{{Short description, Automobile company
The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation of
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, Michigan, U.S., is a defunct American
steam car
A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
motor car manufacturer.
The Detroit Steam Motors Corporation introduced its first
steam car
A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
s, called Trask-Detroits, in 1922. The Trask-Detroit was an assembled, or built-up car, with its
boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...
, engine and related parts manufactured by Schlieder Manufacturing Co., a Detroit valve manufacturer. It was intended as a popular-priced steam car, something that had never been done (steam cars' high quality engineering conspiring with low production runs to cause high selling prices). The basic model was to be a touring car with a selling price of $1,000.
For some time the company planned to have Trask-Detroits built in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...
just across the river from Detroit. This would have allowed the cars to be sold in Canada with a minimum of
tariffs
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and po ...
, and allow favourable import treatment to other parts of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
.
A larger model car was announced in late 1923, with a sedan priced at $1,900. A contemporary report in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' stated that the car bodies "...will be made by the Packard Motor Car Co..". However, Packard quickly issued a denial and the Trask-Detroit soon vanished, reappearing in the form of the Brooks steam car in Canada.