Locomobile Company of America

The Locomobile Company of America was a pioneering American

The Locomobile Company of America was founded in 1899, the name coined from "

Locomobile began by producing steam cars. The steam Locomobiles were unreliable, finicky to operate, prone to kerosene fires, had small water tanks (getting only 20 mi (32 km) per tank), and took time to raise steam; author Rudyard Kipling described one example as a "nickel-plated fraud".^[3]: 1207 Initially, they were offered with a single body style only, an inexpensive runabout at $600^[4]: 852 (equivalent to $21,974 in 2023). Nevertheless, they were a curiosity and middle-class Americans clamoured for the latest technology. Salesmen, doctors, and people needing quick mobility found them useful. More than 4,000 were built between 1899 and 1902.^[3]: 1207

In 1901, Locomobile offered seven body styles at prices between $600 (equivalent to $21,974 in 2023) and $1,400 (equivalent to $51,274 in 2023). Most Locomobiles had simple twin-

During the

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 Andrew L. Riker.^[6] This encouraged the firm to drop steam vehicles the following year, selling the Stanley brothers back their rights for $20,000.^[3]: 1208 In 1903, Barber relinquished his position to his son-in-law Samuel Todd Davis, Jr., who became President of the Locomobile Company.^[7]

Switch to internal combustion engines

The 1904 internal combustion Locomobile

In competition

Like other early marques, Locomobile entered

The most important model for the marque became the impressive Model 48. Introduced in 1911 as the "type M," it had a very conservative, perhaps dated, concept. It had a conventional but huge chassis with a wheelbase of 143 inches (3,632 mm). Its engine was a straight six with side valves; cylinders were still cast in pairs and it featured a nonremovable cylinder head. Displacement was 429.4 cu in (7.0 L), from a 4+1⁄2 in × 4+1⁄2 in (114 mm × 114 mm) bore and stroke, giving it a 48.6-hp tax rating by the North American Chamber of Commerce.^[9] While called the "M" internally, this car is usually referred to by its tax hp rating. The brake horsepower rating was somewhere north of 90 for the original model, higher in the later versions.^[10] Quality of materials and workmanship were impeccable and among the best in the world.^[11] Such was also its pricing: A typical open-body cost about $10,000 when the average Model T Ford Phaeton cost about $300. Locomobile also offered custom designs for the lamps and metal work, carried out by Tiffany Studios.^[11] Until 1915, left- or right-hand drive could be specified; afterwards, left-hand drive became standard. Right-hand drive cars were meant for export and sat on a chassis four inches shorter.^[5] Around 1919, the engine was updated with a longer 5+1⁄2 in (140 mm) stroke, for 525 cu in (8.6 L) displacement while retaining the same tax hp rating.^[10]

A smaller "38 hp" model, very similar to the Model 48, was added in 1913.^[12] The model 38 has a 425 cu in (7.0 L), 62 bhp (46 kW) version of the T-head six and sits on a somewhat shorter 140 inches (3,556 mm) wheelbase. By 1914, Locomobile had stopped selling all four-cylinder models to concentrate exclusively on sixes.^[13]

In July 1922,^[14] 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 also still produced the Model 48 until its demise in 1929. Until the mid-1920s, 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 engine, and more importantly, a lower price of $1,785.

Introduction of the even smaller Junior Six was in 1926, 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 of 1927, Locomobile added one more eight-cylinder car. Using an off the shelf Lycoming engine, this was not accepted as a true Locomobile in the marketplace and served to damage the company's reputation.^[15] 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 to save the company. Locomobile production ended in 1929.

Locomobile model specifications

• Locomobile Model 48 Sportif

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 the spring and summer of 1946, a seven-passenger 1911 Locomobile touring car was driven from Boston to Los Angeles and back as a promotional tour for the Columbia Pictures film Gallant Journey. While not appearing in the movie, the Locomobile attracted much attention for the picture on the tour.

In Thomas Savage's 1967 novel The Power of the Dog, set in the 1920s, the Locomobile is esteemed by protagonist Peter Gordon as a peer to 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."

In Dashiell Hammett's 1925 mystery story "Scorched Face", the rich girls for whom the Continental Op is looking, 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.

The Locomobile is central to the 2015 historical novel by Lisa Begin-Kruysman titled Around the World in 1909: Harriet White Fisher and Her Locomobile. The novel is based on Harriet White Fisher's circumnavigation of the globe; the Locomobile is driven, hauled, pushed, and floated in places where no man, let alone woman, had yet explored, certainly not on wheels.

See also

• List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers

References

Further reading

• Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January 1904)
• "Bridgeport Working: Voices from the 20th Century". bridgeporthistory.org. Bridgeport Public Library. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011.
• Kimes, Beverly Rae (2005). Society of Automotive Engineers Permissions (ed.). Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Warrendale, Pennsylvania.
  ISBN 0-7680-1431-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
  )
• Ball, Donald L. The Genealogy of the Locomobile Steam Carriage, 1899–1904, 1994
• Harte, Bret (September 1902). "Advertisement: Recent Awards For The Locomobile". Overland Monthly, and Out West Magazine. XL (3). Retrieved August 15, 2009.

External links

Media related to Locomobile Company of America at Wikimedia Commons

• 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