The Dragon Automobile Company manufactured
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 ...
s from 1906 to 1908, first in
Detroit, Michigan
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 ...
, and then in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.
[Dragon Automobile Company Brochure (Dragon Touring Car) - 1906](_blank)
.
Original Historic Brochure from the Dragon Automobile Company, circa 1906. Accessed March 2010. It was followed, briefly, by the Dragon Motor Company.
Beginnings in Detroit
They hired an excellent engineer to design its automobile:
Leo Melanowski, who had apprenticed with the Otto Gas Engine Company in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
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, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, worked for Panhard-Levassor and Clement-Bayard in France and
Waltham in the United States and had been manufacturing foreman for
Winton. Dragon also enlisted the services of famed racing driver
Joe Tracy
Joseph Tracy (March 22, 1873 – March 20, 1959) was an American racing driver.
Life and career
Tracy was born in Waterford, Ireland. A British subject, he emigrated to the United States at age 19, later becoming an American citizen.
Trac ...
as an engineering consultant and test driver.
The result was a fine four-cylinder motorcar that featured sliding gear transmission and shaft drive, and price tags in the $2,000 range, which were quite reasonable considering the specification. The matter Dragon skimped upon, it would appear, was quality control in production. Melanowski left early on to design the Aerocar from Detroit, and Joe Tracy didn't hang around long either. The company had been incorporated in
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
in the summer of 1906 with Harold P. Knowlton as president, Albert E. Knowlton as treasurer.
Production began in Detroit in late fall, and the first models were ready for the New York Automobile Show at Grand Central Palace that December.
The move to Philadelphia
Meanwhile the plant of the
J. G. Brill and Company
The J.G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for almos ...
in Philadelphia had been secured, and operations were moved there. Soon thereafter two attachments were served by the
Sheriff of New York County on the cars and property of the Dragon Automobile Company.
These resulted from two complaints. The first was from C.W. Ward, the Dragon agent for Newark (New Jersey), who stated that three cars had been delivered to him that "were not up to the standard guaranteed, and it was found impossible to get the company to put them in proper repair." Ward wanted his advance deposit back. The other complainant was W.S. Daniels of Boston, a former Dragon employee, who demanded back salary and commissions amounting to $1,700. Nor was this all. It was further reported that the Dragon Automobile Company had borrowed $136,000 from a Philadelphia bank, using as security 200 Dragon touring cars that had been placed in storage in Philadelphia, to be removed therefrom only under the bank's direction and with a percentage of their sale price to be applied as part payment for the loan.
By this time screaming creditors included the Herschell-Spillman engine manufacturers and the coil-and-sparkplug-producing C.F. Splitdorf company. By December 1907 the Dragon Automobile Company had given up, its president John Kane Mills declaring
personal bankruptcy Personal bankruptcy law allows, in certain jurisdictions, an individual to be declared bankrupt. Virtually every country with a modern legal system features some form of debt relief for individuals. Personal bankruptcy is distinguished from corporat ...
three months later. By that time the firm had been succeeded by the Dragon Motor Company organized by J.E. Calhoun with a grand capitalization of a million dollars and the idea of entering the taxicab market.
Dragon Motor Company
In March 1908 Calhoun, already in trouble, agreed to receivership although he denied insolvency. Among his problems was the five months back rent that had been owed the J.B. Brill Company by Dragon Automobile Company, the payment for which Brill was now demanding of Dragon Motor Company. By late March Calhoun decided to give up, too. Seventy touring car chassis remained to be completed when the Dragon plant and its assets were sold at
public auction in early April 1908. Gorson Auto Exchange of Philadelphia bought everything, and presumably finished building the last 50 Dragons.
Models
See also
*
Brass Era car
References
{{reflist
Brass Era vehicles
Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1906
1906 establishments in Michigan
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1908
1908 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
Defunct manufacturing companies based in Detroit