Daniels Motor Company was a pioneer

brass era The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 1915 ...

American

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

company, founded in 1915 by George E. Daniels (formerly of GM AND Buick) with Neff E. Parish. George Daniels was a known lawyer, engineer, and mechanic. He was considered the best motorcar designer in the United States. Neff Parish had his own automobile parts and framing manufacturing company. Neff was the creator of the time's highest-grade heat-treated alloy steel frames, respected in the steel industry. Daniels Motor Company produced 1,500 high-quality automobiles between 1916 and 1924, branding themselves as “the distinguished car with just a little more power than you will ever need”, and “The aristocrat of American cars”. No stock models were created. Daniels cars were built to be permanent personal pieces of art. Each car fabricated was crafted for the individual buyer. With custom coachwork, the Daniels was a bespoke car, built to order, offering a proprietary narrow-angle V8 as standard equipment, for a price (in 1922) of US$7,450. By contrast, the 1913

Lozier The Lozier Motor Company was a brass era producer of luxury automobiles in the United States. The company produced automobiles from 1900 to 1918, in Plattsburgh, New York and from 1910, at Detroit, Michigan. History Lozier Motor Company was fo ...

Big Six

limousines A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

and landaulettes were US$6,500, tourers and

roadsters __NOTOC__ Roadster may refer to: Transportation * Roadster (automobile), an open, two-seat, often sporty car ** Roadster utility, an automobile with an open-topped roadster body and a rear cargo bed * Roadster (bicycle), a utilitarian bicycle, t ...

US$5,000; the Lozier Light Six Metropolitan tourer and runabout started at US$3,250;

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ran from US$525 down to US$4250; the Enger 40 was US$2000, the FAL US$1750, the

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40 US$1600, and both the Cole 30 US$1500, and

Colt Runabout The Colt Runabout was an American brass era, Brass-era automobile, built in Yonkers, New York, in 1907.Clymer, Floyd. ''Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925'' (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.63. by William Mason Turner. It was a ...

were US$1500. Below that, presumably, a Daniels customer would not have looked.

Beginning

In 1916, Daniels Motor Company produced 142 Model A Daniels Eight Cylinder cars with several body styles from its

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

, manufacturing plant. As Daniels did all of its own production, the company never had to refuse buyers due to high demand unlike competitors. In 1917, the three passenger Coupe Model B was produced. Prices ranged from $3,100 to $5,200. In 1919, between one hundred and two hundred Cloverleaf Coupe model Cs were produced. This model displayed the first Daniels-built engine. The engine, designed by the same Italian engineer who created the best four-cylinder engines in Europe, proved inadequate and had to be reconfigured.

1920s

In 1920, Daniels announced it would be opening a new plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and premiered the V8 engine. Production was expected to be 1,500 automobiles annually at the new facility. Seven different body styles were available with V8 engines, with designs ranging from the seven-passenger touring cars priced $4,750 to the Daniels limousine at $6,250. In 1921, prices increased and existing models experienced moderate design changes. In 1922, the Daniels Motor Company opened a new office in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, intended to serve Brooklyn and Long Island residents and announced the plan to double output of all Daniels' plants within two months' time. This office was the first Daniels to offer a service station to all Daniels Motor Company buyers with Daniels Motor Company-specific tools and equipment. George Daniels cited providing service stations as the most important facet of his business structure, as it was a major driver of sales. In its prime, Daniels Motor Company had between 15 and 20 agents across the US. That same year, Daniels released a statement explaining the company would be cutting prices for the first time. The president warned buyers no further reductions were expected and prices are to rise again within 90 days. At the same time, a majority of the company's preferred stock was offered on the New York Stock Exchange.

Financial crisis

In 1923, the company underwent “unusual” procedures to take back its declaration of

dividends A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...

. A series of internal business problems lead to the initial breakdown of the company. A federal judge rejected an offer of $84,271 made for assets of Daniels Motor Company at public auction for the company's Reading plant. The auction was held by the company's receivers of equity under adherence of the US court system. The courts told receivers they could apply later for a re-sale after they have considered two proposals made in court. First, the president asked for two weeks to develop a reorganization plan. Second, one bidder offered to buy the land for $110,000. The second option fell through when the court found the proposal inadequate. In 1924, as a last-ditch effort to save the business, the company announced its line of products would begin to be sold at higher prices in order to make a profit. Additionally, it was announced the moving of its company headquarters from Reading to Philadelphia. Later in 1924, anyone holding claims against the “defunct” Daniels Motor Company were notified to present their claims to the Philadelphia court district who has appointed a special master dedicated to passing the final accounts of the corporation. In a statement from the company: The corporation was sold by the order of the district court. One hundred people attended the

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

and six bids were made. George Billman, a real estate dealer, bought the Reading plant property. The property was estimated to be worth $300,000. George Nagle purchased the name, trademarks, and drawings for $1,900. Levene Motor Company of Philadelphia acquired the assets of Daniels Motor Company. The company paid $90,000, $50,000 subject to mortgage. The company planned to invest $20,000 in improvements to convert the plan to a warehouse and manufacturing facility for their own purposes.

Post operation

In 1953, a 32-year-old Daniels 1921 model D car was up for auction in California. The original cost was $6,500. It was believed to be the last existing 1921 Daniels Model D in existence, and one of fifteen remaining Daniels cars in the world. Chassis numbers 1915 101-108 Model A Herschell Spillman engine 1916 109-250 Model A Herschell Spillman engine 1917 251-400 Model A Herschell Spillman engine 1918 401-? Model B Herschell Spillman engine 1919 601-? 1920 ?-1350 1921 1351-1769 1922 1838-2087 1923 2089-?

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