Welch

US, 1903 – 1911

(1) Chelsea Manufacturing Co, Chelsea, Mich., 1903 – 1904

(2) Welch Motor Car Co, Pontiac, Mich., 1904 – 1911

(3) Welch Motor Car Co, Detroit, Mich., 1909 – 1911

The Chelsea Manufacturing Company was a bicycle shop in which the Welch brothers experimented with Welch cars from 1901 to 1903. They showed their Welch Tourist car for the first time at the 1903 Chicago Show. This Welch car had a 20hp 2-cylinder engine with the advanced features of overhead valves and hemispherical combustion chambers. A few Welch cars were made at Chelsea before the Welch brothers set up their own Welch carfactory at Pontiac. Here larger Welch cars were made with 36hp 4-cylinder engines, and later, 6-cylinder engines of up to 75hp. With wheelbases of up to 11ft 6in the Welch cars were among the largest cars of their time, and carried spacious limousine or tourer bodies. The hemispherical combustion chambers and overhead valves were retained, now operated by a single overhead camshaft.

In 1909 a new Welch car factory was set up at Detroit to make a smaller 4-cylinder Welch car, known as the Welch-Detroit. A.B.C. Hardy, who had designed the Flint, was general manager at the Detroit Welch car plant, and in 1911, acting on instructions from General Motors, he removed the Welch car machinery from Detroit and Pontiac, and combined with the Rainier plant at Saginaw, Michigan to make the Marquette.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; GNG 

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