Industry | Automotive |
---|---|
Founded | 1901 |
Founder | Irvin D. Lengel |
Defunct | 1903 |
Fate | Closed |
Headquarters | Reading, Pennsylvania, |
Products | Steam car |
The Reading and Meteor were American steam cars developed by Irvin D. Lengel in 1901 in Reading, Pennsylvania. [1]
Built by the Steam Vehicle Company of America, their advertisement promised their Model B "runs indefinitely without attention." The steamer featured a four-cylinder steam engine when most steamers used two-cylinders. [2]
It had a bench seat over the engine compartment with tiller type steering. Drive was by chain to the rear wheels. The Model B sold for $850, equivalent to $29,933in 2023. A year into the production of the Reading, creditors liquidated the company. [1]
Irvin D. Lengel was also a principal of Meteor Engineering Company who took over the assets of the Steam Vehicle Company of America in 1902. Meteor built a tonneau version of the steam car. Meteor also built a prototype gasoline automobile, but by the fall of 1903, Meteor Engineering Company was bankrupt. [1]
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