The Brass era Robie

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 ...

was manufactured by the Robie Motor Car Company in

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

in 1914.

History

The Robie used a

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 ...

Perkins engine of 1.6 liters. It was a side-by-side two-seater. It had a rounded radiator with a streamline body and disc wheels. The Robie was priced at $450, . The car was guaranteed to go 45 mph and 45 mpg of gasoline. Fred G. Robie had been in the automobile accessories business before building his cyclecar. The Robie was built by Massnick-Phipps Manufacturing company 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 ...

. Robie planned to have a second generation of his cyclecar built by Pullman in

York, Pennsylvania York ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populati ...

, but his money ran out.

References

{{reflist Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1914 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1915 Cyclecars Brass Era vehicles 1910s cars Cars introduced in 1914