Clarkmobile was an

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 ...

first built in 1902 by Frank Clark of Clark & Company in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

. The first model became available in 1903. A newspaper article referred to the automobile as the 'Unbreakable Clarkmobile' and showed it surviving an accident. Before the Clarkmobile
Clark & Company Carriage Works
built the body for the first

test car Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

produced by

Ransom E. Olds Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automotive industry, after whom the Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company, REO brands were named. He claimed to have built h ...

. Production ceased in 1904. The Deere-Clark company purchased the company's tools and

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...

. Frank Clark went on to make the Clark car in

Shelbyville, Indiana Shelbyville is a city in Addison Township, Shelby County, in the U.S. state of Indiana and is the county seat. The population was 20,067 as of the 2020 census. History In 1818, the land that would become Shelbyville was ceded to the Un ...

Features

The Clarkmobile included a number of innovative features such as wheel steering,

shaft drive A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, a front end with hood, and a new

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

design.

References

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Lansing, Michigan Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan {{Veteran-auto-stub