The Anderson was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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 ...

; considered the most successful automobile ever built in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, it was manufactured by a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

works from 1916 to 1925 in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

. Started by John Gary Anderson, the company sold cars through a national dealer network. The company used

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (al ...

7R flathead six engines in its vehicles, which were noted for their attractive body styles and color combinations. Andersons were the first cars to be built with headlight foot dimmers and powered convertible tops. Production reached nearly 2,000 units in 1923 and in all 7,000 vehicles were produced during the life of the company. There are a number of reasons why the Anderson Automobile Co. failed. According to Edward Lee, who wrote the 2007 book ''John Gary Anderson and His Maverick Motor Company: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Rock Hill Rival,'' the vehicle suffered from a defective engine. ock 'Detroit' Hill?; Visionary Help Build Tons of Cars Here and Mold Young City, ''Charlotte Observer,'' July 25, 2005/ref> Anderson bought most of the components from other manufacturers. During the later years of production, Anderson used a Continental engine with an aluminum head and it warped at high temperatures. Price was also an issue, Lee believes. Model T Fords were selling for as little as $290 in the 1920s, making the cars affordable to the majority of Americans. Andersons cost about $1,650 for a five-passenger touring car and $2,550 for a sedan. Anderson's slogan was a "A little Higher in Price but made in Dixie." Anderson's strategy was to invest in the opulence of his vehicles, hoping that consumers would be willing to pay a higher price in return. The strategy failed because customers were more price-sensitive than Anderson anticipated. In addition, by the early 1920s, the economy of South Carolina and other Southern states were already declining, well ahead of the Great Depression, because of plummeting cotton prices following World War I. The Anderson Automobile Co. was liquidated in 1926. Later in life, John Gary Anderson criticized the city of Rock Hill for failing to give his company financial assistance. Today, there are just 13 remaining examples of Anderson vehicles in existence. Of those Anderson cars known to exist, four are owned by the Anderson family, one is at the

South Carolina State Museum The South Carolina State Museum has four floors of permanent and changing exhibits, a digital dome planetarium (opened in 2014), 4D interactive theater and an observatory (both opened in 2014). The State Museum, is located along the banks of the Co ...

in Columbia and one is in the possession of the Museum of York County, where Rock Hill is located.Rare 1921 car returns to Rock Hill,

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

, April 19, 2008

Notes

References

The Anderson AutomobileJohn Gary Anderson and His Maverick Motor Company: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Rock Hill Rival, J. Edward Lee, The History Press, February 27, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson (Automobile) Vintage vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in South Carolina