The American, often nicknamed as the American Gas, was a small

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

-powered buggy manufactured by the American Motor Carriage Company in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

from 1902 to 1903, and sold until early 1904. It was one of nearly two dozen American

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

marques to bear this name. The company evolved in August 1901 from an interior decorating studio. Its president was George F. McKay, with F.D. Dorman as vice president and general manager, J.F. Morris acting as secretary-treasurer and George H. Wadsworth as superintendent. The car was developed by chief engineer George W. Dunham. It was a light (1000 lb) two-passenger runabout with a water-cooled, single-cylinder engine fitted under the seat, a planetary transmission and a single chain to the rear axle. The wheel base was . The most outstanding item of the vehicle was its wheel-steering device. A 7-gallon fuel tank was fitted, which would give a driving range of about . As usual at the time, the car was right-hand driven. Minimalistic coachwork included a small compartment in front. The car came painted in "French carmine", with the running gear in "Valentine red", and the seat bench trimmed in black leather. The car's initial price was $1000, and the company came never close to the targeted capacity of 200 cars per year. In September 1903, the company came under receivership management by the Prudential Trust Company. Dunham became general manager, looking to assemble as many cars as possible from parts ready. These were sold for $750 until April 1904, when a new company named American Automobile Company moved in. They never produced a car. Press noted that the American Motor Carriage Company was the first automobile manufacturer in Cleveland that failed. This is not true, but it was the most important by then.

References

Veteran vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio {{Veteran-auto-stub