The American, often nicknamed as the American Gas, was a small

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

-powered buggy manufactured by the American Motor Carriage Company in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

from 1902 to 1903, and sold until early 1904. It was one of nearly two dozen American

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 ...

marques to bear this name. The company evolved in August 1901 from an interior decorating studio. Its president was George F. McKay, with F.D. Dorman as vice president and general manager, J.F. Morris acting as secretary-treasurer and George H. Wadsworth as superintendent. The car was developed by chief engineer George W. Dunham. It was a light (1000 lb) two-passenger runabout with a water-cooled, single-cylinder engine fitted under the seat, a planetary transmission and a single chain to the rear axle. The wheel base was . The most outstanding item of the vehicle was its wheel-steering device. A 7-gallon fuel tank was fitted, which would give a driving range of about . As usual at the time, the car was

right-hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes referred to ...

n. Minimalistic coachwork included a small compartment in front. The car came painted in "French carmine", with the running gear in "Valentine red", and the seat bench trimmed in black leather. The car's initial price was $1000, and the company came never close to the targeted capacity of 200 cars per year. In September 1903, the company came under receivership management by the Prudential Trust Company. Dunham became general manager, looking to assemble as many cars as possible from parts ready. These were sold for $750 until April 1904, when a new company named American Automobile Company moved in. They never produced a car. Press noted that the American Motor Carriage Company was the first automobile manufacturer in Cleveland that failed. This is not true, but it was the most important by then.

References

Veteran vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio {{Veteran-auto-stub