High Wheeler
Encyclopedia
The high wheeler was an early car body style virtually unique to the United States.
It is typified by large-diameter slender wheel
s, frequently with solid tire
s, to provide ample ground clearance on the primitive roads in much of the country at the turn of the 20th century. For the same reason, it usually had a wider track than normal automobiles.
High wheelers were derived from horse-drawn wagons, and often, in fact, were just conversions of these. So, they shared many details like similar wood-spoke wheels, suspensions or, often, the boxy wooden bodies.
These cars were available in many body stiles; most usual were utility vehicles and runabouts/roadsters, some also with detachable tonneaus. Sometimes, 2-seaters were also called Buggy, Auto Buggy or Motor Buggy.
Before gasoline engines became widely available, high wheelers were powered by electric motors or steam engines. The decline of the high wheeler began when the standard automobiles became more sophisticated and inexpensive. Final cut came with the rise of the Ford Model T
, which adopted the wide track for the same reason as the high wheelers did.
The last ones were built around 1910.
• = also made non-highwheeler automobiles
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
s, frequently with solid tire
Tire
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...
s, to provide ample ground clearance on the primitive roads in much of the country at the turn of the 20th century. For the same reason, it usually had a wider track than normal automobiles.
High wheelers were derived from horse-drawn wagons, and often, in fact, were just conversions of these. So, they shared many details like similar wood-spoke wheels, suspensions or, often, the boxy wooden bodies.
These cars were available in many body stiles; most usual were utility vehicles and runabouts/roadsters, some also with detachable tonneaus. Sometimes, 2-seaters were also called Buggy, Auto Buggy or Motor Buggy.
Before gasoline engines became widely available, high wheelers were powered by electric motors or steam engines. The decline of the high wheeler began when the standard automobiles became more sophisticated and inexpensive. Final cut came with the rise of the Ford Model T
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
, which adopted the wide track for the same reason as the high wheelers did.
The last ones were built around 1910.
High wheeler automobiles
- ABCABC (1906 automobile)The ABC was an American high wheeler automobile built by A B Cole in St. Louis, Missouri, USA from 1906 to 1910.Known as the Autobuggy from 1906 to 1908, it was billed as "the cheapest high-grade car in America", and was available with two-cylinder and four-cylinder engines, friction drive, and...
- Anchor BuggyAnchor BuggyThe Anchor Buggy was a short-lived United States automobile manufacturer; the High wheeler was manufactured by the Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States in 1910 and 1911.-External links:*...
- Best
- BlackBlack Motor CompanyThe Black was a brass era United States automobile, built at 124 East Ohio Street, Chicago, Illinois, in 1906.It was a high wheeler buggy priced at a surprisingly low US$375-$450, when Gale's Model A was US$500, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for US$650, and the Ford "Doctor's Car" was...
- Buckeye
- Clark-Hatfield
- Clymer
- ColeCole Motor Car CompanyThe Cole Motor Car Company was an early automobile maker based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Cole automobiles were built from 1908 until 1925. They were quality-built luxury cars. The make is a pioneer of the V-8 engine.- Early years :...
• - Columbia Electric•
- De SchaumDe SchaumThe De Schaum was an American automobile manufactured in Buffalo, New York from 1908 to 1909. The company offered a 7 hp High wheeler called "Seven Little Buffaloes"....
- DeWittDeWitt Motor CompanyThe DeWitt Motor Company produced automobiles in a factory in North Manchester, Indiana from about 1908 through 1910.The vehicles came in two models, a 2-seater runabout and a 2-seater light truck...
- Duer
- DuryeaDuryea Motor WagonThe Duryea Motor Wagon was among the first standardized automobiles and among the first powered by gasoline. Fifteen Motor Wagons were built by the Duryea Motor Wagon Company company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, between 1893 and 1896....
- Economy
- EurekaEureka (1907 automobile)The Eureka was an American automobile made from 1907 to 1909. It was a wheel-steered High wheeler from St. Louis, Missouri with a two-cylinder 10/12 hp air-cooled engine and conventional sliding gear transmission....
