Locomobile Company of America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (November 2009) |
 | |
| Industry | Automobile |
|---|---|
| Fate | Purchased, marque used until 1929 |
| Successor | Durant Motors |
| Founded | 1899 |
| Defunct | 1922 |
| Headquarters | Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States |
| Key people | John Brisben Walker, Amzi L. Barber, Francis Edgar Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley |
| Products | Vehicles |
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
Locomobile began by producing steam cars. The steam Locomobiles were unreliable, finicky to operate, prone to paraffin fires, had small water tanks (getting only 20 mi {32 km} per tank[2]), and took time to raise steam; Rudyard Kipling described one example as a "nickle-plated fraud".[2] Nevertheless, they were a curiosity and middle class Americans clamoured for the latest technology. Salesmen, doctors and people needing quick mobility found them useful. Over four thousand were built between 1899 and 1902 alone.[2] Most had simple twin-cylinder engines (3x4", 76.2x102mm; 57ci, 927cc) and a wire wrapped 500 psi flash boiler burning naphtha. Typical of the product was the 1904 Runabout, which seated two passengers and sold for US$850. The two-cylinder steam engine was situated amidships of the wood-framed car.
This was, unfortunately, not a sure way to guarantee commercial success, even in Britain, and Locomobile started experimenting with gasoline internal combustion engines in 1902, starting with a four-cylinder steel-chassis model designed by A. J. Riker. This encouraged the firm to drop steam vehicles the following year, selling the Stanley brothers back their rights for US$20000.[3]
[edit] Switch to internal combustion engines
The 1904 internal combustion Locomobile Touring Car had a tonneau, space for five passengers, and sold for US$4500, quite a change from the low-priced steam buggies. The front-mounted vertical water-cooled 'straight-4' engine produced 16 hp (11.9 kW). A 3-speed sliding transmission was fitted, as on the Système Panhard cars it competed with. The angle steel-framed car weighed 2200 lb (998 kg).
On the strength of this, Locomobile soon became known for well-built and speedy luxury cars. The 1908 Locomobile 40 Runabout was a 60 hp (44.7 kW) two-seater and sold for US$4750. (nearly $100,000 in 2006 dollars)
[edit] Model 48 and the Durant years
The most important model for the marque became the impressive Model 48. Introduced in 1919, it had a very conservative, perhaps dated, concept. It had a conventional but huge chassis with a wheelbase of 142 in. Its engine was a straight-six with side valves; cylinders were still cast in pairs and it featured a non-removable cylinder head. Displacement was 525 c.i., giving it a 48.6 H.P. tax rating by North American Chamber of Commerce (N.A.C.C.). Quality of materials and workmanship were impeccable and among the best in the world.[citation needed] Such was its pricing: A typical open-bodied cost about $10,000 when the average Model T Ford Phaeton cost about $300.In 1922 Locomobile was acquired by Durant Motors, which not only continued using the Locomobile brand name for their top-of-the-line autos until 1929 but still produced the Model 48 until the demise in 1929. Until the mid-twenties, this car was Locomobile's only offering. In 1925, the marque brought out their first new model, the 8-66 Junior Eight, with a more contemporary straight-eight cylinder engine - and, above all, more modestly priced at $1,785.
1926 saw the introduction of an even smaller Junior Six, but this car stayed only for one model year. The larger model 90 that appeared in the same year was produced until 1929.
With the 8-70, Locomobile added one more eight-cylinder car. In the following year, the Junior Eight 8-66 was phased out.
For 1929, a new 8-86 and 8-88 came out but it was too late so save the company. Locomobile died when its parent company, Durant Motors, failed. Production of the volume cars Durant and Rugby lasted until 1933 but that did not help Locomobile.
[edit] Locomobile model specifications
[edit] Locomobiles in fiction
A Locomobile is the setting for one of the final scenes of F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, in which the protagonist, Amory Blaine, argues for socialism to the father of a college friend, who staunchly defends the capitalist ideal.In Thomas Savage's 1967 novel "The Power of the Dog", set in the 1920s, the Locomobile is estimated by protagonist Peter Johnson higher than the Pierce-Arrow: "...Those were the vehicles of the high and mighty, and he knew that only the Locomobile (fancied by old General Pershing, among others) rivaled the Pierce"
Clive Cussler's 2007 novel, "The Chase", as well as the 2010 novel "The Spy" featured a 1905 Locomobile.
In Dashiell Hammett's 1925 mystery story "Scorched Face", the rich girls that the Continental Op is looking for were driving a Locomobile "with a special cabriolet body" when they disappeared.
Papa LaBas from Ishmael Reed's 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo drives a Locomobile.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January, 1904)
- David Burgess Wise, "Locomobile: British Steam-Car Pioneers", in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles. London: Orbis Publishing Ltd, 1974. Volume 11, pp. 1207–9.
- Kimes, Beverly Rae (editor) and Clark, Henry Austin, jr., The Standard Catalogue of American Cars 1805-1942, 2nd edition, Krause Publications (1989), ISBN 0-87341-111-0
[edit] Further reading
- Ball, Donald L. The Genealogy of the Locomobile Steam Carriage, 1899-1904, 1994
- "Advertisement: Recent Awards For The Locomobile". Overland Monthly, and Out West Magazine XL (3). September 1902. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
[edit] External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Locomobile vehicles |
- Old 16 Locomobile (VanderbiltCupRaces.com)
- 1906 Locomobile The story of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup win
- Locomobile Catalog on DurantCars site 1920s Locomobiles
- Locomobile items on Henry Ford Museum site
- Locomobile Society Home Page
- Locomobile Advertising View the old locomobile ads
- 1923 Locomobile Model 48 Sportif in the 'Hemmings' magazine
| |||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment