Northern (automobile)

Last updated
Northern Manufacturing Company
Northern Motor Car Company
Company typeAutomobile Manufacturing
Industry Automotive
Founded1902;122 years ago (1902)
Defunct1908;116 years ago (1908)
FateMerged with Wayne and then E-M-F
Successor E-M-F Company
Headquarters,
Key people
Charles B. King, Jonathan D. Maxwell, William E. Metzger
Products Automobiles
Automotive parts

Northern Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, automobiles designed by Charles Brady King. [1] [2] Early advertising included catchy phrases such as "Utility is the Basis for Beauty" and "Built for Business" and the famous "Silent Northern". [3]

Contents

History

In 1902 Charles B. King, Jonathan Maxwell and William E. Metger created the Northern Manufacturing Company. Though the automobile industry was in its infancy, King and Maxwell had already compiled a resume of automotive experience. Both had worked for R. E. Olds. King, who had an engineering degree from Cornell and had moved to Detroit in 1891, was the chief designer at Oldsmobile but left the company after the 1901 fire at the plant. [4]

Maxwell had produced a single-cylinder 5-horsepower engine which was used to power the new Northern automobiles. [4] The first Northern roadsters produced strongly resembled the curved dash Oldsmobile that both Maxwell and King helped to design. [3] They were all single-cylinder runabouts with tiller steering, a 67-inch wheelbase and two-speed planetary transmission. [3] Priced at $750,(equivalent to $25,433in 2023) they sold 300 in 1903. [4] [3]

In 1903, Maxwell was lured away by Benjamin Briscoe, and the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company in Tarrytown, New York, was formed. The Maxwell car was introduced in 1905. [4]

King did all engineering after 1903 and by 1904 the company was offering a two-cylinder touring car as well as the runabout. [3] The engineering was advanced for the period and included shaft drive and left-hand steering. [3] Air-operated brakes and clutch were featured by 1906. [3] To support the growth, a second plant was opened to build the two-cylinder cars in Port Huron, MI. [3] A limousine was also added to the model choices in the two-cylinder cars. [3]

In 1906 a 30-horsepower four-cylinder touring car was introduced, and the company was renamed Northern Motor Car Company. In 1907 another larger version with an advertised 50 horsepower engine was introduced. [3] The car was available as a touring car, runabout or limousine. [3] By 1908 the model choices were somewhat reduced but still included the original one-cylinder runabout. [4] [3]

Demise

In June 1908 Northern merged with Wayne Automobile Company and production of the cars with the Northern name ceased. [3] However the two companies would soon be taken over by E-M-F Company. After a bitter court fight in 1912, E-M-F production was taken over by Studebaker. King left the company earlier in 1908 to go to Europe to study automobile design and returned in 1910 to start the King Motor Car Company. [4] [3]

Norden

1902 Norden - AB Sodertalje Verkstader 1902 Norden Sodertalje Verkstader.jpg
1902 Norden - AB Sodertalje Verkstader

The Norden was a Swedish automobile built from 1902 to 1906 by AB Sodertelge Verkstader. It was a licensed copy of the "Silent Northern" 6-HP made by the Northern Manufacturing Company. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoddard-Dayton</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Stoddard-Dayton was a high quality car manufactured by Dayton Motor Car Company in Dayton, Ohio, US, between 1905 and 1913. John W. Stoddard and his son Charles G. Stoddard were the principals in the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acme (automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

The Acme was a make of American automobiles made in Reading, Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1911. They were the successor of the Reber which was made from 1902 to 1903 by Reber Manufacturing.

