Only Motor Car Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Only Motor Car Company
legal form Corporation
founding 1909
resolution 1913
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Port Jefferson , Suffolk County , New York , USA
management Fred W. Edwards, Fred Seymour, Henry N. Dickinson, François Maurice Richard
Branch automobile

The Only Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer . The brand name was Only .

Company history

1910 Only 12 HP Model A Racytype Torpedo on Port Jefferson Hill Climb (1910)

The company was initiated by the French designer François M. Richard and funded by Fred W. Edwards , Fred Seymour and Henry N. Dickinson . Richard had received a gold medal at the world exhibition in Paris in 1900 for the supposedly first two-stroke engine and one for his patented carburetor at the next .

The first model was a very sporty two-seater with Richard's improved single-cylinder engine ; logical was an early brand slogan Only One Cylinder . The vehicle also had an unusual position for the driver and front passenger, well back in the chassis and practically above the rear axle. Depending on the source, this first and for the time being the only model was called either Racytype Torpedo or Only Model A ; the latter is generally documented from 1911. The price was very attractive at $ 700 ; a somewhat sporty Ford Model T Runabout with a 2.8 liter four-cylinder engine and 22 bhp (16.4 kW) power cost $ 900 in 1910. Prices for 30 horsepower cars started around $ 1,400.

Also in 1911, the Speedster was given a four-seater version with the same wheelbase of 104 inches (2642 mm) in the form of the F 4-passenger Torpedo model . There is no picture; possibly only one copy was built. In this version, the driver's seat must have been moved forward significantly to make room for the second row of seats. Prices were now $ 800 for the Speedster and $ 1,050 for the four-seater.

In 1912 Richard presented a much larger successor with a wheelbase of 112 inches (2845 mm), a more common seating position and a new, in-house four-cylinder engine. The vehicle appeared in two versions. One was referred to, confusingly, as the Model A Raceabout , the other, Model B , was a conventional touring .

Only a few of these four-cylinder models were built, then those responsible found that the brand name was no longer appropriate. In addition, the company struggled with massive financial problems.

Metropol Motors Corporation

Because the trust in Richard's construction was still there, the management decided to bring a slightly revised version onto the market under a new name. Hence, the same people who were involved in the Only Motor Car Company formed the Metropol Motors Corporation . The new company received fresh capital and its own premises and began the construction of the Metropolitan Model C . This corresponded to the previous only four-cylinder model except for the wheelbase lengthened by three inches and a revised body. Initially, only the roadster was offered.

According to another source, Only Motor Car Company was reorganized as Metropol Motors Corporation in 1913 . However, it does not fit in with the fact that the Only systems had already been sold and converted in mid-1913, while on the other hand the Metropol continued to be built for another year.

The end

The insolvency of Only Motor Car copany that had been announced for some time, joined in the spring 1913th Debt of $ 148,405.96 was identified, only about half of which was funded. The systems were sold to the Maxim Tri-Car Manufacturing Company in July .

Model overview


A.LAM rating model		 construction time engine Cubic capacity
ci / cm³ 		Power
bhp / kW 		Wheelbase
mm / in 		body Price in
US dollars
Only Model A Racytype Torpedo
12 HP 		1909-1911 1; sv
Only 		206.3 / 3381 12 / 8.9 104/2642 Roadster 2 pl. 700.-
800.-
Only Model F
12 HP 		1911 1; sv
Only 		206.3 / 3381 12 / 8.9 104/2642 4-pass. torpedo 1050.-
Only Model A
30 HP 		1912-1913 4 row; T-head
only 		446.9 / 7323 90/67 112/2845 Raceabout 2 pl. 1000.-
Only Model B
30 HP 		1912-1913 4 row; T-head
only 		446.9 / 7323 90/67 112/2845 Touring 1250.-

Rating according to NACC : The NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was a manufacturer's organization whose predecessor introduced the first standards for motor vehicles in the USA. HP according to NACC build on it; these data are calculated, not measured.

Racing

Advertisement by Knox with results of the Port Jefferson Hill Climb (1910)

The Automobile Club of Port Jefferson organized a hill climb in June 1910 ("Hill Climb"). The stretch was 2000 feet (610 m) long. 67 vehicles competed against each other in 16 races. Richard was apparently involved in the prep, and an Only Model A also attended. The driver was a Mr. Sloat. There were classes according to the list price of the vehicles as well as according to engine size and an open "Free-For-All" class, in which Sloat also started as an outsider. The winner in this class was Ralph DePalma in a Fiat Grand Prix racing car with a time of 20:48 seconds. The Only finished tenth with a time of 40:48 seconds. The race was repeated as a revival event in 2010.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Predecessor formula for SAE-PS . NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was an association of the automobile industry founded in 1913 and the successor to the ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), which introduced the first standards in US automobile manufacture in 1903. The benefit is calculated; Cylinder bore ² × number of cylinders; the result is divided by 2.5. SAE-PS was later developed from this formula , it is also the basis of the British tax-PS at that time.

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 .
  • Robert D. Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era: Essential Specifications of 4,000+ Gasoline Powered Passenger Cars, 1906-1915, with a Statistical and Historical Overview. Mcfarland & Co Inc. publishers, Jefferson NC, 2013; ISBN 0-78647-136-0 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover), 1973; ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers : Handbook of Gasoline Automobiles / 1904-1905-1906. Introduced by Clarence P. Hornung, Dover Publications, New York, 1969.
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce : Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b American Automobiles: The Only Automobile & The Only Motor Car Co.
  2. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 576 (Ford T)
  3. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 207 (Cadillac 30)
  4. ↑ a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1089 (Only)
  5. ↑ a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1090 (Only)
  6. ^ Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era , 2013, p. 105 (Only)
  7. ^ Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era , 2013, p. 98 (Metropol)
  8. ↑ American Automobiles: The Metropol Automobile & The Metropol Motors Corp.
  9. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 966 (Metropol)
  10. ^ The Automobile, Vol. XXII No 26: Knox Wins Feature Events at Port Jeff Hill.
  11. ^ Vanderbilt Cup Races: The "Sensational" 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb.