The Staver and Staver-Chicago was an American

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 191 ...

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

manufactured at 76th and Wallace Streets 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 ...

, by the Staver Carriage Company from 1906 until 1914.

History

Staver Carriage Company was organized after the 1896 bankruptcy of the Staver-Abbott Carriage Company, by Henry C. Staver in 1899. In 1905 Staver began an expansion of their

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

factory and also began developing a high-wheel automobile that would be introduced in late 1906. Henry C. Staver died in 1907 and his son Harry B. Staver became president of Staver Carriage Company. The company's initial Staver automobile was an 18/20- hp high wheeler, with a stanhope body. Larger, more powerful and more expensive at $1,000 () than most high-wheelers, it was fully equipped with top, side curtains, storm front, lights and toolbox. As Models C and D, it debuted at the 1907

Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" Chic ...

and approximately 200 were sold into 1908. Production was turned over to conventional automobiles with a two-cylinder 20-hp roadster in 1909 and

four-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 ...

models beginning in 1910. Staver purchased 500 American & British Manufacturing Company four-cylinder engines designed by Charles F. Herreshoff. Poor manufacturing resulted in a lawsuit that lasted until 1914. Teetor engines from the Light Inspection Car Company designed for Staver, were used from 1910. In 1912, Dan C. Teetor became chief designer for Staver until 1914. With the introduction of the 4-cylinder automobiles, Staver's were advertised as Staver-Chicago models. Staver became very active in

motorsports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

and reliability runs and participated in the Elgin National Road Races,

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

Hill Climb, Chicago's 1,400 mile Reliability Run, many board races and culminating in the Around Lake Michigan runs in 1911 and 1912.

Gus Monckmeier Gustav Carl Frederick Monckmeier (December 13, 1888 – October 14, 1962) was a German-American racecar driver and inventor. He is today best known for his participation in the 1911 and 1912 1,000-plus-mile Around Lake Michigan reliability rac ...

, Chester Cheney, Emery Knudsen, Harry L. Curran and Ralph Ireland were all drivers for Staver. Ralph Ireland died in a practice run when his Staver-Chicago burst a tire at Elgin. Munckmeier had a perfect score for Staver in the 1911 Around Lake Michigan trial, but was later suspended along with Staver from

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

events for a year, when it was found the winning Staver-Chicago car was not stock. For 1912 Staver-Chicago was dropped and all cars were again advertised as Staver. Staver's were mid-priced in the $1,650 to $2,250 () range with

limousines A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

priced up to $3,500. 1914 Models were introduced early in March 1913 and included the new

six-cylinder The 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 balan ...

Staver of 70-hp, priced as a

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 ...

at $2,750, . Production for cars ended in June 1914, and carriages later in the year. Staver Carriage Company continued as a property company for a few years, leasing the Staver factory to Partin Manufacturing Company and other automobile manufacturers. The factory and automobile equipment transferred to

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

in 1917 in a property swap.

Models

File:1906 Staver 18-20hp Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal article.jpg, 1906 Staver 18/20-hp Model D File:1911Staver-Chicago.jpg, 1911 Staver-Chicago 30-hp Model T File:1913 Staver article in Automobile Topics.jpg, 1913 Staver 35-hp Inglewood Touring Car File:1914 Staver Model 65 - Official Handbook of Automobiles.jpg, 1914 Staver 70-hp Model 65 Touring car

Production

Production figures total 7,092 vehicles. About five Staver vehicles still exist.

File:1910 Staver-Chicago advertisement in Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal.jpg, 1910 Staver-Chicago advertisement in Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal File:1911 Staver-Chicago advertisement with Harry B. Staver in the Motor World.jpg, 1911 Staver-Chicago advertisement with Harry B. Staver in Motor World File:1912 Staver advertisement in Motor Field.jpg, 1912 Staver advertisement in Motor Field

References

External links

1909 Staver Model ER RM Southbys

DPL Digital Collection - Staver Carriage Company

Hemmings article - The Staver Carriage Company
{{Commons category, Staver vehicles 1900s cars 1910s cars Brass Era vehicles Highwheeler Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States History of Chicago Defunct companies based in Chicago Defunct companies based in Illinois Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1906 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1914 1899 establishments in Illinois 1914 disestablishments in Illinois Cars introduced in 1906

History

Models

Production

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References

External links