The Pungs-Finch was an American

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 ...

manufactured 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 1904 to 1910. They were powerful

touring car 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 ...

s built by a factory which primarily made marine gas engines.

History

E. B. Finch was an engineer who had studied at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and who had built his first automobile in 1902. William A. Pungs was his father-in-law who had arranged the purchase of the Sintz Gas Engine Company for the Michigan Yacht and Power Company. Pungs bought out his partner O. J. Mulford, who departed and established the

Gray Marine Motor Company Gray Marine Motor Company was a U.S. manufacturer of marine engines between 1910 and 1967. These ranged from one to six cylinders in both gas and later diesel layouts, which were used in pleasure boats, work boats, and military craft. Gray w ...

in 1905. The new company was named the Pungs-Finch Auto and Gas Engine Company in 1904. Sintz Gas Engine had developed a car that became the basis for the 1904 Pungs-Finch that had a 14-hp twin-cylinder engine. In 1905 the twin was replaced by the much larger Finch designed Model D

4-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...

of 5,808-cc and the Model F of 6,435-cc, selling at $2,000 or $2,500 () respectively. The Pungs-Finch were displayed at the New York,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

automobile shows in 1905. In 1905, the marine engine and

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires. Construction materials and methods Wood Wo ...

part of the factory burned and production was delayed while Pungs-Finch rebuilt. E. B. Finch designed a larger advanced model for 1906 called the Finch Limited powered by an 8652-cc single

overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

, four-cylinder engine priced at $3,500, . It was guaranteed to be 50 horsepower and go 50 miles an hour. E. B. Finch departed in 1906 after an argument with his father-in-law and became a dealer for Chalmers in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. From 1906 to 1910 Pungs-Finch cataloged 22-hp and 40-hp models, again selling for $2,000 and $2,500 respectively. The 50-hp model was offered again in 1908 but by now the company concentrated their efforts on marine gas engines and boat building. The 1906 model Finch Limited, probably the only one built, was discovered in a factory and restored by automobile historian Henry Austin Clark Jr. in the 1950s. It is the only know extant Pungs-Finch.

File:1904 Pungs-Finch ad in Motor World Magazine.jpg, 1904 Pungs-Finch advertisement in Motor World Magazine File:1906 Pungs-Finch Ad Annual Horse Show Catalogue.jpg, 1906 Pungs-Finch advertisement File:1907 Pungs-Finch - Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal.jpg, 1907 Pungs-Finch advertisement - Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal

References

{{reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct companies based in Michigan Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1904 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1910 Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars Cars introduced in 1904

History

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See Also

References