Star

GB, 1898 – 1932

Star/ Starling/ Stuart

(1) Star Motor Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1898 – 1902

(2) Star Engineering Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1902 – 1909

(3) Star Cycle Co, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1905 – 1909

(4) Star Engineering Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1909 – 1928

(5) Star Motor Co Ltd, Wolverhampton, Staffs., 1928 – 1932

Edward Lisle Sr’s Star Motor Co, an offshoot of the Star Cycle Co, produced its first Star car in 1898, and offered the Star car for sale in the following year. The Star car was a Benz-based machine, with a single-cylinder, water-cooled 3½hp engine, belt primary drive and chain final drive. It was an improvement in that water circulation on the Star car was assisted by a pump. In 1900 there followed a 2-cylinder Star car with 3 forward speeds, still on Benz lines. 1901 brougth De Dion-engined single-cylinder Star cars, and 1902 an 8hp twin of Panhard type in addition. Other, larger Star cars of Panhard ancestry joined the 8hp, up to a 20hp four Star car. By 1904, although a De Dion-powered single and Panhard-type twin were still there, the bigger machines were of Mercédès pattern, these Star cars came with honeycomb radiators, mechanically-operated inlet valves and pressed-steel frames. All veteran Star cars up to 1914 were extremely well-made, well-furnished, conventional, rather expensive cars lacking in technical originality, showing a line of development appearance in the 1907 range. The best-known Star car of the veteran period was the excellent 15hp Star car of 1909, a shaft-driven 2.8-litre four which had become the 3-litre 15.9hp by 1914. A great variety of other Star cars, basically similar models were turned out, not only by Star but also by the Star Cycle Co. The latter, run by Edward Lisle Jr, had made motor tricycles and bicycles, and produced the Starling car in 1905. It had 2 forward speeds and a De Dion single-cylinder engine, but was otherwise of Panhard type, with armoured wood frame and chain drive. One year later the Star car company supplemented it with the more modern Stuart car, which had 2-cylinders, 3-speeds and shaft drive. This name was dropped in 1908, all models being called Starlings, but these too, disappeared in 1909 when Star cars cheaper line was entrusted to the new Brion Motor Co, a more indepented concern that was still run by Edward Lisle Jr. So popular was the Star car that its makers were among the six largest in the country before 1914.

The 15.9hp Star car was continued after World War 1, together with another sv four Star car of pre-war origin, the 20hp Star car of 3.8-litres. A modern light Star car of fashionable type, the 11.9hp, arrived in 1921. This Star car used a 1.795cc sv engine with a detachable head, made in unit with a 3-speed gearbox which had central change. By 1924, the 11.9 Star car had grown up into the 2-litre 12/25hp Star car. It shared cylinder dimensions with the 18hp Star car, which was a new 3-litre six. The 12/25 Star car could be had as a very fine fast touring car with overhead valves and 54bhp, in which form the Star car was called 12/40hp. Thereafter, the Star car range reverted to its pre-war complexity. By 1927, there were three sv Star car models and two additional and more up-to-date Star cars with overhead valves. The 14/40hp Star car, new in 1926, was a solid 2-litre, ohv machine which in spite of having only 4-cylinders and 3 forward speeds, this Star car was a notably smooth and flexible car, thanks to a 5-bearing crankshaft. The ohv 20/60hp Star car, a 2½-litre six with the same bore and stroke as the 14/40 and a 7-bearing crankshaft, was the most luxurious Star car. A light six, the popular ohv 18/50hp, joined the Star car range in 1928, the year of the Star car company’s acquisition by Guy, and replaced the 14/40 Star car for 1929. By this time, the sv Star cars had gone, leaving the two sixes. As the 18hp Star Comet and the 21hp Star Planet, these Star cars were revised with handsome bodies and very full, luxurious equipment, including one-shot chassis lubrication, thermostatically-controlled radiator shutters and a built-in jacking system. Two other engines, of 14hp (2-litres) and 24hp (3.6-litres) were also obtainable in Star cars for 1932, as alternative Comet and Planet power units. These Star car were the last new Star cars, for they were too expensive to make, and the times favoured the mass-produced economy car. Production of Star cars ended in March 1932, but the unsold stock was sold by McKenzie and Denley of Birmingham, and the Star car was quoted in the Buyer’s Guide lists until 1935.

US, 1903 – 1904

(1) Star Automobile Co, Cleveland, Ohio

(2) H.S. Moore, Cleveland, Ohio

This Star car was driven by a single-cylinder, watercooled engine of 1.9-litres, mounted beneath the front seat, with false bonnet and coil radiator in front. A champion planetary transmission and double chain drive was used on this Star car. Both two- and five-seater Star cars were made, the latter with rear entrance.

US, 1908

Star Automobile Co, Chicago, Ill.

Star runabouts were offered in three models, selling for $500, $600 and $700 respectively. The smallest Star car was an open two-seater, and shaft drive was employed on all Star cars.

US, 1908

Model Automobile Co, Peru, Ind.

The short-lived Star car from Peru was offered in conventional 2- and 4-cylinder forms. The twin was chain-driven, while the big, expensive four Star car ($4.000) had shaft drive.

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. Unlike the Ford, the Star car was an assembled machine.The Star 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 Star car cost only $443 in 1923, which helped Star to be the seventh biggest seller in America that year. The Star car was sold outside the United States as the Rugby. In 1926, a 2.8-litre six Star car was introduced. Front wheel brakes appeared in 1927 but a year later the Star car make disappeared in the collapse of the Durant interests. By this time, 250 Star cars a day were being turned out. Only the Four was still called the Star car for the 1928 model year, as the Six was now known as the Durant Model 55.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; TRN, GMN, MJWW, TRN

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

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