- FullerFuller (automobile)At least two different cars have been offered with the marque of Fuller, one in Nebraska and one in Michigan.-Nebraska car:From 1907 to 1910, Angus, Nebraska was the home of the Angus Automobile Company, employing forty craftsmen that produced over 600 Fuller cars in its short life. Only one car is...
• - HatfieldHatfield Motor Vehicle CompanyHatfield Motor Vehicle Company was a pioneer brass era American automobile company, built in Miamisburg, Ohio, in 1907 and 1908.The company was incorporated in 1906 by Charles B. Hatfield, Sr. and Jr., in Cortland, New York...
- Haynes-AppersonHaynes-AppersonHaynes-Apperson Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Kokomo, Indiana, from 1896 to 1905. It was the first automobile manufacturer in Indiana, and among the first in the United States...
• - Hobbie AccessibleHobbie AccessibleThe Hobbie Accessible was an American automobile manufactured in Hampton, Iowa from 1908 until 1909. One of many High wheeler cars produced at the time, it featured a twin-cylinder air-cooled engine, tiller steering, and solid tires....
- Holsman
- Holyoke
- International HarvesterInternational HarvesterInternational Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
• - Jeannin
- Jewell/JewelJewell (automobile)The Jewel Motor Car Company of Massillon, Ohio manufacturered the Jewel automobile from 1906 to 1909.-History:...
• - Keystone
- Kiblinger
- KingKing (automobile)The King was an automobile built in Detroit from 1911 to 1923, and in Buffalo in late 1923, with an additional car built in Detroit in 1896....
• - Lindsley
- LuverneLuverne (automobile)Luverne was a United States automobile manufacturing company which produced automobiles from 1904 to 1917. Founded by carriage makers Al and Ed Leicher, the company was based in Luverne, Minnesota...
• - McIntyreMcIntyre AutomobileThe McIntyre Company started as the W. H. Kiblinger Company in 1887, manufacturing buggies. After W. H. Kiblinger's death in 1894, William H. McIntyre purchased the company and began experimenting with automobiles as early as 1897. In 1906 they began selling high-wheelers with tiller steering and...
• - Morris & SalomMorris & SalomThe Morris & Salom was an American electric car manufactured in New York City from 1895 until 1897. It came in various models, including broughams; all were marketed as "electrobats"....
- Pomeroy
- Reliable DaytonReliable Dayton (automobile company)The Reliable-Dayton was a high wheeler American automobile manufactured in Chicago, Illinois from 1906-1909....
- SchachtSchacht (automobile)Schacht was an American maufacturer of automobile, trucks and fire trucks from 1904 to 1940. The company was started by William and Gustav Schact in Cincinnati, Ohio. Production of automobiles was from 1904 to 1914 with over 8,000 automobiles produced. The company was renamed the G.A...
• - Sears
- Single CenterSingle CenterThe Simple Center was an American automobile manufactured from 1907 until 1908.A friction-drive 12/15 hp flat-twin-engined High wheeler from Evansville, Indiana, it was advertised as being "not a buggy but a racy-looking automobile runabout". Its top speed was up to ....
- Sperry Electric
- Strong & Rogers Electric
- SuccessSuccess Automobile Manufacturing CompanySuccess was a brass era United States automobile, built at 532 De Ballviere Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906.It was a high wheeler buggy priced at an exceedingly low US$250...
- Vaughn
- Waverley Electric•
- WoodsWoods Motor VehicleWoods Motor Vehicle Company was a manufacturer of electric automobiles in Chicago, Illinois between 1899 and 1916. In 1915 they produced the Dual Power Woods Motor Vehicle Company was a manufacturer of electric automobiles in Chicago, Illinois between 1899 and 1916. In 1915 they produced the Dual...
• - Zimmerman•
• = also made non-highwheeler automobiles
Sources
- Kimes, Beverly Rae and Clark Jr, Henry Austin. Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805-1942 (Third Edition). Iola, WI: Krause. 1996. ISBN 0-87341-428-4