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
The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Pontiac

US, 1907 – 1908

Pontiac Spring and Wagon Works, Pontiac, Mich.

The Pontiac car was a two-seater high-wheeler with right-hand steering by wheel. The Pontiac car was powered by a 2-cylinder, water-cooled engine mounted under the body. The drive of the Pontiac car was through a friction transmission and double chains to the rear wheels. The cost of the Pontiac car was $600.

US, 1915

Pontiac Chassis Co, Pontiac, Mich.

A chassis without body was all that this Pontiac car company marketed. This Pontiac car chassis was furnished with a 4-cylinder engine, by Perkins, rated at 25hp, driving through a 3-speed transmission.

US, 1926 to date

(1) Oakland Motor Car Co, Pontiac, Mich., 1926 – 1932

(2) Pontiac Motor Co, Pontiac, Mich., 1933 to date

Oakland’s Pontiac Six was intended as a lower-priced running mate, and prices of this conventional 3-litre sv six Pontiac cars started at $825. Only closed bodies were offered initially, but a sales of over 140.000 Pontiac cars was an indication of acceptance, especially when followed by an increase to 210.890 Pontiac cars in 1928. The 1930 Pontiac cars closely resembled Buick’s Marquette, and had 3.3-litre engines, the six being joined in 1932 by a V8 which Pontiac car was really a revamped 1931 Oakland.

In 1933 Pontiac car company scored an important success with a 3.7-litre, 77bhp straight-8 Pontiac car selling for less than $600 with General Motors’ new no-draught ventilation, the 6-cylinder Pontiac cars being dropped for the time being. The 1934 Pontiac cars had Dubonnet-type independent front suspension, and ‘turret-top’ all-steel bodies. Fencer’s mask radiator grilles were found on the 1935 Silver Streak line of Pontiac cars. Capacities of the six and the eight were 3.6-litres and 4.1-litres respectively in 1937. In 1939 Pontiac car company’s cheaper cars had body shells very similar to those of the Chevrolet, as befitted a make which ranked next in the GM hierarchy – though in fact only $20 separated the cheapest Pontiac car, the 4-door sedan from the corresponding Oldsmobile model.

Pontiac cars Torpedo Streamliners brought back the fastback style in 1941, and the immediate pre-war Pontiac cars were continued with little alteration until 1949, when the whole group’s products were restyled, and Pontiacs emerged with lower bodies, redesigned X-frames, and the option of Hydramatic transmission. Though maintaining high sales – they beat Plymouth cars into 4th place overall in 1954 – Pontiac cars remained conservative in engine design, and the well-tried 127bhp sv straight-8 Pontiac car was not supplanted until 1955, when all US-produced Pontiac cars received a 4.7-litre ohv V8. The L-head six was retained for some Pontiac cars made for the Canadian market.

Along with some of the other staider American makes, such as Plymouth and Mercury, the Pontiac car company stove to build their reputation on performance in the later 1950s; the 1958 Pontiac Super Tempest attained 330bhp, and in 1959 Pontiac car came out with a wide-track chassis and concentrated on a 6.4-litre V8 available in a variety of powers from 245 to 345hp.

The Pontiac Car Division’s compact, the Pontiac Tempest arrived in 1961, and was an unusual ohv oversquare four of 3.2-litres’ capacity, mounted in a unitary-construction hull, with its 3-speed synchromesh gearbox in the rear axle. Floor change was standardon the Pontiac car: it was listed at $2.240. A small V8 Pontiac car was available as an option in 1963. The big Pontiac cars went over to GM’s perimeter-type frame in 1963, when the V8 engine was available in a variety of guises on the Pontiac car, from a ‘cooking’ 215bhp version burning regular-grade petrol at $2.725 up to the sporting Pontiac Grand Prix coupé with 303bhp and a revolution counter as standard equipment, at $3.489. The Tempest’s 4-cylinder engine was dropped on the Pontiac car in 1965 in favour of a 140bhp six or 5.4-litre eight. Sporting qualities were emphasized in 1966, by which time the Pontiac Tempest had grown from a 9ft 4in wheelbase to 9ft 8in, and the range of Pontiac cars included the Pontiac GTO Grand Prix and 2 plus 2 models, all Pontiac cars disposing of more than 330bhp from engines of 6.4 and 6.9 litres’ capacity. In 1967, 3.8-litre ohc 6-cylinder engines were introduced: in the sporting Pontiac Firebird Sprint this unit developed 215bhp.

By 1970 the more sporting Pontiac cars (GTO, Firebird and Grand Prix) had front disc brakes, and all full-sized Pontiac cars came with automatic transmission as regular equipment. New for 1971 was a compact Pontiac car, the Pontiac Ventura II on a 9ft 3in wheelbase. The 1972 Pontiac car range covered most sectors of the market, from the Pontiac Ventura at $2.394 up to the luxury Pontiac Grand Ville with 220bhp 7.456cc V8 engine at $4.368. For the sporting motorist there were the Pontiac Le Mans Sport, the Pontiac GTO, and a wide selection of Pontiac Firebirds up to the Pontiac Trans Am with 300bhp V8 unit, giving the Pontiac car a top speed of about 120mph. Peculiar to Canada was the Laurentian, a hybrid Chevrolet-Pontiac on a 10ft 3½in wheelbase, available with  110bhp 6-cylinder or 165bhp V8 unit. In the main 1973’s improvements concerned styling, the Pontiac cars being longer and wider, but new Pontiac cars were the Grand Am 2- and 4-door hardtops, with 6½- or 7½-litre V8 engines, power steering, power disc front brakes and 3-speed automatic gearbox.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com