The American Chocolate, later known as the Walter, was an 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 ...

manufactured from 1902 to 1906 by

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

company American Chocolate Machinery Co. in Manhattan, New York. He decided to expand his business by assembling automobiles in his factory. The cars were exhibited at the New York automobile show. The cars were built from imported components, and were 30, 40, and 50 hp models. Production was supervised by Swiss engineer William Walter, who began building cars in 1898. The company relocated to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

in 1906, where it began producing cars under the name Walter. After 1910 Walter was building 4 X 4 trucks, which were used by the military and municipalities. Just after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Walter sub-contracted some production of its trucks to the Milwaukee Locomotive Manufacturing Company. After that, Walter switched from the brand's own four-cylinder motor to the

Waukesha engine Waukesha is a brand of large stationary reciprocating engines produced by INNIO Waukesha Gas Engines, a business unit of the INNIO Group. It builds large gas engines and related industrial equipment for natural gas compression and for power gen ...

, and the company moved to a new location on Long Island in 1923. The company would be finally absorbed by

Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp Kovatch Mobile Equipment Corp, better known as KME, is a custom truck manufacturer formerly based in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania. KME is a subsidiary of the REV Group. KME specializes in automotive, aviation, petro-chemical, industrial, energy, mi ...

(KME) in the late 1970s.

Models

Notes

* * * Brass Era vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New Jersey Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state) {{Veteran-auto-stub