Winton Automobile
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The Winton Motor Carriage Company was a pioneer
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manufacturer based in
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. Winton was one of the first American companies to sell a motor car. In 1912, Winton became one of the first American manufacturers of
diesel engines The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the die ...
.


History


1896–1903

In 1896,
Scot Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ...
tish immigrant
Alexander Winton Alexander Winton (June 20, 1860 – June 21, 1932) was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver. Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Clev ...
, owner of the Winton Bicycle Company, turned from
bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
production to an experimental
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 ...
automobile before starting his car company. The company was incorporated on March 15, 1897. Its first automobiles were built by hand. Each vehicle had painted sides, padded seats, a leather roof, and gas lamps. B.F. Goodrich made the tires. By this time, Winton had already produced two fully operational prototype automobiles. In May of that year, the 10 hp (7.5 kW) model achieved the astonishing speed of on a test around a Cleveland horse track. However, the new invention was still subject to much skepticism , so to prove his automobile's durability and usefulness, Alexander Winton had his car undergo an endurance run from Cleveland to
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. On March 24, 1898, Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, became the first person to buy a Winton automobile after seeing the first automobile advertisement in ''
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''. Later that year the Winton Motor Carriage Company sold 21 more vehicles, including one to
James Ward Packard James Ward Packard (November 5, 1863 – March 20, 1928) was an American industrialist who, alongside his elder brother William, created the Packard Motor Car Company and Packard Electric Company. Early life James Ward Packard was born in War ...
, who later founded the
Packard Packard (formerly the Packard Motor Car Company) was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana, in 1958. One ...
automobile company after Winton challenged a very dissatisfied Packard to do better. This is the same mistake that
Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; ; 18 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of Scuderia Ferrari in Grand Prix motor racing, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobile marque. Under h ...
would make with
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. Winton sold his first manufactured semi-truck in 1899. More than one hundred Winton vehicles were sold that year, making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered automobiles in the United States. This success led to the opening of the first automobile dealership by Mr. H. W. Koler in
Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...
. To deliver the vehicles, in 1899, Winton built the first automobile hauler in America. One of these 1899 Wintons was purchased by
Larz Anderson Larz Anderson (August 15, 1866 – April 13, 1937) was an American diplomat and ''bon vivant''. He served as second secretary at the United States Legation to the Court of St James's, London; as first secretary and later ''chargé d'affaires ...
and his new wife,
Isabel Weld Perkins Isabel Anderson (March 29, 1876 – November 3, 1948), , was a Boston heiress, author, and society hostess who left a legacy to the public that includes a park and two museums. Life Early life Born at 284 Marlborough Street in Boston's B ...
. Publicity generated sales. In 1901, the news that both Reginald Vanderbilt and Alfred Vanderbilt had purchased Winton automobiles boosted the company's image substantially. Models at the time were a two-passenger Runabout with a one-cylinder engine (8 hp) and a four-passenger Touring and Mail Delivery Van, also with a one-cylinder engine (9 hp). That year, Winton lost a race at
Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe is a group of five adjacent suburbs in the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area on the shore of Lake St. Clair. From southwest to northeast, they are: *Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, Grosse Pointe Park *Grosse Pointe, Michiga ...
to
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...
. Winton vowed a comeback and win. He produced the 1902 Winton Bullet, which set an unofficial
land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...
of in Cleveland that year. The Bullet was defeated by another Ford by famed driver
Barney Oldfield Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (January 29, 1878 – October 4, 1946) was a pioneer American racing driver. His name was "synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century". He was the winner of the inaugural List of American ope ...
, but two more Bullet race cars were built. In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made the first successful automobile drive across the United States. On a $50 bet (equal to $ today), he purchased a slightly used two-cylinder, Winton touring car and hired a mechanic, Sewall K. Crocker (April 7, 1883 – April 22, 1913), to accompany him. Starting in
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, ending in
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,
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. The trip lasted 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, including breakdowns and delays while waiting for parts to arrive (especially in Cleveland.) The two men often drove miles out of the way to find a passable road, repeatedly hoisted the Winton up and over rocky terrain and mud holes with a
block and tackle A block and tackle or only tackle is a system of two or more pulleys with a rope or cable threaded between them, used to provide tension and lift heavy loads. The pulleys are assembled to form blocks and then blocks are paired so that one is ...
, or were pulled out of soft sand by horse teams. In 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country, all inside city limits. There were no road signs or maps. They once paid the exorbitant price of $5 for five gallons of gasoline ($178 in 2024 dollars). Jackson and Crocker followed rivers and streams, transcontinental railroad tracks, sheep trails, and dirt back roads. The car is now part of the permanent collection of the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
's
National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...
after Jackson himself donated the vehicle to the museum where it can still be seen on display. File:Winton auto ad car-1898.jpg, 1898 Winton Motor Carriage Company's first automobile ad Image:1899Winton.jpg, 1899 Winton Stanhope Image:1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy. Athy, Ireland. Alexander Winton in the Winton Bullet 2.jpg, 1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy,
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,
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;
Alexander Winton Alexander Winton (June 20, 1860 – June 21, 1932) was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver. Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Clev ...
in the ''Winton Bullet 2'' Image:HoratioJacksonNelson.jpg, 1903 Horatio Nelson Jackson in his two-seat Winton
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 ...
, " The Vermont", drives across America


