The Bates was an automobile manufactured in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

, by the Bates Automobile Company from 1903 to 1905. The Bates was the brainchild of M.F. Bates, who was vice-president of the company.

History

Bates Automobile was organized on May 27, 1903, by M.F. Bates, an ex-P. F. Olds & Son company (founded by

Ransom E. Olds Ransom Eli Olds (June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was an American businessman and executive who was known as a pioneer of the American automotive industry, whom the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named after. He claimed to have built his first ...

) draftsman and developer.''Ingham County Biographical Sketches: M.F. Bates''

US Gen US or Us most often refers to: * ''Us'' (pronoun), the objective case of the English first-person plural pronoun ''we'' * US, an abbreviation for the United States US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Albums * ...

; xcerpt from "Past and Present of the City of Lansing and Ingham County, Michigan;" by Albert E. Cowles; published by The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan; 1905; Pp. 249–250]; accessed January 2014. Bates automobile manufacturing was started up in an old Armory building in Lansing, on south Capitol Street.Google Books: Industrial Lansing
/ref>

Production

The company started out producing brass-era

single-cylinder A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, motorized bicycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, power tools an ...

runabouts; and later produced a few two-seater and four-seater cars with

four-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

s. The four-seater touring cars produced cost

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

2,000. In all, a total of about 25 cars were produced. The early cars had

two-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...

16 hp engines, while in 1905, a three-cylinder, 18 hp engine was used.

Marketing and details

The company's slogan was "Buy a Bates and Keep Your Dates." The Bates Automobile Company was entirely separate from the Bates & Edmonds Company, another auto manufacturing firm of which Bates was a partner.

Notes

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Vehicles built in Lansing, Michigan Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan {{Veteran-auto-stub