Winton Motor Carriage Company: Difference between revisions
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The Winton Motor Carriage Company was a pioneer United States automobile manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. Winton was one of the first American companies to sell a motor car. In 1912, Winton became one of the first American manufacturers of diesel engines.
History
[edit]1896–1903
[edit]In 1896, Scottish immigrant Alexander Winton, owner of the Winton Bicycle Company, turned from bicycle production to an experimental single-cylinder automobile before starting his car company.<ref name="100 Years" />Template:Efn
The company was incorporated on March 15, 1897. Its first automobiles were built by hand. Each vehicle had painted sides, padded seats, a leather roof, and gas lamps. B.F. Goodrich made the tires.<ref name="Hedgbeth">Template:Cite web</ref>
By this time, Winton had already produced two fully operational prototype automobiles. In May of that year, the 10 hp (7.5 kW) model achieved the astonishing speed of Template:Cvt on a test around a Cleveland horse track. However, the new invention was still subject to much skepticism , so to prove his automobile's durability and usefulness, Alexander Winton had his car undergo an Template:Cvt endurance run from Cleveland to New York City.<ref name="Hedgbeth" />
On March 24, 1898, Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, became the first person to buy a Winton automobile after seeing the first automobile advertisement in Scientific American.<ref name="Hedgbeth" /> Later that year the Winton Motor Carriage Company sold 21 more vehicles,<ref name="100 Years"/> including one to James Ward Packard, who later founded the Packard automobile company after Winton challenged a very dissatisfied Packard to do better.<ref name="Clymer 1877">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp This is the same mistake that Enzo Ferrari would make with Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Winton sold his first manufactured semi-truck in 1899. More than one hundred Winton vehicles were sold that year,<ref name="100 Years">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered automobiles in the United States. This success led to the opening of the first automobile dealership by Mr. H. W. Koler<ref name="wintonfamily">Template:Cite web</ref> in Reading, Pennsylvania. To deliver the vehicles, in 1899, Winton built the first automobile hauler in America.<ref name="Hedgbeth" /> One of these 1899 Wintons was purchased by Larz Anderson and his new wife, Isabel Weld Perkins.Template:Efn
Publicity generated sales. In 1901, the news that both Reginald Vanderbilt and Alfred Vanderbilt had purchased Winton automobiles boosted the company's image substantially. Models at the time were a two-passenger Runabout with a one-cylinder engine (8 hp) and a four-passenger Touring and Mail Delivery Van, also with a one-cylinder engine (9 hp).<ref name="Kimes 1996">Template:Cite book</ref> That year, Winton lost a race at Grosse Pointe to Henry Ford. Winton vowed a comeback and win. He produced the 1902 Winton Bullet, which set an unofficial land speed record of Template:Cvt in Cleveland that year. The Bullet was defeated by another Ford by famed driver Barney Oldfield, but two more Bullet race cars were built.
In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made the first successful automobile drive across the United States.<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp On a $50 bet (equal to $Template:Inflation today), he purchased a slightly used two-cylinder, Template:Cvt Winton touring car and hired a mechanic, Sewall K. Crocker (April 7, 1883 – April 22, 1913), to accompany him. Starting in San Francisco, California, ending in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The trip lasted 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, including breakdowns and delays while waiting for parts to arrive (especially in Cleveland.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) The two men often drove miles out of the way to find a passable road, repeatedly hoisted the Winton up and over rocky terrain and mud holes with a block and tackle, or were pulled out of soft sand by horse teams.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country, all inside city limits. There were no road signs or maps. They once paid the exorbitant price of $5 for five gallons of gasoline ($178 in 2024 dollars). Jackson and Crocker followed rivers and streams, transcontinental railroad tracks, sheep trails, and dirt back roads.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>Template:Efn The car is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History after Jackson himself donated the vehicle to the museum where it can still be seen on display. <ref name="Duncan">Template:Cite book</ref>
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1898 Winton Motor Carriage Company's first automobile ad
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1899 Winton Stanhope
1904–1924
[edit]The 1904 Winton was a five-passenger tonneau-equipped tourer which sold for US$2,500. By contrast, the Enger 40 was US$2,000,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp the FAL US$1,750,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp an Oakland 40 US$1,600,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp the Cole 30<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp and Colt Runabout US$1,500,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp while the (1913) Lozier Light Six Metropolitan started at US$3,250,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp American's lowest-priced model was US$4,250,<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp and Lozier's Big Six were US$5,000 and up.<ref name="Clymer 1877" />Template:Rp
- Models (1904)
Type Engine HP Wheelbase Transmission Touring-5p. Two-cylinder 20 94.5" 2-speed sliding-gear<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Touring-5p. Four-cylinder 24 104" 2-speed sliding-gear
Winton's flat-mounted water-cooled straight-twin engine, situated amidships of the car, produced Template:Cvt. The channel and angle steel-framed car weighed Template:Cvt.
