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20-554: Business concentrated on building high wheeler automobiles, mainly buggies . The Success Automobile Manufacturing Company was founded in 1906 by John C. Higdon , who had built his first car in 1896; back then for experimental purposes only. Production started with a price of US$ 250 which was exceedingly low, even for high wheelers. It is the lowest nominal that a new car has ever been sold for, even lower than $ 260 Ford T in 1925. Later models became slightly more complex, and expensive. While Success always stayed with highwheelers, they got

40-471: A 4 HP single cylinder engine. 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

60-567: A capacity of 21,21 c.i. or 347.5 cm³, and delivered 2 to 3 HP., 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. (1041 mm). It claimed speeds of 4-18 mph (6.5–29 km/h) and mileage of 100mpg (4.25 L/100 km). A slightly improved Model B followed in 1907 with

80-895: A commercial schedule. So, he took several competitors to court on this matter; among them the Economy Motor Buggy Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana , and the W. H. Kiblinger Company in Auburn, Indiana (a predecessor of the Auburn Automobile Company ). Although, the Success Automobile Manufacturing Company folded before the end of this litigations. It is estimated, that Success built ca. 600 vehicles. Success only offered high-wheeler models. The initial Model A featured an air-cooled single cylinder gasoline engine of 3 x 3 in. bore and stroke , giving

100-586: A four-cylinder, for only $ 500 in 1907. High wheeler A high wheeler is a car which uses large diameter wheels that are similar to those used by horse-drawn vehicles . These cars were produced until about 1915, predominantly in the United States . High wheelers were derived from horse-drawn wagons , and often were conversions of these. Similarly to these wagons, they often had wood-spoke wheels , suspensions, and boxy wooden bodies. The large-diameter slender wheels provided ample ground clearance on

120-462: A new flywheel, and the handbrake now worked on the differential instead of the gearbox. The leaf spring suspension was modified so that the reinforced axles were connected to all spring elements. In 1906, the car received celluloid side window curtains. The dashboard was also offered with an upright position, called the Straight Dash, and approximately 6,500 Model B were manufactured, and the Model F

140-457: A twin cylinder engine in 1908 (singles being dropped at the end of that year), built a commercial car in 1908 only, and offered several new models in 1909, among them their only four-cylinder car. Two- and four cylinder engines were available with water or air cooling . While Higdon was open to let people copy his construction back in 1896, and even publicly invited to do so, he became much more aware of patents and royalties when building cars on

160-557: 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

180-461: Is a planetary type (epicyclic). The car weighed 850 lb (390 kg) and used Concord springs. It had a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h). The car's success was partially by accident; in 1901, a fire destroyed a number of other prototypes before they could be approved for production, leaving the Curved Dash as the only one intact. As workers were attempting to move the prototypes out of

200-585: 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

220-554: The Curved Dash Oldsmobile , is credited as being the first mass-produced automobile , meaning that it was built on an assembly line using interchangeable parts . It was introduced by the Oldsmobile company in 1901 and produced through 1903; 425 were produced the first year, 2,500 in 1902, and over 19,000 were built in all. When General Motors assumed operations from Ransom E. Olds on November 12, 1908, GM introduced

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240-572: The Oldsmobile Model 20 , which was the 1908 Buick Model 10 with a stretched wheelbase and minor exterior changes. It was a runabout model, could seat two passengers, and sold for US$ 650. While competitive, due to high volume, and priced below the US$ 850 two-seat Ford Model C "Doctor's Car", it was more expensive than the Western 1905 Gale Model A roadster at US$ 500. The Black sold for $ 375, and

260-529: The Success for US$ 250. It was built as a city car for short distance driving, while the larger Model S could carry four passengers and could travel longer distances. The flat-mounted, water-cooled , single-cylinder engine, situated at the center of the car, produced 5 hp (3.7 kW), relying on a brass gravity feed carburetor . The transmission was a semiautomatic design with two forward speeds and one reverse. The low-speed forward and reverse gear system

280-493: 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. Models A and B: air cooled; all others: choice of air or water cooling. High wheelers had

300-461: The burning building, they were only successful at rescuing one prototype, the Model R Curved Dash. In 1904, the Model R was replaced by the Model 6C, which had a larger 1,931 cc engine; in addition, drum brakes replaced the band brake. After 2,234 copies, the 6C model was discontinued in December 1904. In 1905, the Model B was introduced with more improvements. The engine received improved cooling and

320-514: 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 ,

340-460: The high wheeler began when standard automobiles became more sophisticated and inexpensive. The end came with the popularity of the Ford Model T . The last high wheelers were built around 1915. The following companies produced high-wheeler cars: * Companies which also produced cars other than high wheelers Oldsmobile Curved Dash The gasoline-powered Oldsmobile Model R , also known as

360-409: The primitive roads of the late 19th century, and frequently had solid rubber tires . These cars were produced in many body styles. The most common were the motorized wagon (utility vehicle) runabout , roadster and buggy , some with detachable tonneaus . Before gasoline engines became widely available, high wheelers were powered by electric motors or steam engines . The decline of

380-456: The transmission was a two-speed planetary gearbox. Sales were not successful and it was cancelled by 1906. In 1902, Mr. Olds modified a Model R and essentially stripped it down to an engine, a single seat, and a radiator, and connected the solid front and rear axles on semi-elliptic leaf springs, which then supported the engine, transmission and passenger. He raced it at Florida's Ormond Beach in 1902 and 1903, where his driver Horace Thomas drove

400-488: Was introduced in 1907, again with mechanical improvements. The Model B also saw a limited production Touring Sedan with a novel entry approach called the Side Entrance Touring Sedan where passengers would enter from the middle of the car. The engine was a 259.8 cu in (4,257 cc) two cylinder horizontally opposed engine installed underneath the passenger compartment that powered the rear wheels, and

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