Lost Marques O - Z (Oakland - Zust)

Send This Page To A Friend
What a shame that so many fine automobile manufacturers have closed their doors - fortunately there are many museums and private collectors dedicated to the preservation of such important automotive history. In tribute to those people, we are writing a series of articles on the lost marques of last century - and there a quite a few!

It seems paradoxical today that the owners of such legendary marques as Stutz and Mercer would compose such impolite slogans about each other, one wonders if they would still recite “There’s nothing worser than a Mercer” and “You’d have to be nuts to drive a Stutz” had they foreseen global events such as war and the depression wiping out the manufacturer of their cherished automobile. And remember to check back regularly as we expand our collection of “Lost Marques”…

Oakland
 
Oakland
The first car to leave the Oakland factory at Pontiac, Michigan was a 20 hp, twin-cylinder runabout designed by Alanson P. Brush, who had previously designed the first Cadillac and the Brush Runabout. Weighing 1600lb and selling at $1375, the Oakland Model A had a two-speed epicyclic transmission and the engine cranked anti-clockwise (a supposed panacea for the risk of wrists broken by a backfire while the engine was being swung). More>>
Oldsmobile
 
Oldsmobile
It is a good thing that Ransom Eil Olds did not like the smell of horses on the farm, and decided to invent an automobile. That was in the early 1880s, when Ransom was in his early 20s. Born in 1864, he was the son of Pliny Fisk Olds, a village mechanic in Geneva, north Ohio, not far from Cleveland. Cleveland was already a major engineering centre, with iron and steel manufacture, farm implement production, oil-refining and ship-building industries firmly established; and it was here that Ransom went to school. More>>
Owen Magnetic
 
Owen Magnetic
Ray Owen adapted the Entz transmission, which was designed for use in the new generation of oil-engined battleships (such as the 1919 New Mexico), for automotive use, and began production of a luxury car with this form of drive in 1914. Under its original name of Owen Magnetic, the 'Car of a Thousand Speeds' was not very successful, but by 1920 J. L. Crown had taken over the design rights, and was producing cars in a factory at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. More>>
Packard
 
Packard
In most of the years from World War 1 until its merger with Studebaker in 1954, a span of more than thirty years, Packard was America's only entirely independent auto company dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of the finest possible cars. For this reason, and also for its accomplishments in the design and production of aircraft engines, Packard was the only company in the United States whose work could be compared with that of England's Rolls-Royce organisation. More>>
Panhard
 
Panhard
Louis-Rene Panhard was born in Paris in 1841, and qualified there as an engineer. He then joined the Perin firm which specialised in making wood-working machinery, and after a while he encouraged them to diversify into metal working as well. In 1872, he was joined there by his friend and former fellow student Emile Levassor, three years his junior, when he acquired an interest in the firm which became Perin Panhard & Cie. More>>
Peerless
 
Peerless
The first motor car produced by the Peerless Manufacturing Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, was a typical 'horseless carriage' and was fitted with bicycle wheels and a single-cylinder De Dion-Bouton engine. Prior to this, the company had been makers of clothes wringers and bicycles, but, like so many turn-of-the century companies, it was quick to see the potential of the automobile. More>>
Pierce-Arrow
 
Pierce-Arrow
In 1865, George N. Pierce had set up in business in Hanover Street, Buffalo, New York, making bird cages, squirrel cages and similar wire products and, eventually, the company's skill in wire working led to the manufacture of bicycle spokes and then to complete cycles. Comfort and speed were the hallmarks of the Pierce cycles, which boasted shaft drive, cushion frame, sprung forks and freewheel in their most popular models. More>>
Plymouth
 
Plymouth
Leading the American motor industry in 1928 was Walter P. Chrysler. Having brought the company which bore his name to fourth position in the sales charts within two years of its founding, he was in the process of buying the Dodge Brothers Company for $170,000,000 in stock and $59,000,000 in assumed interest payment on Dodge bonds. And even before the deal had been formalised, Chrysler was already planning to bring out a new low-priced model to try and gain a foothold in the lucrative Ford/Chevrolet market sector. More>>
Pontiac
 
Pontiac
Although the Pontiac name did not adorn a car until 1926, the marque dates back to 1893. Edward M. Murphy founded the Pontiac Buggy Company in Pontiac, Michigan, a town which had taken its name from a mighty Indian chief who, 150 years before, had banded the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomis and Miamis into a powerful confederation. Murphy went into motor car manufacturing in 1907, however he called his new company Oakland, and it was not until the middle 1920s that the Pontiac name was used on a car. More>>
Pope
 
Pope
A number of British cycle manufacturers exhibited their high-wheeled 'ordinary' bicycles at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition – and these were to prove extremely popular. The American public placed orders by the thousand. Among the visitors to the exposition was Colonel Albert Pope, a former Civil War officer, who had led his Yankee regiment in the final assault on Petersburg, and now a maker of pistols, who realised that there was a definite future for an American cycle industry. More>>
Railton
 
Railton
The Railton was an Anglo-American car emanating from the factory which had formerly produced the Invicta sports car at The Fairmile, Cobham, Surrey, in the UK. Two similarities connect Captain Noel Macklin's Invicta with his Railton which followed it. The first is that the Invicta, although more of a quality car than the Railton, was nevertheless assembled at Cobham almost entirely from bought out components, and the second is that one of the tenets on which the design of the Invicta was based was that it should be a 'top gear car'. More>>
Rambler
 
Rambler
By 1900, Thomas B. Jeffery had two cars ready to show to the public. The work of his son, Charles, the vehicles had tiller steering and twin-cylinder engines. One was bodied as a Stanhope, the other as a runabout, and they were shown at the International Exhibition and Tournament in Chicago and at America's first national motor show at New York's Madison Square Garden. More>>
Reo
 
Reo
The low price of the Reo, and Ransom Olds's flair for publicity, were sufficient to ensure its success. Originally priced at $685, the Reo was progressively reduced in cost until in 1909 it was available for $500. Olds advertised that in 1907, with 'the rain coming down in sheets', a Reo Runabout with four people aboard had covered 57 miles on 1.75 gallons of petrol. There was a two-cylinder Reo, too, and in 1906 Olds built a tiny replica of this model as a publicity vehicle for Chiquita, the midget with Barnum & Bailey's Circus. More>>
Riley Sandracer
 
Riley
It should come as no surprise, particularly if you have read other articles in the “Lost Marques” feature of this site that Riley did not start out manufacturing cars. In fact the automobile was simply a progression, the company at first being involved in the weaving trade and later manufacturing bicycles. More>>
Rolland-Pilain
 
Rolland-Pilain
Rolland-Pilain started manufacture in 1904 with a 20 hp four-cylinder model, with the cylinders cast in a mono bloc. By 1907 the range had grown to three models, a 12/16 hp (available with the charmingly titled 'petite limousine' coachwork), the 20/28 hp and a 35/45 hp, shown at the 1907 Paris Salon as a 'Limousine de Grand Tourisme'. By this time the factory and offices were located at 129 Rue Victor-Hugo at Tours, and the company could run to a Paris office at 24 bis Boulevard de Courcelles, just off the Boulevard Malesherbes. More>>
Salmson and British Salmson
 
Salmson and British Salmson
Once Salmson decided to manufacture cars, the obvious thing to do was acquire a licence to manufacture an existing design. The English GN, one of the better cyclecars, was chosen and a three year licence signed in June 1919; Salmson GNs were in production three months later. More>>
Siata
 
Siata
The Societa Italiana Auto-Trasforrnazioni-Accessori was founded in 1926, manufacturing go-faster equipment for popular Italian cars in its works in Turin. There was always a close link with Fiat, and the new Fiat Tipo 508S Ballila Spyder Sports which ran in the 1933 Mille Miglia had Siata ohv cylinder heads and Siata four-speed gearboxes, but these enhancements were not enough to prevent the cars from being thrashed by the more powerful (and more expensive) MG Magnettes. More>>
Simca
 
Simca
Simca's first efforts were virtually identical to their Italian counterparts with the first model being the Tipo 508 Balilla powered by a three bearing, short stroke 995cc engine. The car had hydraulic brakes, a four speed synchromeshed gearbox and four door pillarless sedan bodywork. Simca also produced their version of the Fiat 1.9 liter 518 model and this went into production in the French factory in 1935. More>>
Simplex
 
Simplex
If you wanted to buy an elegant, expensive imported car in New York at the turn of the 20th century, the place to go was Smith & Mabley, Incorporated, of 513-519 7th Avenue, who were agents for Mercedes, Panhard and Renault. For $12,750 they would sell you a 28/32 hp Mercedes with 'Vedrine King of the Belgians' bodywork. But out of that $12,750, a staggering 40 per cent was import duty: and, reckoned Messrs Smith and Mabley, anything Europe's finest makers could do, they could manage to equal - at a lower price. More>>
Singer
 
Singer
In 1905, Singer acquired the licence to build a car which was then being manufactured by R. H. Lea, who had been a Singer employee for 7 years and his partner Graham Ingleby Francis. the most remarkable feature of the Lea-Francis was its engine, designed by Alex Craig; its 15hp horizontal three-cylinder power unit had an overhead camshaft and connecting rods three feet long to give the advantages of a long-stroke engine without it having excessive side-thrust on the pistons. More>>
Sizaire et Naudin
 
Sizaire et Naudin
The very first Sizaire was complete by 1904, and was shown at the Exposition des Petits Inventeurs in March 1905, where its design attracted much attention: a company was formed for its production, and a stand taken at the 1905 Paris Salon. Plenty of orders were taken for the Sizaire-Naudin light car, and by 1906, two cars a day were leaving the factory. But it had been priced too low, and the newly-formed company ran into financial difficulties; it was bought by the Due d'Uzes, who provided capital for motor sports as well as building private cars. More>>
Spyker
 
Spyker
For the most part, the pioneer Dutch car makers quietly built a handful of cars and then vanished equally quietly from the scene. But there was one exception ... Spyker, a marque which lasted for a quarter of a century, which built cars which were always technically advanced, and which achieved posthumous fame when one of its cars was selected as a star of the film Genevieve. More>>
Standard
 
Standard
The story of Standard starts with one Sir John Wolfe Barry, who designed London’s famous Tower Bridge. After his young assistant, Reginald Waiter Maudsley, was left in financial straits by his father's death, Sir John Barry provided a cheque for UK£3000 to enable him to leave civil engineering and establish himself in the nascent British motor industry. Maudslay formed the Standard Motor Company in Coventry on 2 March 1903, with a total capital of £5000, a small factory in Much Park Street and offices in Earl Street. More>>
Stanley Steamer
 
Stanley
To our mind, Stanley built the most successful steam car of all time. Its production life of over a quarter of a century was at least a decade longer than that of any other external combustion car: and even after its demise there were attempts to revive the marque. Francis E. Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley were identical twins, born in 1849 in Kingsland, Maine, whose principal boyhood hobby seems to have been making violins. They turned this hobby into a business, mass-producing violins which, while a little roughly finished, were acceptable musically. More>>
Stearns
 
Stearns
Frank B. Streans was one of the earliest pioneers of motoring in America - he built an experimental car in 1896, while he was still a student - and one of the first to go into production. That was in 1898-9, and the first car to emerge from his factory in Cleveland, Ohio, was a single-cylindered gas buggy, with its power unit mounted horizontally, under the floor. Epicyclic transmission, tangent-spoke wire wheels and chain drive were all part of the specification - as they were of that other pioneer marque from Cleveland, the Winton. More>>
Stevens-Duryea
 
Stevens-Duryea
The Duryea brothers founded America's first commercial car manufacturing operation in 1895, but a disagreement in 1898 led to a seperation and James Duryea decided to try and go it alone. In 1900 he organised a company called the Hampden Automobile and Launch Co, at Springfield, Massachussets, but this proved unsuccessful, and built at best one car (at worst, nothing was manufactured). So in late 1900, Frank Duryea joined the Stevens Arms & Tool Company of Chicopee Falls, Mass, as Vice-President and Chief Engineer. More>>
Steyr
 
Steyr
The Steyr Ironworks stood at the meeting of the Steyr and Enns Rivers in Austria. The company was founded in the mid-nineteenth century, specialising in the manufacture of armaments. World War 1 was obviously good for business, but the company's directors were far-sighted enough to realise that, when peace eventually came, it would bring a trade recession in the munitions business. So, like many other armaments companies, the Steyr Osterreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft, decided to start building motor cars. More>>
Stoewer
 
Stoewer
In the North German seaport of Stettin, in the province of Pomerania, the Stoewer ironworks was an important feature of commercial life in the late 1890's. Founded in 1858 by Bernhard Stoewer, the company originally manufactured sewing machines, later branching out into typewriters and bicycles. In 1897, Bernhard's sons, Emil and Bernhard, began building motorbicycles, tricycles and quadricycles powered by De Dion engines built under licence in Aachen by Max Cudell. More>>
Studebaker
 
Studebaker
During sixty four years of car manufacturing in North America, the Dutch name of Studebaker stood for cars of quality at moderate prices, light and economical engineering design, adventurous styling - and persistent financial trouble. The last-mentioned may not be entirely fair: the Studebaker Corporation did not go out of business in March 1966; it simply stopped making cars then. More>>
Stutz Bearcat
 
Stutz
The progress from component manufacturer to automobile manufacturer was set in motion in 1911 when Harry C Stutz's company built a successful Indianapolis race car as a publicity exercise. The success would gain investors, and so Harry set about the manufacture of his own “complete” passenger car. More>>
Sunbeam Alpine
 
Sunbeam
Famous names were thick on the ground in Sunbeam history. Ernest Henry, the father of the Grand Prix car, Louis Coatalen, and Bertarione who came from Fiat were all involved at one time or another, and of course the inimitable Georges Roesch was running the company, although really a Talbot man, when the end came in 1935/1936. Sunbeam's first competition success was in 1910, after they had devoted the first ten years to consolidating their position and producing saleable cars to the growing motoring public. More>>
1902 Swift
 
Swift
Though Swift became one of the leading manufacturers of bicycles, they were late to enter the motor car field. When they did, in 1902, it was with a strangely designed vehicle. The unlovely voiturette was powered by a 4½ hp single-cylinder engine of the De Dion type supplied by the Motor Manufacturing Company. The gear change was novel, with two sets of teeth on the crown wheel and two pinions, the choice of gear ratio being determined by dog clutches. To start the voiturette the driver had to insert the crank-handle into a hole on the rear axle. More>>
Talbot
 
Talbot
Talbot was originally founded by the Earl of Shrewsbury & Talbot (hence the name), to assemble cars in London from French components. Keen to become an entirely British concern, in 1905 they replaced the original Clement-Bayard models with home grown versions – cars that helped Talbot gain a reputation for building durable, if somewhat austere cars. More>>
Tatra
 
Tatra
Presented in public for the first time at the Prague Motor Show of 1923, the Tatra T-11 had an air-cooled 1056cc two-cylinder engine producing 12 hp, rigidly connected to the clutch housing and thence the transmission housing. The car had a backbone tubular frame and featured rear swing axles, differential, and independent suspension all round. This concept put Tatra ahead of most car firms of the day in terms of design, and was the basis of subsequent Tatra cars and commercial vehicles. More>>
Triumph TR7
 
Triumph
You don’t have to look far to find numerous car companies that have made the successful transition from motorcycle to car manufacturer. Japanese companies such as Honda and Suzuki immediately spring to mind, but the undisputed pioneer in making such a transition is Triumph. More>>
Trojan
 
Trojan
'Can You Afford To Walk?' asked the advertising of the Trojan, which was possibly the most successful utility car of the time. In fact, the company even put out a hilarious advertising film which purported to show that the operating costs of the Trojan were substantially less than the cost of repairs to the shoes of a keen walker. It was a little unconvincing and left the British public with the impression that the person who bought a Trojan did so because they could not afford to buy a car. More>>
Tucker
 
Tucker
Preston T. Tucker, of Ypsilianti, Michigan, had previously been known as an associate of Harry Armenius Miller in the construction of a number of successful racing cars, including one which had set up many records on the Bonneville Salt Flats, including a top speed of 244 mph and an average of 150 mph for 500 miles. Now he intended to produce an entirely new type of passenger car, sporty, modern in appearance and completely radical in mechanical conception. More>>
Turcat-Mery
 
Turcat-Mery
Turcat and Mery first offered a car for sale in 1898, though their vertical four-cylinder Model A, with five forward speeds and two reverse gears, promised a rich crop of mechanical breakdowns for the unwary motorist. By 1901, they were building on more conventional lines, following closely the design of the contemporary Panhard; they were also running short of cash. More>>
Turner
 
Turner
It was in 1896 that Jules Miesse, of Brussels, built his first experimental steam car, which followed closely the layout of the contemporary Serpollet; two years later he began production, and by 1902 the three-cylinder single-acting Miesse steamer was being built under licence in Wolverhampton by Thomas Turner and Company. At first trading under the name of the Miesse Steam Motor Syndicate, Turner claimed in 1902 that: 'Every portion of the Miesse Steam Car is constructed of the best English materials...' More>>
Unic
 
Unic
When Georges Richard, who had founded the Georges Richard Cycle Company in 1893, broke away from the Richard-Brasier company to establish the Georges Richard Company, he was determined to keep to a one-model policy, in this new independent venture. Hence the new company's alternative title of La Societe des Voitures Legeres Unic. There was, however, nothing utilitarian about the Unic car. More>>
Vale Special
 
Vale
The Vale was designed by 'Pow' Pellew (later the Earl of Ex mouth) : in its original incarnation it was powered by a modified 832 cc sidevalve Triumph engine, which was capable of propelling the diminutive car at 72 mph at 4750 rpm. Average fuel consumption was claimed to be 40 mpg, while the safe speeds in the intermediate gears were 20, 38 and 54 mph. More>>
 
Vulcan
Vulcan have always been more famous for their commercial vehicles than for its cars. Mind you, the first experimental Vulcan cars had appeared a long time before, in 1897-1899, the work of Thomas and Joseph Hampson. The marque reached production status in 1902, when a 4hp 'Motor Phaeton' was shown at the Agricultural Hall Show. Priced at 130 guineas, it had a single-cylinder engine, apparently of Vulcan's own make, and single belt drive to the back axle, which incorporated a three-speed gear. More>>
Walter
 
Walter
In 1898 Josef Walter began building motorcycles in Smichov, near Prague, Czechoslovakia, adding a bathchair-like three-wheeler to the range in 1908. At first the V-twin power units of these machines were of only 500cc capacity, but this was gradually increased to a more lethal 1250cc. Unusually, the rear axle was driven by shaft, not chain, and eventually closed four-seater coachwork was available on the tricycle chassis. More>>
Wanderer
 
Wanderer
Around 1910 Wanderer decided that it was time that they started car production in earnest, and were approached by young car designer Ettore Bugatti, who was trying to sell the design of a neat little four-cylinder car with an ingenious two-speed transmission which used concentric propeller shafts and dual crown wheel and pinion sets of different sizes: but Wanderer were not interested, and so Bugatti sold the design to Peugeot, who produced it as the immortal Bebe. More>>
Wartburg
 
Wartburg
The Wartburgwagen had a top speed of 36 m.p.h. and is reputed to have won some 22 gold medals in exhibitions and races during its first year. However, the name was not retained for the next production series of models, which instead were given the name Dixi in 1904. In their time these Dixis, too, were very advanced, with chassis frames built from large section tubes, and Hotchkiss drive. More>>
Waverley
 
Waverley
Waverley - an enigma of the early motoring world - was a company that should have gone on to much bigger and better things, but never achieved anything significant. The original cars were originally built in Willesden, North London, in 1910 by Light Cars Limited. Their first model was a 10hp four-cylinder with 'patent suspension' which was exhibited on the stand of T. B. Andre, Limited, at the Motor Show that year, priced at £165, and a colonial model at £175. More>>
Weigel
 
Weigel
Danny Weigel was a colorful character who imported Continental cars into Britain in the early part of last century, and became one of the prime movers in the formation of the Clement Talbot Company in 1903. He was managing director of the concern until 1905, when he broke away to set up in business on his own. He was also an impassioned writer of letters to the motoring press, exceeded in bravado only by S. F. Edge of Napier. More>>
White
 
White
The White steam cars were desacribed as 'Incomparable', but at first glance White steamers, products of the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland, looked little different from other steam buggies, Produced after 1900 as the brain child of Rollin H. White, they had full-elliptic suspension. and wooden reach-bars linking front and rear axles which were a normal feature of the design of such vehicles. More>>
Wills Sainte Claire
 
Wills Sainte Claire
C. H. Wills used all his skills in metallurgy in developing a new car, as different in concept from the utilitarian Model T as it was possible to imagine, and named it the Wills Sainte Claire. It was the first car to use molybdenum steel in its construction, and the connecting rods were made from aluminum. In its engineering, it reflected the work of Marc Birkigt as epitomised in the Hispano-Suiza aero-engine which had, among others, powered the SPAD biplanes of the Escadrille Lafayette. More>>
Willys
 
Willys
The story of Willys takes many turns, with highs and lows in product lineup, changing financial conditions, sales records and slumps: but for the most part it is also the story of a remarkable man - John North Willys, who almost single-handedly created a great automotive empire. More>>
Winton Six
 
Winton
Opinions vary as to who can actually claim the title as founder of the American automobile industry, but one thing is certain: one of the first to sell a production car to a private individual was Alexander Winton, who was born in a little village near Glasgow in Scotland in 1860. More>>
Zust
 
Zust
Roberto Zust, a Swiss engineer, is recorded as having joined the little Italian firm of Giiller & Groff as a partner in 1871. Based at Intra, on the shores of Lake Maggiore, the company specialised in the manufacture of steam engines for stationary and marine installations. Zust, it seems, was a pioneer of the steam turbine, and may have built some form of land-going steam vehicle in the 1890s, but the company, which moved to Milan in 1900, did not become interested in internal combustion until after the turn of the century. More>>
A Brief History of the Automobile:
If you enjoyed the features listed on these pages, we hope you will also enjoy our "Brief History of the Automobile". From Cugnot's 1770 “Fardier” to the 1950's, by which time many manufacturers had succumb to financial difficulty, we have tried to capture all the important events and milestones of our favorite invention. In many ways the 1930s were a watershed - they saw the last of the big luxury cars from makers such as Hispano-Suiza, Duesenberg and Minerva, as well as the end of many small, independent manufacturers and coachbuilders (victims of the swing to mass-produced cars with pressed-steel bodies). The motor industry had reached the point where it had become vital to the economic well-being of the major industrialized countries. Now it was to prove just as vital in providing weapons of war. Click here to go to our latest feature, A Brief History of the Automobile...
Latest Classic Car Classifieds

back
Unique Cars and Parts USA - The Ultimate Classic Car Resource
next