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