Researched and transcribed by Ray Shoop
Marlboro Automobile & Carriage Company – 1900-1903
Picture by Paul Polewacyk
In March of 1900 the Marlboro Automobile & Carriage Company announced the completion of its first automobile. Initially, president Orrin P. Walker named it after himself, but upon proceeding into manufacture several months later he decided to call his car by his company’s name.
The Marlboro was fitted with a Mason engine. The engine was a twin cylinder, horizontal oriented, double-action that produced five hp at 300 rpm. A water tube boiler with 414 seamless copper tubes built for a working steam pressure of 200 psi but tested to 900 psi for safety. The boiler had an automatic pressure regulator. The copper water tank held 25 gallons and the gasoline tank held 10 gallons. The chassis had tubular running gear full elliptic springs and single chain drive. The average weight was about 1,050 pounds. In two-passenger form, its wheelbase was 62 inches, in four passenger 67 inches. The price range was between $700 and $1,000.
The Marlboro would do 30 mph on “fair roads,” 25 mph on “poor roads” and would climb a 25 per cent grade. Built by a concern that had been in the carriage business for 25 years previously, it took a rather cautious advertising policy.
By January of 1901,
Walker had built and sold 30 of his steam cars, and perhaps ambition overrode
him. He stepped up production and in July of 1902 regretfully announced
that he had accumulated a ‘stock of cars’ and had temporarily shut down
the Marlboro plant. People who had bought stock in the company were chagrined,
needless to say. Early in 1903 the Marlboro Automobile & Carriage Company
sold out to the Videx Automobile & Carriage Company. This may have
been an expediency to quell stockholders dissatisfaction, because Orrin
Walker remained as president of the new firm. No Videx automobile was ever
produced and the Videx Company closed its doors in September 1903 after
several attachments had been served against the firm.
Pilton (c. 1905)
Henry Pilton built
himself a 9 hp automobile at his home at 342 Lincoln Street in Marlborough,
according to the New England Motor Vehicle Registration Roster published
in 1905.
Videx Automobile & Carriage Company – 1903
Early in 1903 the Marlboro Automobile & Carriage Company that had been producing a steam car in Marlboro, Mass, since 1900, sold out to the Videx Automobile & Carriage Company. Refer to Marlboro Automobile & Carriage Company.
Watson – (c. 1905)
Two fellows named
Watson build automobiles for themselves, according to the New England Motor
Vehicle Registration Roster published in 1905. J.H. Watson produced a 3-1/2
hp vehicle at his home at 80 Tremont Street in Marlboro.
Wheeler Automobile Manufacturing Company – 1900-1902
Pictures from Paul Polewacyk's post card
collection
Three Wheelers were
built, and but for a bad bit of luck there might have been more. The cars
were the idea of E.O. Wheeler, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnical Institute,
and he talked his father, O.D. Wheeler, who owned a machine shop in Marlboro
into helping him build them. Runabouts all, the first was powered by an
air-cooled single-cylinder engine and was sold in 1900 for $900. A similar
car was built and sold the year following. The third car arrived in 1902,
powered by a water-cooled 4-1/2 hp De Dion this time. Its transmission
was a two-speed planetary, final drive was by shaft, the engine was up
front under a Renault-type hood, and an auxiliary seat was added at the
rear. Now, the Wheelers thought, they had come up with an admirable car
for quantity production. They proceeded far enough to decide upon $1200
as a price tag, the Wheeler Automobile Manufacturing Company as the designation
for their venture, and they approached a bank in Boston for the necessary
loan to gear up for manufacture. The bank was amenable – until it discovered
that a flim flam artist promoting a steam car venture elsewhere in New
England had bilked another financial institution in Boston. The loan was
off. The Wheelers preserved the last car, which had been their production
dream. It remains extant. In 1911 E.O. Wheeler organized the Acme Motor
Car Company in Worcester, though it served principally as a dealership.
Bibliography
The information collected for this ‘snapshot history review’ is only a tiny part of the knowledge contained in these listed reference books. Much more detailed information on the facts; people and history are available within their pages. They are available thru the Marlborough Public Library.
Oldtime STEAM CARS – John Bentley – 1969 – ARCO Publishing Co.
Standard catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 – Kimes and Clark – 1996 – Krause Publications
This information was found on the Internet...........john
The Marlboro or a
Waverly Electric runabout. The Marlboro was first introduced in 1900 by
the Marlboro Automobile and Carriage Company of Marlboro, Massachusetts.
The Waverly Electric model 18 Piano-Box style car was only available from
1898-1901.
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