further history. It seems that the Lanphers left the place in late 1916.

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Eds.), Henry Austin Clark, Jr.: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1985, ISBN 0-87341-111-0 . (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 608.
  2. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 552.
  3. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 556.