The Aerocar is an American automobile that was built from 1906 until 1908 in Detroit, Michigan. Backed by Henry Ford's former partner, coal merchant Alexander Malcomson, the short-lived company offered an air-cooled four-cylinder luxury car which sold for $2,800.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster</span>

L'Aster, Aster, Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster, was a French manufacturer of automobiles and the leading supplier of engines to other manufacturers from the late 1890s until circa 1910/12. Although primarily known as an engine mass manufacturer the company also produced chassis for coach-works and a complete range of components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldsmobile Curved Dash</span> Motor vehicle

The gasoline-powered Oldsmobile Model R, also known as the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, is credited as being the first mass-produced automobile, meaning that it was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts. It was introduced by the Oldsmobile company in 1901 and produced through 1903; 425 were produced the first year, 2,500 in 1902, and over 19,000 were built in all. When General Motors assumed operations from Ransom E. Olds on November 12, 1908, GM introduced the Oldsmobile Model 20, which was the 1908 Buick Model 10 with a stretched wheelbase and minor exterior changes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knox Automobile Company</span> Former American car manufacturer

The Knox Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, between 1900 and 1914. Knox also built trucks and farm tractors until 1924. They are notable for building the very first modern fire engine in 1905, and the first American vehicle with hydraulic brakes, in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waltham Manufacturing Company</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Motor Company</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Royal Motor Car Company was a Brass Era manufacturer of luxury automobiles in Cleveland, Ohio, in business from 1904 to 1911. It was the result of a reorganization of the Hoffman Automobile Company.

Smith & Mabley was an American veteran era importer of European automobiles and produced the American C. G. V. automobile in 1902, and the S & M Simplex automobile from 1904 to 1907, in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Louis Motor Company</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

St. Louis Motor Carriage Company was a manufacturer of automobiles at 1211–13 North Vandeventer Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, founded by George Preston Dorris and John L. French in 1898, with French taking charge of marketing and Dorris heading engineering and production. St. Louis Motor Carriage was the first of many St. Louis automakers and produced automobiles from 1899 to 1907.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevens-Duryea</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Stevens-Duryea was an American manufacturer of Veteran and Brass Era automobiles in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, between 1901 and 1915 and Vintage Cars from 1919 to 1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia (automobile brand)</span> American automobile manufacturer

Columbia was an American brand of automobiles produced by a group of companies in the United States. They included the Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, the Electric Vehicle Company, and an entity of brief existence in 1899, the Columbia Automobile Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen (American automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

The Queen was a Brass Era American automobile manufactured between 1904 and 1907 in Detroit, Michigan.

Spaulding was used as an automobile marque by two separate companies. The Spaulding Automobile and Motor Company of Buffalo, New York built Veteran Era automobiles in 1902 and 1903. Spaulding Manufacturing Company of Grinnell, Iowa built Brass Era automobiles from 1910 to 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan (1903 automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

The Michigan was a brass era automobile built in Kalamazoo, Michigan by the Michigan Automobile Company, Ltd from 1903 to 1907.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matheson (automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

The Matheson was a luxury American automobile manufactured from 1903 to 1912, first in Grand Rapids, Michigan, then Holyoke, Massachusetts and from 1906 in a purpose-built factory in Forty Fort, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glide (automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

The Glide automobile was an American automobile manufactured by the Bartholomew Company in Peoria Heights, Illinois beginning in 1902. Founded by John B. Bartholomew, the company continued to produce automobiles until 1920, when the company began manufacturing trucks for the Avery Company, of which Bartholomew was also president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell (automobile)</span> Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer

Mitchell was a major brass-era automobile marque in Racine, Wisconsin, from 1903 to 1923.

The Pierce Engine Company of Racine, Wisconsin, was the manufacturer of the brass era Pierce-Racine automobile. The company was founded in 1892 and produced automobiles from 1904 to 1910.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Packard Four</span> Motor vehicle

The Packard Motor Car Company introduced their first four-cylinder engine in 1903 initially as a top level car along with the Packard Model F. It was their only automobile offered and exclusively used a four-cylinder engine from 1903 until 1912 and established Packard as a luxury car maker, and was replaced by the 1913 Packard Six.

References

  1. Frank Leslie. Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly. January 1904.
  2. 1 2 Georgano, Nick (2001). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (3 vol. ed.). Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN   1-57958-293-1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Ladd, Bob (June 2021). "The ABC's of the Brass Era. N is for Northern". HCCA the Gazette. 38 (3): 16–17.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark Jr., Henry Austin (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (3rd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN   978-0-87341-428-9.