The Courier Car Co. was an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

manufacturer formed in 1909 by the

Stoddard-Dayton Stoddard-Dayton was a high quality car manufactured by Dayton Motor Car Company in Dayton, Ohio, US, between 1905 and 1913. John W. Stoddard and his son Charles G. Stoddard were the principals in the company. History In 1904, John Stodda ...

Company in

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, to produce smaller, lighter and lower-priced models than the luxury automobiles produced by Stoddard Dayton. Its advertisements were early advocates of the

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However, ...

: "Don't buy more car than you need ... Don't you buy a car of greater power or capacity than you need." The cars were built on a wheelbase and powered by a {{convert, 22.5, hp engine. Four-cylinder models (3245 cc and 3638 cc) were produced. The car was comparable in size to the Ford Model T, but had three forward gears to Ford's two and the Courier was a snappier performer. Only two body styles were offered: an open, four-passenger

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

and a sporty, two-seater sportster. Like Stoddard-Dayton, Courier formed part in 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 ...

. After the acquisition by United States Motors, the 1912 models were called Courier Clermonts. Production ceased in 1913, when United States Motor Company failed. The Courier plant occupied what had been the Kinsey Manufacturing building on the southwest corner of Wayne Avenue and State Street (now Fourth Street), which now houses the Dayton Plumbing Supply Co. The discovery and restoration of a Courier is featured in a chapter of Ralph Steubenrauch's classic book ''The Fun of Old Cars''.

References

* Self, Michael. "Made in Dayton!" Dayton ''Journal-Herald'', 13 January 1975.

External links

*http://bruceduffie.com/columbiacar.html Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct companies based in Dayton, Ohio Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1909 1909 establishments in Ohio