The Briscoe was an American automobile manufactured at Jackson, Michigan, by a group headed by Benjamin Briscoe. Briscoe cars were made between 1914 and 1921. A few months after his departure from the

United States Motor Company The United States Motor Company (USMC) was organized by Benjamin Briscoe in 1910 as a selling company, to represent various manufacturers. It had begun life as the International Motor Company in 1908 in an attempt to create a major consolidati ...

in 1913, Benjamin Briscoe established a plant at Billancourt, France to design and manufacture the first automobile in France built by American methods. The business was called Briscoe Freres; Billancourt was the home of

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

. In 1915, Briscoe offered what he called "The First French Car at an American Price." Briscoe claimed that the auto had been designed by a French design studio. It featured a single

headlamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

in the front, faired into the radiator shell. The auto was priced at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

750.00 but this price did not include a top,

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. ...

, or starter. The company also produced the Argo, the Hackett, and the Lorraine.

References

*Purdy, Ken W., Motorcars of the Golden Past, Galahad Books, 1965, pp. 82–83. {{JacksonCars Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan American companies established in 1914 American companies disestablished in 1921 Manufacturing companies established in 1914 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1921