The story
The company was originally called the Pittsburgh Motor Vehicle Company when started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 1897 but was renamed two years later in 1899 as The Autocar Company when it moved east across the "Keystone State" to Ardmore, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. One of the company's early cars was named the "Pittsburgher". By 1907, the company had decided to concentrate on commercial vehicles and soon withdrew from the passenger automobile manufacturing and production business. The Autocar brand is still in use a century and a quarter later for commercial trucks.
Based on the minutes of Autocar company board of directors meetings during 1903–1907, it is known that in 1903 the board of directors included the president, Louis S. Clarke, the secretary, John S. Clarke, and James K. Clarke. Both Louis Semple Clarke and his brother John S. Clarke were members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club connected with the causes of the disaster of the Great Johnstown Flood of May 1889.
Founder
Autocar founder Louis Semple Clarke (1867–1957) was a successful mechanical engineer. Among Clarke's innovations were the porcelain-insulated spark plug for gasoline engines, a perfected drive shaft system for automobiles, and the first design of a useful oil circulation system. Other impacts include Clarke's initiative to place the driver on the left hand side of the vehicle which eventually became the standard in much of the automotive industry worldwide, as well as the Autocar thread specification, which became the standard in the U.S. automotive industry.
Clarke was also a talented photographer. His family were members of the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club above Johnstown, Pennsylvania, whose earthen dam at Lake Conemaugh burst on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood.
Clarke sold his interest in Autocar in 1929 and retired from business. He died in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 6, 1957, and is buried in Allegheny Cemetery, in Pittsburgh.
Products
Clarke experimented with a series of vehicles from 1897, with a tricycle, later called "Autocar No. 1", now in the collection of the Smithsonian. In 1899 the company, now renamed Autocar, built the first motor truck ever produced for sale in North America. The first production Autocar automobile was a 1900 single cylinder chain drive runabout. About 27 were made. In 1901 Autocar built the first car in North America to use shaft drive. This vehicle is also now in the Smithsonian collection.
The 1904 Autocar was equipped with a tonneau; it could seat four passengers and sold for $1,700 (equivalent to $60,900 in 2025). The horizontal-mounted flat twin engine, situated at the front of the car, produced 11 hp (8.2 kW). This engine design was somewhat unusual for its time, as most companies were producing inline designs. A three-speed transmission was fitted. The steel and wood-framed car weighed 1675 lb (760 kg). The early cars had tiller steering.
In 1905, the company was selling the Type XII car for $2,250 (equivalent to $80,600 in 2025) and another car it called the Type X for $1,000 (equivalent to $35,800 in 2025). It discontinued the Type XI and sold the last of them in 1905. The cars then had wheel steering with left-hand drive.
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The Type X was a runabout. During the 1905–1906 model year the company produced 1000 Type X cars. The manufacture of 500 Type XV runabouts was authorized for 1907 in place of 500 touring cars (Type XIV), in addition to the 1000 runabouts already planned. At special meeting on June 19, 1906, held at 711 Arcade Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the board authorized the hiring of a general manager by the name of Harry A. Gillis at a salary of $10,000 per year. Production of 300 Type XVI cars and 500 Type XVII were authorized during a board meeting on November 21, 1906.
Commercial vehicles were made the focus from 1907 and soon outnumbered cars.
As of 1911, Autocar was making only trucks. The first model, the Type XVII, had a 97-inch wheelbase, a one and a half-ton capacity, and a two-cylinder gasoline engine under the seat. Later engines had 4 and 6 cylinders, and wheelbases became longer. Inline engines became the company's focus.
During World War I, the Canadian Armoured Autocar used an Autocar chassis.
In 1929, Autocar sold 3300 units, though the number fell to 1000 in 1932 and continued to decline during the Great Depression. Larger trucks with "Blue Streak" gasoline engines and Diesel engines, mainly from Cummins, came later. In 1935, Autocar sold 1001 units and in 1936 it increased to 1451 trucks. In 1938, Autocar sold 1617 units and in 1939 it increased to 2014 trucks.
During World War II, Autocar supplied 50,000 units to the military, including specialty vehicles such as half-tracks; during its entire prewar history, the company had only built 70,000 units. Autocar ranked 85th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. Civilian production resumed in 1944 and sales increased greatly after the war. Autocar soon had 100 dealers.
From Wikipedia’s article on Autocar Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5