The Selden Motor Vehicle Company was a

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 1915 ...

American manufacturer of

automobiles 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 regarded ...

. The company, founded in 1906, was based in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, and built automobiles from 1907 to 1914 and

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

from 1913 to 1932.

History

The Selden Motor Vehicle Company was founded by George B. Selden, whose 1877

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

was the first U.S. patent of a "horseless carriage" which because of numerous later amendments was not granted until 1895. To make the patent more credible, in 1907 Selden built a car on the lines of the 1877 design. This patent would be declared "unenforceable" in 1911. E. T. Birdsall designed the first Selden, a 30hp 4-cylinder car placed on the market in June 1907. A car in the $2,000 to $2,500 () price range, the Selden grew from a 109-inch wheelbase car to a 125-inch wheelbase. In 1911 George Selden's patent was declared unenforceable, and his factory had a fire that summer. Insurance covered the damages and production continued. Late in 1911, the company was reorganized internally, with Frederick A. Law, formerly with

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

became designer and plant superintendent. The last Selden passenger cars were built in 1914. In 1913, the company began production of Selden trucks and this successfully continued until the company's sale to the Hahn Motor Truck Company of

Hamburg, Pennsylvania Hamburg (Pennsylvania German: ''Hambarig'') is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,270 at the 2020 census. The town is thought to have been named after Hamburg, Germany, but this is likely to have been a c ...

in 1930. Hahn and Selden went out of business in 1932. George B. Selden died in 1923.

File:1909SeldenModel29ad.jpg, 1909 Selden Model 29 advertisement File:1910SeldenModel35ad.jpg, 1910 Selden Model 35 advertisement File:Selden 1911-0128.jpg, 1911 Selden Model 46 advertisement File:SeldenTruckad0820.jpg, 1920 Selden Motor Trucks advertisement

External links

1911 Seldon Model 40R at ConceptCarz
* Barnes, J. W. (1981, April). Rochester and the Automobile Industry. Rochester History, XLIII

References

{{Trucking industry in the United States, state=collapsed Cars introduced in 1907 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct truck manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state) Manufacturing companies based in Rochester, New York Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1905 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1930 1907 establishments in New York (state) 1932 disestablishments in New York (state) Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state) 1900s cars 1910s cars Brass Era vehicles American companies disestablished in 1932 American companies established in 1907

History

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See also

External links

References