The Pullman was an American

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

that was manufactured in

York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the city's population was 44,800 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in ...

by the York Motor Car Company from 1905 to 1909 and the Pullman Motor Car Company from 1909 to 1917. The Pullman automobile was named by industrialist Albert P. Broomell to reflect the quality and luxury of rail cars and coaches made by the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

, but the two organizations were not related.

History

Six-wheeled Pullman

Albert P. Brumell of Broomell, Schmidt & Steacy Company built his first car in 1903. Named the Pullman, it featured six wheels and was built in the Hardinge factory. The axles were evenly spaced; the endmost two axles were in their conventional fore and aft locations and the middle two wheels, which were the powered wheels, sat directly under the passenger seats. When steering the front and rear axles would turn in opposition, enabling the car to turn very tightly. If the car passed over a low spot in the road the driving wheels could become suspended and stop the car until it was pushed. When the car reached a particularly high spot in the road, it had a tendency to see-saw. In 1903, this problem contributed to a car crash. The vehicle was subsequently torn apart and items such as the engine were rebuilt in a more conventional four-wheel configuration.

Pullman Motor Car

The revised car was thought to be good enough for production and Brunnell and Samuel E. Baily established the York Motor Car Company in 1905. Also in 1905, master mechanic James A. Kline joined to design an improved car. Originally planned to be called the York, the name Pullman was settled on before the new car went into production. Thirteen York pilot cars were built in 1905, a figure that increased to 273 in 1906, the first full year of production. Pullman automobiles were sold as premium vehicles, using advertising slogans such as "Not Only The Best at the Price, But the Best at Any Price." The first Pullmans were large Touring and Runabout cars with twenty- hp or forty-hp engines priced from $2,000 to $2,500, . By 1909, annual production exceeded one thousand cars and was then increased in 1910 to more than two thousand. Due to the

Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange suddenly fell almost ...

, financial assistance was needed and Thomas O'Connor and Oscar Stephenson of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

became investors. In 1908, James Kline and Samuel Baily departed the company and would go back into automobile production with the

Kline Kar The Kline Kar was an American automobile built first in York, Pennsylvania, (1910–1912), and then in Richmond, Virginia, (1912–1923). The car was often just referred to as a Kline. History James A. Kline moved to York to work on a car that ...

in 1910. In 1908, one vehicle was driven from the York factory to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and back over a period of about a month to prove its reliability. The

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

which ran through York had not been fully organized or completed and this was a challenging journey. In 1909, the company was reorganized as the Pullman Motor Car Company. A Pullman won the famed

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, w ...

Road Race in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1910, and in 1911 was awarded three gold medals at the Russian Exposition in

Rostov on Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of th ...

, considered an unprecedented "victory" for an American automobile manufacturer. In 1912, Pullman introduced a sixty-hp

six-cylinder A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

car on a 138-inch

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

that was priced at $2,750, . Annual production by 1915 was more than four thousand cars. The Cutler-Hammer electric gear change was also offered; however, quality issues resulted from the high production and sales severely declined. In late 1915, E. T. Birdsall was brought in from

White Motor Company White Motor Company (later renamed White Motor Corporation and commonly known as White) was an American car, truck, bus and agricultural tractor manufacturer from 1900 until 1980. The company also produced bicycles, roller skates, automatic la ...

to design a lower priced car to be called the Pullman Junior, but it was too late to save the company. The Pullman Junior, with a twenty-two-hp Golden Belknap & Schwartz engine that was priced at $740, () was introduced for 1916 and was the only car produced in 1917 while the company was under receivership.

Fate

The Pullman Motor Car Company declared bankruptcy in December 1916 and ceased operations in 1917; the factory was sold to Bell Motor Car Co. (also of York) and the rest of the company's assets were then sold at sale in July of that year, . The original building which housed the Pullman factory still exists in

a
238-242 N George St
There are about 27 known Pullman automobiles still in existence, about half of which have been restored.

Overview of production figures

Gallery

File:1910 Model O Pullman Racebout by the Pullman motor car co, York Postcard Club's 2005 Postcard Show (NBY 20704).jpg, 1910 Model O Pullman Raceabout File:Pullman2.jpg, 1910 Pullman Touring car File:1917 Pullman Motor Car Corporation ad from The Photo-Play Journal (May-Dec 1917) (IA photoplayjournal02lave) (page 60 crop).jpg, 1917 Pullman Motor Car advertisement File:Wm. P. Barnhart in Pullman Car, 1917 LCCN2016852523.jpg, 1917 Pullman automobile, William P. Barnhart, Washington D.C. Pullman dealer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullman Automobile Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Economic history of Pennsylvania Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars 1910s cars Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Pennsylvania Cars introduced in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1917 Cars discontinued in 1917