VETERAN CAR GUIDE and chain drive. From 1902 there was a 40hp 8616cc engined car, presenting a competitor for Panhard. The world’ s first straight-eight was on show at the 1902 Paris Salon( with no gearbox fitted because the engine was so flexible), but it did not enter production. It is recorded that 196 vehicles were made in 1903.
Cadillac In 1902, Henry Leland, an engine and transmission manufacturer, formed the Cadillac Automobile Company in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Leland had made engines for Oldsmobile and, following a disagreement on cost, discussions with Henry Ford led to the creation of Cadillac. The first vehicle, launched at the end of 1902, had a single cylinder, horizontal engine, two-speed epicyclic transmission and chain drive to the rear axle. At the 1903 New York Automobile Show, 2286 orders for the car were taken in the first week. The same basic design of vehicle continued until the end of 1904, by which time the reputation of the business was firmly established.
Century Century was founded by Ralph Jackson, an Altrincham-based cycle maker, who initially made 2.25hp-engined three-wheeled forecars with a steering wheel, which was unusual at the time. Production was moved in 1901 to Willesden in London, where Cyril Begbie, the UK importer of Aster engines, assumed control of operations. He started making Century-branded, four-wheeled cars in 1903, using English-made chassis, French gearboxes, and Aster two-cylinder engines of 8 or 12hp. Larger four cylinder, Mutel-engined models were later introduced. Production ceased in 1907.
Clément-Panhard Clément-Panhard automobiles were manufactured from 1898. Adolphe Clément was a director of Panhard-Levassor, and when the Panhard factory could not meet the production requirements for c. 500 units of the 1898‘ voiture Légère’(‘ dog cart’) model, he undertook manufacture under licence at his factory in Levallois-Perret.
Clément-Talbot Clément-Bayard cars were sold in England by the British Automobile Commercial Syndicate, with the financial backing of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. In 1903 a factory was built in Ladbroke Grove, London where cars were built that were almost identical to those under construction in France; these were known as Clément-Talbots. From 1905 the cars were known as Talbots, and they developed their own specification and identity.
1904 Cadillac.
Columbia and Columbia Electric Colonel Albert Augustus Pope made his first fortune from bicycle manufacture, and then with the expertise of Hiram Percy Maxim, set up production facilities in Connecticut, USA, for both electric and petrol vehicles. Models, generally of the two-seater runabout design, were available from 1898. The purchase of the Riker Electric Vehicle Co. in 1900 facilitated the development of a heavy truck division. By 1903, the Columbia range consisted of 20 electric vehicle options and a 12 / 14hp two-cylinder petrol-driven motor car, which was joined in 1904 by a 35hp four-cylinder option. Colonel Pope was involved in numerous other ventures including Pope-Hartford, Pope-Toledo, Pope- Robinson, Pope-Tribune, and Pope-Waverley.
Covert Byron Covert set out in 1902 to construct a steam car at his workshop in Lockport, New York, but the first production machine to emerge was a single cylinder, 3hp, petrol-driven runabout with chain drive. This car and its successor, now with a 5hp engine and rear axle-mounted gearbox, were both of modest size with a 1.57m wheelbase and weighing only 159kg. By 1904, a 24hp, four-cylinder tourer was available.
Crestmobile The Crest Manufacturing Company, of Massachusetts, USA started life as an automobile component manufacturer, before launching a Crestmobile Model A in 1901, which was a lightweight runabout with a 2hp single cylinder, air-cooled engine mounted ahead of a straight dash, with chain drive to the rear wheels and tiller steering. Later in the year, there was a Model B with a 3.5hp engine, and a Model C with a 5hp engine located under a small bonnet. Shaft drive was adopted
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