Wagenhals Motor Company

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Wagenhals Manufacturing Company
Wagenhals Motor Company
legal form Company
founding 1910
resolution 1915
Reason for dissolution Bankrupt
Seat Detroit , Michigan , USA
management WG Wagenhals
Branch Automobiles

The Wagenhals Motor Company was an American automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer .

WG Wagenhals

Wagenhals was a railway engineer by profession. He designed a three-rail system for New York Central . He also invented the first really working electric headlight for automobiles; At that time these were mostly equipped with carbide headlights and also with calcium carbide - or more often - lamp oil operated lanterns and position lights.

Wagenhals Manufacturing Company

Wagenhals designed his 14 HP motor vehicle primarily as a small van. The very independently designed vehicle was also available as a two-seater runabout and taxi . To manufacture it, Wagenhals founded the Wagenhals Manufacturing Company in St. Louis, Missouri, in the summer of 1910 . But only a few vehicles were built here. The first two were acquired by a tailor and florist in Detroit .

Wagenhals Motor Company

At the end of 1910, Wagenhals moved his company to Detroit, where production facilities were located at 668 Grand River Avenue . In 1911 it was renamed Wagenhals Motor Company . Despite favorable prices of US $ 690 each for both open and closed versions, no well-known production was made:

  • 1911: 20 copies
  • 1912: 40 copies
  • 1913: 50 to 80 copies
  • No production figures are available for 1914 and 1915.

technology

The tricycle appeared with a two-cylinder engine of unknown origin, planetary gear and chain drive on the single rear wheel. The engine of the 14 HP Runabout was arranged very far forward in the chassis and transversely, between the wheels and partly in front of the front axle. The body rested on a subframe suspended from leaf springs, the axles themselves seem to have been unsprung.

The appearance of the commercial vehicle version was shaped by the driver's unusual seating position. It was at the very rear in the rear, to the side of the poorly connected rear wheel. The loading area extended in front of the driver to the front of the vehicle. It can be assumed that in this variant the engine was located directly in front of the driver. This new type of commercial vehicle concept was not Wagenhals' idea and could not prevail for larger trucks either. On the other hand, applications can be found in light vehicles, often based on cycle cars , up to the 1930s; In addition, they remained in the niche of transport equipment in factory traffic and on some construction machines to this day.

The chassis was revised in 1912 and converted to the Underslung type . In fact, due to the unconventional design, it could not have been a typical Underslung design because the springs did not support the axles but the subframe. The only change was that the axles were no longer guided under the chassis, but between it and the subframe. This resulted in a lower center of gravity and thus more driving stability. This construction seems to have been retained for other models.

In 1914, 25 vehicles with a payload of 500 lb (227 kg) were delivered to the US Post Office . The bed was equipped with a cover over the load. The post office used them in some cities east of the Mississippi River . This contact possibly came about through the Detroit parcel service, which had put five neck vehicles into operation in 1913.

New models

Initially continued with gasoline engines

The program was expanded, depending on the source, in 1914 or 1915 with the introduction of a four-cylinder model with 24 HP. A comparison of contemporary images suggests that this model was significantly larger than the 14 HP.

From the information available it is not clear how long the smaller 14 HP was produced. In a more recent work on US passenger cars from 1906–1915, the 14 HP Runabout is the only model listed; accordingly it was available in the model years 1910–1913. That does not rule out that the commercial vehicle versions stayed longer in the program; this made up the lion's share of the wagon neck production anyway.

An electric at the end

In 1914 a smaller version with a payload of at least 800 lb (363 kg) was offered as the "first practical delivery van with electric drive" for only US $ 575 - "fully equipped". Apparently, this price could not be maintained for long, several sources cite a list price of US $ 790 in 1915. This vehicle not only had the driver's seat in the rear, but also the drive mechanism. An illustration shows a compartment in front of the driver, in which the batteries were probably located. There was also a petrol engine version for only US $ 350.

As with all Wagenhals vehicles, only a few technical details are available.

The end

In 1915 the company negotiated with the US Post Office for the delivery of 1,000 parcel trucks, but a deal was never reached. In August Wagenhals had to file for bankruptcy. The outstanding amount was US $ 13,673. The exact reasons are not known, but the vehicles were unlikely to have been able to cover costs and there was enormous competitive pressure at that time. The boom in the comparatively primitive, but very affordable and versatile highwheelers had already peaked earlier. In the light commercial vehicle sector, however, they lasted a little longer because this market segment was only very inadequately covered by the emerging cycle cars . Cyclecars were sports and leisure equipment with a certain practical use. For Wagenhals, with his rather massive automobiles, these two vehicle categories were not a challenge, but the Ford Model T with a 28 hp (20.88 kW) four-cylinder engine. At the end of 1911, a variant of this delivery car came onto the market for US $ 700. Special companies that could body chassis inexpensively as light commercial vehicles with payloads of 250 to 500 kg or convert cars to flatbed trucks ( pick-ups ) already existed before. Ford also continuously reduced its prices. US $ 625 was still charged for the delivery truck in 1913; a runabout still cost US $ 525 and a five-seat Touring US $ 600. A Metz Model 22 Special Runabout with a 20 hp four-cylinder engine (14.91 kW) was available from US $ 395.

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 . (English)
  • George Nick Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI 1979, ISBN 0-87341-024-6 . (English)
  • 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)
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  • 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)
  • David Beecroft: History of the American Automobile Industry. A series of articles reprinted in The Automobile magazine . first published between October 1915 and August 1916. Publisher lulu.com, 2009, ISBN 978-0-557-05575-3 . (English)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 1505.
  2. ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996; see. Vehicles before 1910.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 (chapter carriage neck).
  4. ↑ a b c d Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, p. 656.
  5. ^ Georgano: Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars. 1973, p. 711.
  6. ↑ a b allcarindex.com: Wagenhals
  7. ^ Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era 1906-1915. 2013, p. 126.
  8. ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 968.
  9. ↑ a b c american-automobiles.com: Wagenhals
  10. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 578.
  11. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 579.