The Keeton was a

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 features as lights and radiator (engine cooling), radiators. It is generally considered to ...

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 ...

built in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

from 1912 to 1914 by the Keeton Motor Car Company.

History

Designed by Forrest M. Keeton when he was associated with the Croxton-Keeton Motor Car Company, the Keeton was called a "French type" and had a bonnet like the contemporary

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

. Good sales resulted in the purchase of a larger factory in 1913, but under-capitalization caused Keeton to lose control of his company to new investors. A Keeton driven by

Bob Burman Robert R. Burman (April 23, 1884 – April 8, 1916) was an American racing driver. He was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compete in ...

participated in the

1913 Indianapolis 500 The Third International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1913. Frenchman Jules Goux became the first foreign-born, and first European winner of the Indianapolis 500. His margin of victory ...

but caught fire and retired on the 55th lap. In early 1914 Keeton was absorbed by American Voiturette. The last 100 Keeton's were sold by a receiver when that company failed in September 1914. In 1915, Forrest Keeton bought back the factory for a repair business.

Models

The 1913 Keeton "Six-48" was a six-cylinder five-passenger

tourer Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The ...

with left-hand steering, 12½ in (31.75 cm)-diameterClymer, Floyd. ''Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925'' (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.131.

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

headlight A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for t ...

s, starter, and horn.Clymer, p.131. There were four forward speeds, speedometer, and the choice of

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

spoked wood

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

s. It had the

radiator A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

just in front of the cowl, behind the engine, the "proper and protected position", according to its ads. The folding top was

mohair Mohair (pronounced ) originated from the Arabic word �هيرand it is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat (not Angora wool from the fur of the Angora rabbit). Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high shee ...

and the windshield folded. Like most cars of the era, it came standard with a tool kit, which in this case included an electric

trouble light A trouble light, also known as a rough service light, drop light, or inspection lamp, is a special lamp used to illuminate obscure places and able to handle moderate abuse. The light bulb is housed in a protective cage and a handle that are molde ...

, tire iron, pump, jack, and tire patch. It sold for $2,750, . Keeton also offered the five-seat Riverside Tourer and Meadowbrook Roadster at $2,750, the Tuxedo

Coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

at $3,000, with a chassis price (suitable for custom

coachwork A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. The word ...

, typical of the likes of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Pierce-Arrow The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive Luxury vehicle, luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manuf ...

at the time) of $2,250.Clymer, p.32. File:1914 Keeton 6-48 Advertising - Horseless Age.jpg, alt=, 1914 Keeton 6-48 advertisement in the

Horseless Age ''Automotive Industries'' (''AI'') is one of the world's oldest continually published trade publications and the oldest specialising in the automaking business. It was founded in November 1895 as ''The Horseless Age'', the second magazine create ...

File:Burman3.jpg, alt=, The Keeton raced by

in the

History

Models

References

See also