The Yale was a

Brass Era car 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 ...

manufactured in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

from 1916 to 1918, not to be confused with the

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. The man behind this Yale was Louis J. Lampke, who previously had been with Palmer-Singer and

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

. He then created a car he had designed himself, this was the MPM of

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Unio ...

. In early 1915, Lampke travelled to Saginaw in order to acquire funding to transfer his company there. Apparently, the people of Saginaw were not interested in the MPM, but were interested in Lampke himself. He therefore stayed in town and created the Saginaw Motor Company in June 1916. Various local businessmen were in the executive positions, while Lampke was in charge of product development. The plan was to call the

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 ...

the

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, but the Lehr Motor Company across town had already beaten them to the name. The Saginaw Motor people thus got together and settled on the Yale name.

Vehicle specifications

The Yale would be V8-powered only, in contrast to the four- and eight-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

s of the MPM. The Yale was also larger and more luxurious than the MPM, with prices starting at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1350. The former

Argo Electric The Argo Electric Vehicle Company was an electric automobile manufacturer that operated in Saginaw, Michigan, United States, from 1912 to 1916. The Argo Electric used a 60 volt system with Westinghouse motors. They claimed to be capable of . ...

factory at Jefferson and Atwater in town was secured and production of seven-passenger

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 commenced in July 1916. This was the only

body style Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for various purposes including regulation, description, and categorization of cars. The International Standard ISO 3833-1977 ''Road vehicles – Types ...

offered the first year. With the coming of the new year, two new body styles were added, namely a roadster and a speedster with a

rumble seat A rumble seat (American English), dicky (dickie/dickey) seat (British English), also called a mother-in-law seat, is an upholstered exterior seat which folded into the rear of a coach, carriage, or early motorcar. Depending on its configuration, ...

. All three models rode on the same 126 inch

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

and cost US$1550.

Production

The company announced its intentions to produce closed cars, but it is unlikely that any were made. In January 1918, the price had increased yet again, this time to US$1885, but by now the end was near. Production ceased in March of the same year, and

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

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 th ...

acquired the right to the parts and to service the cars. In April, the factory was purchased by the makers of Jumbo trucks.

References

External links

Contemporary photo of 1916 tourerContemporary photo of 1917 speedster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale (1916 Automobile) Brass Era vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan