Preston Motors Corporation

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Preston Motor Car Company (1918-1919)
Preston Motors Corporation (1919-1923)
legal form Corporation
founding 1918
resolution 1923
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Birmingham , Jefferson County , Alabama , USA
management 1) Charles A. Dexter
2) Ross A. Skinner
Branch Automobiles , commercial vehicles

The Preston Motor Car Company , from 1919 Preston Motors Corporation , is a former American automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer . Brand names were Preston and Premocar .

Company history

The Preston Motor Car Company was founded in the spring of 1918 by Charles A. Dexter in Birmingham (Alabama) to manufacture automobiles and utility vehicles based on designs by WH Tarpley of Newark (New Jersey) . The company moved into the facilities of the former Birmingham Boiler Works . Many components of the vehicles named Preston were obtained from the Sandusky Forging Company . A lower middle class vehicle was offered from US $ 600 and a truck from US $ 1000. The vehicles were announced and advertised as Preston , but do not appear to have entered the market under this name. After a short time there was a financial bottleneck and the company had to be reorganized under new management as early as 1919.

Preston Motors and Premocar 6-40A

Ross A. Skinner as President, Joseph T. Driver as Vice President and Preston Orr as Chief Financial Officer were responsible for the restart. The company's headquarters were now at the intersection of 18th Avenue and Vanderbilt Road in Birmingham. It was moved into in the late summer of 1920. The vehicles were new designs without Tarpleys involvement and appeared under the brand name Premocar . Again there were cars and commercial vehicles, the former, however, in a much more expensive market segment. First should be a six-cylinder - valve engine system Fischer are used as described in greater execution in 1914 for the Mondex Magic from New York City had been planned. At least one vehicle with this engine and a list price of US $ 2290, - was actually built and used by the City of Birmingham to drive high-ranking visitors. US President Warren G. Harding , who gave a widely acclaimed speech here in October 1921, and the composer John Philip Sousa in 1922 enjoyed this pleasure .

The vehicles were assembled vehicles with the advantages and disadvantages of such assembled products. The former included low development costs, tried-and-tested components, flexible purchasing of materials and a low price, while the disadvantages included the dependence on suppliers (which could have fatal consequences, especially for tightly financed companies) and lower brand prestige.

The car went into series production as the Premocar 6-40A for the 1921 model year with a more conventional Falls ohv six-cylinder. This should have made the significantly lower list price of US $ 1295, - possible. A Ford Model T Touring cost US $ 535 from late 1920 to mid-1922 and then US $ 440. According to one source, the Premocar 6-40A was available for the same price as a two-seat roadster or five-seat touring ; according to other information, only touring was offered.

The 6-40A was produced until 1923 with minor changes . Different information is available with regard to deliverable versions and prices. According to one source, only Roadsters and Touring were still offered, but now at US $ 2250 each. According to other information, the prices for 1922 remained unchanged at US $ 1295 each. Accordingly, there was also a new sedan for US $ 1995, -. For 1923 a 2/3 seater roadster and a 4/5 seater Phaeton are now being named at a reduced price of US $ 1095. The sedan still cost US $ 1825, - and a new coupé was also offered for US $ 1750.

Premocar 4-80

The Premocar 4-80 was a particularly powerful version of the 6-40A with a four-cylinder Rochester-Duesenberg engine derived from racing . The 4.9 liter engine in this "tamed" version developed up to 76 bhp (56.7 kW) <55.9 kW. According to contradicting information in the same source, the car cost US $ 3865, - resp. US $ 6100, -, the latter positions the vehicle in the top segment. Some import brands such as Rolls-Royce , Isotta Fraschini or Hispano Suiza or locally produced top models from Pierce-Arrow , Locomobile , Crane-Simplex or Packard carried such list prices . The Duesenbergs' first own car, the eight-cylinder Model A , had a list price of US $ 6,500 when it was launched.

insolvency

The company ended ingloriously. After 93 vehicles of the 1923 model year were built, production was stopped early and the company was placed under bankruptcy law in May 1923. Skinner, Driver and Orr appear to have been charged with violating the Alabama Blue Sky laws .

