Chalmers / Chalmers-Detroit

US, 1908 – 1924

Chalmers Motor Car Co, Detroit, Mich.

The Chalmers was one of the most popular automobiles made in the United States for more than a decade. The Chalmers was the successor to the Thomas-Detroit which was built by a company which had been founded in 1906 by E.R. Thomas (builder of the Thomas car in Buffalo, N.Y.), Roy D. Chapin and Howard Earle Coffin; the two latter had previously served at Oldsmobile. The Thomas-Detroit of which some 500 were sold during the first year of production, was marketed through the parent firm in Buffalo which manufactured a larger line of cars under the Thomas emblem. The Thomas-Detroit was a medium priced four-cylinder car which had been designed by Coffin. In 1907, Hugh Chalmers, vice president of the National Cash Register Co and a noted salesman, entered the firm. Shortly after, he bought a half of E.R. Thomas’ stock and became president of the company which became the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. The Thomas-Detroit became the Chalmers-Detroit in 1908 and in 1910, the Chalmers. Open and closed Chalmers models in two lines comprised the Chalmers four-cylinder cars, with self-starters appearing in 1912. Chalmers (as Chalmers-Detroit) had distinguished itself in road races as early as 1908 when W.R. Burns won the Motor Parkway Sweekstakes at Jericho, N.Y., averaging 48.7mph in the six-lap 140.76 mile run.

In 1913, the Chalmers brought out its first 6-cylinder model, as well as the four and apart from small mechanical and design changes, continued both until 1914. The Chalmers four was dropped from the 1915 line, however, and sixes were to be used exclusively in Chalmers until the ending of manufacture. By 1915, some 20.000 Chalmers cars per year were coming off the Chalmers production line and would even exceed that figure before the advent of World War 1. In 1917, an L-head motor replaced the earlier overhead-valve type and on August 4th, Chalmers again headed racing news when Joe Dawson won the 24-hour stock Car Endurance Run at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. Sales flagged following the end of the war and Hugh Chalmers, always the salesman, and with the realization that a competitor, Maxwell, wasn’t faring well either, arranged to lease his Chalmers plants to Maxwell, using his salesmanship to promote the two concerns and getting the benefit of Maxwell tooling and manufacturing equipment. By the early 1920s, however, many makes of cars were in financial difficulties due to over-expansion and recession, and Walter P. Chrysler was called in to try and reorganize Maxwell. Chrysler was at this time planning his own corporation and in 1922 Chalmers was taken over by Maxwell which had become a Chrysler subsidiary. The last Chalmer cars for sale were equipped with Lockheed hydraulic brakes but 1923 was the last year of Chalmers production with some 9000 units leaving the factories. The Maxwell survived until 1925 when it became the Chrysler Four.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; KM
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Clement-Talbot

1903 – 1938

Clement-Talbot Ltd, North Kensington, London W.10

From 1903, Clement-Talbot Ltd, a company backed by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, began importing the French Clément car into Britain; in spite of its name and an interest held by Adolphe Clément, the concern was British, and by the end of the year its cars were called Talbots. The 1904 Clement-Talbot models were a 6hp single, and 11hp twin, and two big fours. All of them had shaft drive and side valves in T-heads, except for the biggest, the Clement-Talbot 27hp voiture de luxe, which used overhead inlet valves and a single camshaft. Trucks, buses and boats were also advertised. Promotion, which was at first in the hands of the managing director, D.M. Weigel, was energetic and successful.
By the end of 1904, an impressive Clement-Talbot factory had been built, complete with test track, and in the following year British-assembled, and partly British-made Clement-Talbots emerged from it. A wide variety of tupes was listed, from an 11hp twin to a great 50hp 4-cylinder model. One model that was to be famous, the Clement-Talbot 12/16hp, had already been designed. French cars were still being imported by the company. However, the 20hp of 1906 was the first British-made Talbot. It was designed by C.R. Garrard, and while still conventional, had an unusually efficient engine of 3.8 litres’ capacity. Both this and the 2.7-litre ‘12/16’ were fast cars that quickly made a name for themselves in competitions; their slogan became ‘The Invincible Talbot’. For 1907 a 3-litre 15hp, a car in the same mould, superseded the ‘12/16’. By 1908 it was the only British chassis offered, into which could be installed 15hp, 25hp or 35hp engines. Their popularity was due to a combination of smoothness, reliability, speed and reasonable price. The French range was still listed. A six was introduced for 1910, and the 4½-litre 25hp was revised by G.W.A. Brown with an L-head valve arrangement. This Clement-Talbot model, highly tuned and lightened, and fitted with a racing body, became the first car to cover 100 miles in an hour, at Brooklands in 1913 in the hands of Percy Lambert. In the same year a new model, the 2.6-litre 15/20hp, was introduced. This and the 25hp, now called the ‘Clement-Talbot 25/50’, were the famous cars that kept the name before the public eye in competitions. A sports model of the latter was also listed. By this time, the French range had been dropped.
In 1919 Clement-Talbot was taken over by another French-sounding, but in fact British-owned firm, the Société Alexandre Darracq of Paris. 

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN
The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com