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Brush Motor Car Company (1907-1909), later the Brush Runabout Company (1909-1913), was based in
Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Along with its neighbor of Hamtramck, Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by the city of Detroit. History The area tha ...
.


History

The company was founded by Alanson Partridge Brush (February 10, 1878, Michigan – March 6, 1952, Michigan). He was a self-taught prolific designer, working with
Henry Leland Henry Martyn Leland (February 16, 1843 – March 26, 1932) was an American machinist, inventor, engineer and automotive entrepreneur. He founded the two premier American luxury automotive marques, Cadillac and Lincoln. Early years Henry M. Lela ...
at
Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it prod ...
, and went on to help design the original one-cylinder
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
engine. Although there were many makes of small runabouts of similar size and one to four cylinders at this time (before the
Model T Ford The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relat ...
dominated the low-price market), the Brush has many unusual design details showing the inventiveness of its creator. The Brush Runabout Company, along with Maxwell-Briscoe, Stoddard-Dayton, and others formed Benjamin Briscoe's
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 consolidat ...
(USMC) from 1910, ending when that company failed in 1913. Runabouts, in general, fell out of vogue quickly, partly due to the lack of protection from the weather. After Brush and the other companies of the USMC folded into Maxwell Motor Company, President Walter Flanders wrote in 1913 document "Why We Did Not Use All Our Plants", the Brush factory in Detroit (along with the
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultur ...
and
Sampson Sampson may refer to: Military * , several Royal Navy ships * , several US Navy ships * Sampson-class destroyer, a World War I US Navy class * Sampson Air Force Base, near Seneca Lake, New York, closed in 1956 * SAMPSON, a multi-function radar ...
Plants) were to remain open and running as factories. The modern successor is Stellantis North America/Chrysler.


Design


Brush

Touted as the "Everyman's Car", Brush designed a light car with a wooden chassis (wooden rails and iron cross-members), friction drive transmission and "underslung" coil springs in tension instead of compression on both sides of each axle. Two gas-powered
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 f ...
s provided light, along with a gas-powered light in the rear. The frame, axles, and wheels were made of oak, hickory or maple, and were either left plain or painted to match the trim. Wider axles were available for use in the Southern region of the United States, where a 60-inch tread fit wagon ruts on country roads. The horn was located next to the engine cover, with a metal tube running to a squeeze bulb affixed near the driver. A small storage area was provided in the rear, with a drawer accessible under the rear of the seat. The engines were a single-cylinder, four-stroke water cooled design, producing 6BHP, with power going to a chain-driven rear axle. Lacking a differential drive, the rear-axle disengaged one of the rear wheels while driving around a curve to avoid undue wear and tear on the drivetrain. A feature of engines designed by Brush was that they ran counter-clockwise instead of the usual clockwise. This was Brush's idea intended to make them safer for a right-handed person to crank-start by hand. Prior to the invention of the electric starter, crank-starting a clockwise-running engines frequently resulted in dislocated thumbs and broken forearms if the hand crank kicked back on starting. According to a contemporary review from ''Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal'' in 1907, author Hugh Dolnar described the recently introduced Brush as a "...very, very new and also very, very old, as will be seen from the detailed construction illustrations below..." In his critique of the Brush, Dolnar was referencing the decision to use wooden axles. In addition to the Runabout, Brush advertised a $600 "Package Car" (also advertised as the "Delivery Car") based on the same chassis as the runabout. Also offered was a "Coupe" model for $850. It is unknown how many (if any at all) of these models were ever produced or sold by Brush.


Liberty-Brush

In order to increase sales, Brush introduced a lower priced version of the car. Sold between 1911 and 1912, the Liberty-Brush was a simplified version of the standard Runabout offered at a lower price. The most distinguishing feature between the two models were the fenders: the Brush had sweeping front and rear fenders that connected at the midpoint of the car in a short running board, whereas the Liberty-Brush had four bicycle type fenders over only the wheels. While the standard Brush sold in the $450 - $850 range, the Liberty-Brush was extensively advertised at a $350 price.


Feats of Endurance

Pikes Peak In 1908, Fred and Florence Trinkle took their 7BHP Brush Runabout. It was the third car to make it to the top of Pikes Peak under its own power. The trip to the top of Pikes Peak was part of the Trinkle's "Across America" trip, covering 2,340 miles. Glidden Tour In 1909, two Brush Runabouts participated in the
Glidden Tour The Glidden Tours, also known as the National Reliability Runs, were promotional events held during the automotive Brass Era by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and organized by the group's chairman, Augustus Post. The AAA, a proponent ...
. Neither Brush successfully completed the tour. Abernathy Boys In 1910, Jack Abernathy and his two boys, Bud and Temple rode their horses to see former President Theodore Roosevelt at a celebration. The two boys convinced Jack to return to Oklahoma via automobile, and the trio purchased a 1910 Brush Runabout for the trip. Their return trip included stops in Albany, NY, Niagara Falls, Detroit (and a stop at the Brush Factory for a tune-up), Chicago and Omaha. Brush used the "Little Cowboys from Oklahoma" in their advertisements. Trans-Australian Trip In 1912, Sid Ferguson, Francis Birtles and a dog named Rex drove a Brush Runabout across the Australian continent. The pair started out on the west coast in Freemantle and ending on the east coast in Sydney, with the trip occurring between March and April of that year. Ferguson and Birtles became the first persons to successfully undertake such a trip.


Extant Examples on Display

* 1907 Runabout (restored) is on display at the Fondation Pierre Gianadda Museum, Martigny, Switzerland * 1908 Model BC Runabout is on display at Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks, AK. * 1908 Runabout (restored) at th
Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
* 1909 Runabout (restored) is on display at the Linn County Historical Museum in
Brownsville, Oregon Brownsville is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 1,694. It is the setting for the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, in the 1986 film '' Stand by Me''. History Establishment Brownsville ...
. * 1909 "Gentleman's Runabout" is on display at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, MI. * 1910 Runabout (original) is on display at the Swigart Antique Auto Museum in Huntingdon, PA. * 1911 Runabout (restored) on display at the Miles Through Time Automotive Museum in Toccoa, GA. * 1912 Liberty-Brush Runabout (restored) is in storage at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. * 1912 Liberty-Brush Runabout (restored) is in the collections of the Museum of Transport and Technology in Point Chevalier, Auckland, NZ.


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 ...
* Chalmers Motors *
List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers This is a list of defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States. They were discontinued for various reasons, such as bankruptcy of the parent company, mergers, or being phased out. A * A Automobile Company (1910–1913) 'Blue & Gold' ...
* List of car brands *
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 consolidat ...
* Not to be confused with
Brush Electric Company Brush Electrical Machines is a manufacturer of electrical generators typically for gas turbine and steam turbine driven applications. The main office is based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, UK. History Charles Francis Brush, born in Eucli ...
nor
Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since t ...
(United Kingdom company) * Francis Birtles
Detroit Public Library
has extensive photos of Brush and Liberty-Brush vehicles *
Chrysler Corporation Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
* Maxwell Motors


References


External links


brushauto.net
Brushauto.net is a website with original brush media and information including advertisements, manuals, and images.
Brush Owners Club website


* ttps://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/in-our-minds-and-memories-1905-brush-model-a-runabout/ Hemmings article about owning a 1905 Brush Runabout
Autoweek article about driving a 1911 Runabout
{{Authority control Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Brass Era vehicles Companies based in Detroit Highland Park, Michigan Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1907 1907 establishments in Michigan Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1913 1913 disestablishments in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan