The Tincher was a brand of

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 ...

produced from 1903–1908 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 ...

,John L. Tincher III
Danville's Tincher Automobile
' Reprinted from ''Winter'' 1981-82, page 10 and from 1908 to 1909 in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. The car was named after its developer, Thomas Luther Tincher, but built by the Chicago Coach and Carriage Company using components and body sections fabricated by the German Krupp steelworks. The Tincher debuted at the 1903 Chicago Automobile Show, where its air-braking system was the technical wonder of the event. Not only could the air-system stop the car, but it could be used to inflate flat tires and power the car's horn. The Tincher was also one of the costliest cars in production at the time, with a race version beginning at $12,000. Custom coach work on the touring cars and coach models could raise the price even higher. Small Tinchers, riding on a wheelbase, were priced in the $5,000 - $10,000 range. In 1907, Tincher moved himself and the newly incorporated Tincher Motor Car Company to

, where Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company maintained its production facilities. Tincher had hoped that being near the Studebaker brothers (who were majority stock holders in the venture) would help not only development of cars and custom bodies, but sales as well. However well built the cars were, the Tincher was discontinued in 1909 when Thomas Tincher and his company both declared bankruptcy. Tincher then moved to Los Angeles where he became West Coast distributor of the Haynes automobile.

References

Studebaker Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Illinois Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Defunct companies based in Indiana Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers {{Veteran-auto-stub