USA Daimler

USA Daimler, Daimler Manufacturing Company, was a boutique American automaker company, from 1905 to 1907, with its offices in Long Island City. Previously, from 1888 to 1905 this company and its predecessor, Daimler Motor Company, sold Daimler motors for yachts and launches and a very few goods vehicles. It most probably built and sold just one car.

History

When Gottlieb Daimler visited New York as a member of a male voice choir he chanced to meet William Steinway and as a result Steinway founded Daimler Motor Company in Long Island New York.^[1] opening on September 29, 1888. It was to sell Cannstatt made engines and, from 1891, engines made under license by the National Machine Company of Hartford, Connecticut. USA-Daimler started making their own automobile and stationary engines in 1895 followed a decade later under new ownership by perhaps one complete automobile.

Steinway confidently explained to the press: "The fuel, petroleum, costs about one cent per hp and hour, making the automobile considerably less expensive than horse power. We already had a horseless vehicle here in 1893 but it was too lightly built for the rough cobblestone streets we have in this country”.

Change of ownership

Following Steinway's early death in 1896, his heirs weren't convinced by the project and sold all their shares to the General Electric Company in 1898. The factory was renamed Daimler Manufacturing Company and produced some light trucks and perhaps between 1905 and 1907 some cars identical with some Cannstatt models.

Marketing

the car is steered from the right hand side

In January 1905 the locally constructed American-Mercedes, based on the European Mercedes 40-45 hp was shown at New York's National Automobile Show. The car featured a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) a 4-cylinder engine of 6.8 liters displacement and four-speed transmission.

In the same month H. L. Bowden, Boston based owner of a steam yacht, established a speed record of 110 mph (175 km/h) average over a mile with flying start, in a car with a double Mercedes 60 hp engine at Daytona Beach, Florida.^[2]

The brand stood out in the automobile market with Mercedes advertising stating: "If you want the best, of course you want a foreign car... Mercedes is the car for speed, power and noiseless running. It is the acme of reliability.”

Sales

The first unit was sold in 1906, painted red, but success was short lived as in 1907 a fire destroyed eight completed Mercedes, plus 40 others under construction and the factory closed.

Total sales of complete cars in the total life of this business probably remain this one car.

References