- Models (1914)<ref name="Kimes 1996"/>
Model Engine HP Wheelbase Model 20 Six-cylinder 48.6 130"
Winton continued to successfully market automobiles to upscale consumers through the 1910s, but sales began to fall in the early 1920s. This was due to the very conservative nature of the company, both in terms of technical development and styling. Only one sporting model was offered — the Sport Touring, with the majority of Wintons featuring tourer, sedan, limousine and town car styling.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Winton Motor Carriage Company ceased automobile production on February 11, 1924.
- Models (1922)<ref name="Kimes 1996"/>
Model Engine HP Wheelbase Model 40 Six-cylinder 70/72 132"
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1908 Winton touring car
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Winton advertisement in Des Moines Capital, May 14, 1910
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Winton Motor Company advertisement, 1911<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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1910 Winton Six
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1918 Winton Six Model 33 Limousine
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1922 Winton Six Model 40 seven-passenger touring
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Winton Engine Company
[edit]In 1912, Winton started producing diesel engines for stationary and marine use, and gasoline engines for heavy vehicles, independent of Winton's automobile production. The subsidiary Winton Engine Company remained successful while Winton's automotive sales went into decline, and would outlive the Winton Motor Carriage Company. Winton became the main supplier of engines for internal combustion-electric powered railcars in the 1920s.
Sale to General Motors
[edit]On June 20, 1930, Winton Engine Company was sold to General Motors and on June 30 was reorganized as the Winton Engine Corporation subsidiary of General Motors. It produced the first practical two-stroke diesel engines in the 400-to-1,200 hp (300 to 900 kW) range, which powered the early diesel locomotives of Electro-Motive Corporation (another General Motors subsidiary), as well as United States Navy submarines. In 1934, a Winton eight-cylinder, Template:Cvt 8-201-A diesel engine powered the revolutionary streamlined passenger train the Burlington Zephyr, the first American diesel-powered mainline train. The Winton Engine Corporation provided 201 Series engines for rail use until late 1938, when it was reorganized as the General Motors Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, which produced the GM 567 series locomotive engines, and other large diesels for marine and stationary use. In 1941, locomotive engine production became part of General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). In 1962, Cleveland Diesel was absorbed by Electro-Motive Division, which remains in business today as a subsidiary of Progress Rail.<ref name=TugCleveland>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Pinkepank(73)>Template:Cite book</ref>
Marine engines
[edit]Winton and Cleveland engines were used widely by the U.S. Navy in World War II, powering submarines, destroyer escorts, and numerous auxiliaries. The Winton engines were systematically replaced with the more reliable Cleveland Diesel engines during refittings during the war.<ref name=TugCleveland /><ref name="Silverstone(66)">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Jane's(98)">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="NavSource SS-285">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NavSource DE 99">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NavSource ATA 121">Template:Cite web</ref>
Overview of production figures
[edit]| Year | Production | Model |
|---|---|---|
| 1896 | 2 | Winton Motor Carriage <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1897 | 6 | |
| 1898 | 22 | Winton Motor Carriage <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1899 | 106 | |
| 1900 | 218 | |
| 1901 | 686 | |
| 1902 | 633 | |
| 1903 | 850 | 20 HP <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1904 | 900 | 20 HP |
| 1905 | 1.000 | Model A,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Model B,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Model C <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1906 | 1.000 | Model K <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1907 | 1.100 | Model XIV,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Model M <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1908 | 1.148 | Six-Teen-Six <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1909 | 1.218 | Model 17;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Model 18 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1910 | 1.329 | Model 17; Model 18 |
| 1911 | 1.413 | Model 17 B <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 1912 | 1.518 | |
| 1913 | 1.612 | |
| 1914 | 1.518 | |
| 1915 | 1.816 | |
| 1916 | 2.458 | |
| 1917 | 1.818 | |
| 1918 | 1.623 | |
| 1919 | 1.319 | |
| 1920 | 1.160 | |
| 1921 | 956 | |
| 1922 | 561 | |
| 1923 | 373 | |
| 1924 | 129 | |
| Sum | 28.492 |
In popular culture
[edit]A purpose-built "Winton Flyer" features prominently in William Faulkner's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1962 novel The Reivers. In fact, the 1969 film version of the novel starring Steve McQueen was known as The Yellow Winton Flyer in the UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Winton sales literature for models A, B, C and Limousine—The description at the site explains the format: "Designed to be folded in various combinations so that the text can be displayed under the corresponding image. In this digital edition each photo is displayed with the corresponding text folded to appear under the photo. The two sides of the complete, unfolded strip are also included as an application/pdf file as the final image."
- A collection of Winton magazine advertisements (1902–1917)
- A collection of sales literature for the Winton Six 1911, 1912, 1913, and 33
- Secondhandgarage.com: History of the Winton Motor Carriage Company
- Template:HAER
- Template:HAER
- Pages with broken file links
- 1890s cars
- 1900s cars
- 1910s cars
- 1920s cars
- Brass Era vehicles
- Defunct companies based in Cleveland
- Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
- Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio
- History of Cleveland
- Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
- Manufacturing companies based in Cleveland
- Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio
- Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1962
- Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1897
- Vehicles introduced in 1898