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The Aerocar is an American
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
that was built from 1906 until 1908 in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Michigan. Backed by
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
's former partner, coal merchant Alexander Malcomson, the short-lived company offered an
air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...
four-
cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
luxury car which sold for $2,800. The factory was sold to
Hudson Motor Car Company The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...
.


History

The Aerocar Motor Company was founded in late 1905 by entrepreneur Alexander Malcolmson, who was also the primary financial backer of the Ford Motor Company in 1903. The two had differing views on serving the marketplace with Malcomson focusing on profitability from more expensive cars in contrast to Henry Ford looking to develop cars for the low-priced market. The company's name refers to the car's use of an air-cooled engine. An order was placed with Reeves Pulley Company to deliver 500 four-cylinder, engines. A factory was built in Detroit at the corner of Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street. ''The Detroit News'' published an article on 3 December 1905, about Malcomson, the new Aerocar Company, and its plan to produce 500 touring cars during the year. This brought a response on 5 December 1905 from Ford's board of directors calling for Malcomson's resignation from the board. Production began in February 1906 for a high-end car to compete with the automobiles on the market at that time, including Ford's Model K, and Aerocar reserved spaces at the major 1906 auto shows. By April, the company reported selling one car per week and was planning to build three per week. News reports during December 1905 boasted that Aerocar was manufacturing four cars per week, mostly the runabout version. By April 1907, the company announced intentions of buying a large office building near Woodward in Detroit. High fixed costs and low demand for its cars were factors for the company to file for bankruptcy on August 6, 1907, and the process of liquidation during October and November of that year included the sale of 25 new Aerocars "at half of production cost." A lawsuit in 1909 by Reeves against Aerocar's failure to fulfill its 500 engine contract indicated that only 319 were taken. Moreover, the $325 price was high for an "unremarkable, 1905 technology engine." Malcolmson went back to the more lucrative coal business. The Aerocar factory at Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street was leased in April 1909 to the Hudson Motor Car Company. The new company experienced rapid growth of its Model 20. Demand for that first 1910 model exceeded production capacity at the former Aerocar plant "in a matter of months." Hudson had Albert Kahn design a new factory that was built a few miles away at East Jefferson and Conner. This facility needed to be doubled in size in a couple of years and was producing 100 cars per day. Manufacturing of Hudson cars continued until August 1954 and the plant was purchased by General Motors in 1956 for metal fabrication of Cadillacs, but the facility was demolished in 1959-1960. The original Aerocar factory appeared to be "reasonably well maintained" as of 2012, and "some very old lettering on the east side of the building had the words ''The Aerocar Company'' in white paint on the red brick."


Models

Trade promotion of the new Aerocar described it "The Car of today, tomorrow and the years to come. Built by practical men" with numerous claims as to its features as well as that "the dealer who has a selling agency for the Aerocar will have a gold mine." The first model priced at $2,800 was for a touring car equipped with an air-cooled engine with a three-speed sliding gear transmission, standard steering, tubular front axle, and single battery/timer/coil ignition. The Model A was powered by a
Reeves Reeves may refer to: People * Reeves (surname) * B. Reeves Eason (1886–1956), American director, actor and screenwriter * Reeves Nelson (born 1991), American basketball player Places ;Ireland * Reeves, County Kildare, townland in County K ...
24-horsepower, four-cylinder, air-cooled engine. It came with a "Standard Extension Black Top" and two gas headlights as well as "Full Oil Lamp Equipment." The automobile had a Prest-o-Lite tank, Hartford shock absorbers, Gabriel horn, and a speedometer. It also came with an extra tire and inner tube in a waterproof case with attaching irons, robe-rail and a footrest in tonneau. A toolbox with full equipment was attached to the exterior running board. The air-cooled engine was later replaced by a Reeves water-cooled model. Aerocar continued to build less expensive autos. Aerocar continued to use the 20 hp air-cooled Reeves engines in both the Model D and roadster, adding a 40 hp water-cooled touring in 1907 and 1908. The larger touring initially sold for $2,750 in 1907, then $2,200 in 1908. Near the end, the more conventional Model F with a water-cooled 45 hp Rutenber engine was introduced, but it was too late. The remaining cars were sold in 1908, with a grand total of approximately 300 Aerocars built.


See also

*
Brass Era car The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915 ...


External links

*actress
Frances Starr Frances Grant Starr (June 6, 1881 – June 11, 1973) was an American stage, film and television actress. Early years Starr's parents were Charles Edward Starr and Emma (''née'' Grant). She had two half sisters, and her father died when s ...
br>at the wheel of one of the company's luxury cars


References

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Brass Era vehicles Cars introduced in 1905 Hudson Motor Car Company Defunct manufacturing companies based in Detroit {{Brass-auto-stub