The Mercury was a

cyclecar A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. A key c ...

built 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 ...

, by the Mercury Cyclecar Company at 807 South Scotten Street in 1913-1914.

History

The Mercury Cyclecar had a self-supporting body that eliminated the need for a chassis frame. The vehicle was equipped with a two-cylinder air-cooled V-twin engine from DeLuxe which also supplied power for the

Sears Dreadnought Sears Dreadnought was a motorcycle sold by Sears in the 1910s. The motorcycle featured a V-twin made by Spacke. It was sourced from Spacke's cyclecar and had . This engine was also used by Dayton, Eagle, Minneapolis and Crawford. In addition to ...

and Minneapolis motorcycles and other brands. It used a friction transmission and a copper-riveted V belt final drive. Body styles were the tandem two-seater, a one-seater for salesman use, and a light delivery van. The factory was set up at the former location of the

Detroit Tribune The ''Detroit Tribune'' a newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States, was started as the ''Daily Tribune'' in 1849 and used the name until 1862. In 1862 the ''Tribune'' joined with the (Detroit) ''Daily Advertiser'' which then absorbed other ...

when operations of the newspaper had ended earlier, and the car company was established by W.J. Marshall and R.C. Albertus. A prototype was completed and test driven by 15 November 1913, claiming to be the first cyclecar sold in Detroit. The car used

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

construction, a transverse half-elliptic spring supporting the front axle, and two quarter elliptic springs under the rear axle. It had a wheelbase. The car was selected by the Michigan State Automobile School, who bought the Mercury Cyclecar Company when the company went bankrupt, and initially decided to continue to manufacturer and sell the car for $200 ($ in dollars ), then the school reconsidered the idea. W.J. Marshall then relocated the business to 815 South Scotten Street when he became general manager of H. Collier Smith Company that manufactured sheet metal fabricating machinery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury (Cyclecar) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Cyclecars Brass Era vehicles 1910s cars Cars introduced in 1913 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1913 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1914