Cars in the Family Tree

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Above: One of the automobiles Harry Jewett got involved with was the Lozier. Jewett was an investor in the Paige-Detroit Motor Co., which he eventually sold to Graham Bros. The Lozier in this promotional piece is a 1912 model that appeared on the cover of Motor Age on March 21, 1912. Touring cars sold for $5,000, and limousines for $6,500, princely sums at the time.

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Several tractor manufacturers actually got their start in the automotive industry. In this continuation of an article published in the June issue of Farm Collector, the focus is on manufacturers who came late to tractors. Some used success with cars and trucks as a springboard to expand into farm equipment. For others, tractors represented a last-ditch effort to stay in business. It was a time of rollicking competition against a backdrop of rapidly evolving technology. Win or lose, the rise and fall of these companies is an important chapter in the story of American industrialization.

Ford Motor Co.

Ford wasn't the first car maker to branch out to tractors, but it was the most successful. Henry Ford built his first automobile in 1896. When he finished, he was forced to knock down a shed wall to get it out. The Quadricycle, as he called it, performed well, using a leather belt and chain and a 4 hp, 2-cylinder 4-stroke horizontal engine, which propelled the machine at 20 mph. Ford hadn't planned on selling the Quadricycle, but when offered $200 he did and used the proceeds to finance his second vehicle.

By 1899, the Detroit Automobile Co. was organized. When Ford decided to build a race car, stockholders shut down the company. In 1901, Henry Ford Co. was organized, but again Ford wasn't satisfied, so he left to build yet more race cars. In 1903 Ford Motor Co. was organized, manufacturing Ford Model A runabouts for $750 each ($850 for a tonneau).

At the mercy of his financial backers, Ford was forced to produce cars he didn't like, such as the high-priced Model B, which sold for $3,000. Models B, F and K came out in 1905, and finally in 1908, the affordable Model T - which would forever change American motoring habits - was born. Using a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engine that got 25 mpg, the car remained in production for nearly two decades.

Ford's first factory-produced commercial vehicle was the Model T C-Cab Ford Delivery Car, fitted with a delivery top. In 1912, Ford's delivery car did not sell well, and it was discontinued, though aftermarket sales of bodies and conversion kits continued until 1917, when Model T and 1-ton Model TT trucks hit the market. Ford built an experimental tractor in 1915, and began full-fledged manufacture of the Fordson in late 1916.

Velie Motors Corp.

Velie Motors Corp., Moline, Ill., manufactured automobiles from 1908 to 1929. Willard Lamb Velie, grandson of John Deere, possessed a major advantage in securing funds to build his own car: The Deere & Co. board of directors was filled with Velies.

• Facebook
• Digg
• Delicious

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print