Private company
Success Automobile Manufacturing Company
Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer
The Success Automobile Manufacturing Company was a brass era United States automobile manufacturer, located at 532 De Ballviere Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906. Business concentrated on building high wheeler automobiles, mainly buggies.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
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The Success Automobile Manufacturing Company was a brass era United States automobile manufacturer, located at 532 De Ballviere Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906.2
Products and brands
Success Models A and B
Success only offered high-wheeler models. The initial Model A featured an air-cooled single cylinder gasoline engine of 3 in × 3 in (76 mm × 76 mm) bore and stroke, giving a capacity of 21.21 cu in (347.6 cm3), and delivered 2 to 3 hp (1.5 to 2.2 kW), steel tires (rubber was available, for US$25 extra), and a 2-speed planetary transmission brought power via a single chain to a sprocket on the right rear wheel only. The engine was placed under the car, on the right side below the driver's seat. Front wheels had a diameter of 37 in (940 mm), rear wheels of 41 in (1,000 mm).
It claimed speeds of 4–18 mph (6.4–29.0 km/h) and mileage of 100 mpg‑US (2.4 L/100 km).
A slightly improved Model B followed in 1907 with a 4 hp (3 kW) single cylinder engine.
Models C, D, E, and F
Also in 1908, a slightly more sophisticated high wheeler came with the 2-cylinder Model C. Its engine delivered 10 HP, and the vehicle got a longer wheelbase. 1908 brought two more horsepower to the Model C, and a choice of bodywork, including the first Success commercial car. In 1909, the final year of the company's existence, the single cylinder model and the additional body styles for the Model C were dropped. Instead, new models were introduced: Model D, a Surrey that offered more power and a longer wheelbase for less money than the previous C variant, Model E, which was a more comfortable runabout than the C, offering more power and the longest wheelbase of all Success cars (96 in. / 2438 mm), and finally a different type of car, a 24 hp four-cylinder sports car.
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Market
High wheelers had a unique market. They were bought mainly in the countryside where consumers were skeptical of the automobile.
So, these cars had to be simple, easy to maintain and repair, and inexpensive. Sophistication was no criterion. Normally, they were offered for $350–450, like the $375 Black. With a price tag of $250, the Success Model A was one of the cheapest and simplest automobiles available in the U.S.
Later Success vehicles competed with slightly more sophisticated high wheelers, as offered by the Auto-Bug Company ($850), or the George White Buggy.
Few automobile manufacturers yet had a nationwide representative network, or even sold their products in the whole country. Car-building was often a local business, making comparisons difficult. Comparing them with "real" or conventional automobiles is still another challenge, as their building methods, and their construction differed because of their different tasks.
The best-selling American car of the early 1900s was the Oldsmobile Curved Dash that cost $650 through its whole production run, but was nearly as outdated in 1906 as the Success was when introduced: neither had a front-mounted engine or shaft drive, the latter becoming standard at least for smaller cars very soon, and both had single-cylinder engines while even most high-wheelers used twin, and Ford introduced its Model N, a four-cylinder, for only $500 in 1907.
From Wikipedia’s article on Success Automobile Manufacturing Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Timeline
- 1906Founded Founded1
Links
- WikipediaSuccess Automobile Manufacturing Company
- More imagesWikimedia Commons
- WikidataQ2362478
Sources
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