Pope Motor Car Company

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Pope-Toledo Tonneau (1904)
Pope-Waverley Electric Runabout (1907), built at the Indianapolis subsidiary

The Pope Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Toledo, Ohio from 1903 to 1909 . It manufactured automobiles under the name Pope-Toledo .

description

The predecessor company was the International Motor Car Company , also from Toledo in Ohio. ABC and the Pope Manufacturing Company were the nucleus of the first US automobile company, which Colonel Albert A. Pope built around the turn of the century. In 1903 the vehicle manufacturers controlled by the group were combined in this group. This is how the International Motor Car Company became the Pope Motor Car Company .

The Pope-Toledo was built until the collapse of the group in 1909. In 1909 the company was taken over by Richard D. Apperson of the American National Bank in Lynchburg, Virginia . After an attempt to revive the respected brand, it disappeared from the market for good shortly afterwards. The systems were sold to the Overland Auto Company , which in turn was owned by John North Willys and later joined General Motors .

Pope-Toledo was an upscale brand within the Pope empire, which also included the electric and luxury car manufacturer Columbia , the car and motorcycle manufacturer Pope-Hartford or a manufacturing facility in Indianapolis (Indiana) called Waverley Department , where the name was also used Pope-Waverley built inexpensive electric vehicles.

The model offered in 1903 was an open two-seater with four wheels and a front engine. It was powered by a three-cylinder in-line engine with a capacity of 2983 cm³, which - unusual for the time - had a removable cylinder head. The valves were side-controlled and the speed was limited to 600 min −1 . The engine power was transmitted to both rear wheels via a three-speed gearbox and a chain. The car had a mainly wooden frame combined with a steel subframe that carried the main mechanical components. The wheelbase was 2261 mm and the track 1422 mm.

The 1904 model was a larger touring car. It had a tonneau structure with rear entry, offered five people and cost US $ 3500. The four-cylinder in-line engine installed at the front developed 24 bhp (17.6 kW) and there was a three-speed spur gear. The car, equipped with a steel frame made of box sections, weighed 1066 kg. The modern, rear-wheel drive car had levers for adjusting the ignition and throttle in the steering wheel, which was an innovation at the time.

In 1907 there were also sedans and touring cars with seven seats.

Models

model Construction period cylinder power wheelbase
1903 3 row 2261 mm
1904 2 row 14 bhp (10.3 kW) 1930 mm
1904 4 row 24 bhp (17.6 kW) 2388 mm
X 1905-1906 4 row 20–24 bhp (14.7–17.6 kW) 2235 mm
VII 1905-1906 4 row 30–35 bhp (22–26 kW) 2438 mm
VIII 1905 4 row 30 bhp (22 kW) 2540 mm
IX 1905 4 row 45 bhp (33 kW) 2642 mm
XII 1906-1908 4 row 40 bhp (29 kW) 2642 mm
XV 1907 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 2921 mm
XVII 1908 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 3200 mm
XVIII 1908 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 3200 mm
XVI 1908 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 2921 mm
XXI 1909 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 2921 mm
XXIII 1909 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 2921 mm
XXII 1909 4 row 50 bhp (37 kW) 3200 mm

literature

  • Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. January 1904.
  • Beverly Rae Kimes, Henry Austin Clark Jr. Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1985, ISBN 0-87341-045-9 .
  • 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, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-7136-2 . (English)
  • James J. Flink: America Adopts the Automobile - 1895-1910. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970, ISBN 0-262-06036-1 . (English)
  • David Beecroft: History of the American Automobile Industry. Publisher lulu.com, 2009, ISBN 978-0-557-05575-3 . (Reprint of a series of articles in The Automobile magazine . First published between October 1915 and August 1916; English)

Web links

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