The Keeton was a

brass era 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 ...

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 ...

built in

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 Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

from 1912 to 1914 by the Keeton Motor Car Company.

History

Designed by Forrest M. Keeton when he was associated with the Croxton-Keeton Motor Car Company, the Keeton was called a "French type' and had a bonnet like the contemporary

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

. Good sales resulted in the purchase of a larger factory in 1913, but under-capitalization caused Keeton to lose control of his company to new investors. A Keeton driven by

Bob Burman Robert R. Burman (April 23, 1884 – April 8, 1916) was an American race car driver, he was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compe ...

participated in the

1913 Indianapolis 500 The Third International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1913. Frenchman Jules Goux became the first foreign-born, and first European winner of the Indianapolis 500. His margin of victory of ...

but caught fire and retired on the 55th lap. In early 1914 Keeton was absorbed by American Voiturette. The last 100 Keeton's were sold by a receiver when that company failed in September 1914. In 1915, Forrest Keeton bought back the factory for a repair business.

Models

The 1913 Keeton "Six-48" was a six-cylinder five-passenger

tourer 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 ...

with left-hand steering, 12½ in (31.75 cm)-diameterClymer, Floyd. ''Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925'' (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.131.

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

headlight 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 for ...

s, starter, and horn.Clymer, p.131. There were four forward speeds, speedometer, and the choice of

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

spoked wood wheels. It had the radiator just in front of the cowl, behind the engine, the "proper and protected position", according to its ads. The folding top was

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. (This should not be confused with Angora wool, which is made from the fur of the Angora rabbit.) Both durable and resilient, mohair is notable for its high luster ...

and the windshield folded. Like most cars of the era, it came standard with a tool kit, which in this case included an electric trouble light, tire iron, pump, jack, and tire patch. It sold for $2,750, . Keeton also offered the five-seat Riverside Tourer and Meadowbrook Roadster at $2,750, the Tuxedo Coupé at $3,000, with a chassis price (suitable for custom

coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

, typical of the likes of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Pierce-Arrow The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial trucks ...

at the time) of $2,250.Clymer, p.32. File:1914 Keeton 6-48 Advertising - Horseless Age.jpg, alt=, 1914 Keeton 6-48 advertisement in the Horseless Age File:Burman3.jpg, alt=, The Keeton raced by

in the

History

Models

References

See also