Rugby

US, 1922 – 1928

Durant Motor Co of New Jersey, Elizabeth, N.J.; Lansing, Mich; Oakland, Calif.

William Crapo Durant’s Star Four was one of the most serious attempts to take away some of the Model T Ford’s market, for the cheapest practical car. It was sold outside the United States as the Rugby.Unlike the Ford, the Rugby car was an assembled machine. The Rugby car had a 2.2-litre, 4-cylinder engine by Continental, and was conventional in design in every way except the gearbox, which was separate; a feature common to all the vehicles in Durant’s empire, but very unusual in American mass-produced cars by the early 1920s. The touring Rugby car cost only $443 in 1923, which helped the Rugby car(or Star) to be the seventh biggest seller in America that year. In 1926, a 2.8-litre six-cylinder Rugby car was introduced. Front wheel brakes appeared on the Rugby car in 1927 but a year later the Rugby car make disappeared in the collapse of the Durant interests. By this time, 250 Rugby cars a day were being turned out. Only the Four was still called the Rugby car/ Star for the 1928 model year, as the Six was now known as the Durant Model 55.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN

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