Model overview

model Bj. engine
Cubic capacity c.i. / cm³		 Power
bhp / kW		 Wheelbase
inches / mm		 body Remarks
6-40 1920 R6; Slider
Liz. Fisherman 		Touring , 5 pl. prototype
4-80 1921 R4; Walking Beam
Rochester-Duesenberg  G-3		 301.579 / 4942 35 / 26.1 117/2972
127/3226		 Touring
sport
6-40A 1921 R6; ohv
falls 		195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Roadster , 2 pl.
6-40A 1921 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Touring , 5 pl.
6-40A 1922 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Roadster, 2 pl.
6-40A 1922 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Touring, 5 pl.
6-40A 1922 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Sedan , 5 pl.
6-40A 1923 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Roadster
Roadster, 2/3 pl.
6-40A 1923 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Touring
Phaeton , 4/5 pl.
6-40A 1923 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Sedan , 5 pl.
6-40A 1923 R6; ohv
falls		 195.825 / 3209 35 / 26.1 117/2972 Coupé , 2/3 pl.

commercial vehicles

One source names commercial vehicle production from the start. Brand names were, like the passenger cars, Preston and Premocar . Accordingly, the truck cost US $ 1,000 when it was launched. When the company was reorganized, the WH Tarpley design appears to have been replaced by another. Technical information and production figures are missing, both brands are not mentioned in the available literature.

Car production figures

Model year number of pieces Remarks
1920 100 Model year 1921
1921 223 including approx. 5-20 Premocar 4-80
1922 147
1923 93
Total 563

The adjacent production figures by model year are based on information from automotive historians Beverly Rae Kimes and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. in the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 .

Except for the shortened model year 1923, Premocar always produced more than 100 units per year. Production of the 4-80 was minimal.

In 1920, 1,905,560 automobiles were made in the United States.

Motorsport

Racers Bob Robinson , Laurie Stone and Ralph Hankinson had limited success on Premocar 4-80 in the southern states . Statistical details are missing, however. Robinson drove races at Duesenberg in 1928 and 1929.

literature

NACC rating.
  • Don Butler: Auburn Cord Duesenberg. Crestline Publishing Co., Crestline Series , 1992, ISBN 0-879-38701-7 .
  • Fred Roe: Duesenberg - The Pursuit of Perfection. Dalton Watson Ltd., Publishers, London W1V 4AN, England, 1982, ISBN 0-90156-432-X .
  • 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 .
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover), 1973: ISBN 0-525-08351-0 .
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Ed. SAE ( Society of Automotive Engineers ) Permissions, Warrendale PA, 2005; ISBN 0-7680-1431-X .
  • 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 .
  • Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1920-39. MBI Motorbooks International, Osceola WI, 1975; ISBN 0-87938-026-8 .
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce (NACC): Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.
  • Dr. Emil Merkert: Passenger cars, buses and trucks in the United States of America with special attention to their relations with railways and highways. Julius Springer publishing house, Berlin (1930), hardcover; without ISBN

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, pp. 1245-1246 (Premocar).
  2. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1245 (Premocar).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1246 (Premocar).
  4. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 1246 (Preston).
  5. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 991 (Mondex-Magic).
  6. ↑ Carfolio: Premocar 6-40 A Touring, 1921 MY.
  7. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 582 (Ford T).
  8. ↑ Classic Car Database: 1921 Premocar 6-40-A Series, 117 in. Wheelbase ; If Valve-in-head
  9. ↑ a b c d Classic Car Database: 1922 Premocar 6-40-A Series, 117 in. Wheelbase ; If Valve-in-head
  10. ↑ a b c d e Classic Car Database: 1923 Premocar 6-40-A Series, 117 in. Wheelbase ; If XP Valve-in-head
  11. ^ Roe: Duesenberg - The Pursuit of Perfection. 1982, p. 66.
  12. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 1996, p. 496 (Duesenberg).
  13. ↑ a b Carfolio: Premocar 4-80 Touring, 1921 MY.
  14. ↑ Merkert: Passenger Cars, Buses, and Trucks in the United States , 1930, p. 14 (Table 7).
  15. ↑ Champcarstats: Bob Robinson.