Private company

Liberty Motor Car

Vintage era car

The Liberty Motor Car Company was a vintage era United States automobile maker based in Detroit, Michigan from 1916 to 1923.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1916Founded1
  • HeadquartersDetroit1
Liberty advertisement (1917)
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

The Liberty Motor Car Company was a vintage era United States automobile maker based in Detroit, Michigan from 1916 to 1923.2

The story

Liberty Motor Car Company was started in February 1916 with capital stock of $400,000 to produce medium-priced cars. Percy Owen, vice-president of Saxon was president and R. E. Cole was Engineer. The R.C.H. automobile factory was purchased for production. The Liberty car was introduced at the Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit in the summer of 1916.

A total of 733 cars were produced in its first year increasing to 11,217 cars in 1921. A new factory was built in 1921 but the expansion along with the Depression of 1920-1921 caused financial issues. Reorganization while under Receivership failed and in September 1923, it was acquired by Columbia Motors. Columbia failed the following year and the plant was sold to Budd Wheel Company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Liberty Motor Car, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Only one model named Liberty Six was offered, propelled by a monobloc 3394 cc Continental Motors 6-cylinder engine. In 1921 Liberty began using a new six-cylinder engine of their own design. Open and closed body styles were used. Total production of Liberty Six's was nearly 37,000. Factory prices ranged from $1,095 in 1919 to $2,095 in 1923, equivalent to $39,588 in 2025.

From Wikipedia’s article on Liberty Motor Car, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1916Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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