1904–1924

The 1904 Winton was a five-passenger
tonneau A tonneau ( or ) is an area of a car, truck, or boat open at the top. It can be for passengers or cargo. When applied to trucks it refers to their ''bed'' (American English) or ''tray'' (British English). Origin of term A tonneau was orig ...
-equipped tourer which sold for
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2,500. By contrast, the Enger 40 was US$2,000, the FAL US$1,750, an
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
40 US$1,600, the Cole 30 and Colt Runabout US$1,500, while the (1913) Lozier Light Six Metropolitan started at US$3,250, American's lowest-priced model was US$4,250, and Lozier's Big Six were US$5,000 and up. ::Models (1904) :: Winton's flat-mounted water-cooled
straight-twin engine A straight-twin engine, also known as an inline-twin, vertical-twin, inline-2, or parallel-twin, is a two-cylinder Reciprocating engine, piston engine whose cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. Straight-twin engines are p ...
, situated amidships of the car, produced . The channel and angle steel-framed car weighed . ::Models (1914) :: Winton continued to successfully market automobiles to upscale consumers through the 1910s, but sales began to fall in the early 1920s. This was due to the very conservative nature of the company, both in terms of technical development and styling. Only one sporting model was offered — the Sport Touring, with the majority of Wintons featuring tourer, sedan, limousine and town car styling. The Winton Motor Carriage Company ceased automobile production on February 11, 1924. ::Models (1922) :: Image:WintonTouringCar1908.jpg, 1908 Winton
touring car 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 ...
Image:Winton-auto 1910-0514.jpg, Winton advertisement in ''Des Moines Capital'', May 14, 1910 File:Winton_Six_advertisement.jpg, Winton Motor Company advertisement, 1911 Image:1910Winton.jpg, 1910 Winton Six File:111-SC-18384 - NARA - 55196832 (cropped).jpg, 1918 Winton Six Model 33
Limousine 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 which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...
File:Winton at Cleveland Classic Cars (34719672554).jpg, 1922 Winton Six Model 40 seven-passenger touring


Winton Engine Company

In 1912, Winton started producing diesel engines for stationary and marine use, and gasoline engines for heavy vehicles, independent of Winton's automobile production. The subsidiary Winton Engine Company remained successful while Winton's automotive sales went into decline, and would outlive the Winton Motor Carriage Company. Winton became the main supplier of engines for internal combustion-electric powered railcars in the 1920s.


Sale to General Motors

On June 20, 1930, Winton Engine Company was sold to
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
and on June 30 was reorganized as the Winton Engine Corporation subsidiary of General Motors. It produced the first practical two-stroke diesel engines in the 400-to-1,200 hp (300 to 900 kW) range, which powered the early
diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...
s of Electro-Motive Corporation (another General Motors subsidiary), as well as
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s. In 1934, a Winton eight-cylinder, 8-201-A diesel engine powered the revolutionary streamlined passenger train the Burlington ''Zephyr'', the first American diesel-powered mainline train. The Winton Engine Corporation provided 201 Series engines for rail use until late 1938, when it was reorganized as the General Motors Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, which produced the GM 567 series locomotive engines, and other large diesels for marine and stationary use. In 1941, locomotive engine production became part of General Motors
Electro-Motive Division Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motiv ...
(EMD). In 1962, Cleveland Diesel was absorbed by Electro-Motive Division, which remains in business today as a subsidiary of
Progress Rail Progress Rail Services Corporation , a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar since 2006, is a supplier of railroad and transit system products and services headquartered in Albertville, Alabama. Founded as a recycling company in 1982, Progress Ra ...
.


Marine engines

Winton and Cleveland engines were used widely by the U.S. Navy in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, powering submarines, destroyer escorts, and numerous auxiliaries. The Winton engines were systematically replaced with the more reliable Cleveland Diesel engines during refittings during the war.


Overview of production figures


In popular culture

A purpose-built "Winton Flyer" features prominently in
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 â€“ July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
's
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
–winning 1962 novel ''
The Reivers ''The Reivers: A Reminiscence'', published in 1962, is the last novel by the American author William Faulkner. It was published a month before his death. The bestselling novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1963. Faulkner previou ...
''. In fact, the 1969 film version of the novel starring
Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...
was known as ''The Yellow Winton Flyer'' in the UK.


See also

*
List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers This is a list of defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States. They were discontinued for various reasons, such as bankruptcy of the parent company, mergers, or being phased out. A * A Automobile Company (1910–1913) 'Blue & Gold, ...


Notes


References


External links


Winton sales literature for models A, B, C and Limousine
€”The description at the site explains the format: "Designed to be folded in various combinations so that the text can be displayed under the corresponding image. In this digital edition each photo is displayed with the corresponding text folded to appear under the photo. The two sides of the complete, unfolded strip are also included as an application/pdf file as the final image."
A collection of Winton magazine advertisements
(1902–1917)
A collection of sales literature for the Winton Six 1911, 1912, 1913, and 33Secondhandgarage.com: History of the Winton Motor Carriage Company
* *{{HAER , survey=OH-11-A , id=oh0118 , title=Winton Motor Carriage Company, Berea Road & Madison Avenue, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH , photos=11 , data=15 , cap=2 , link=no 1890s cars 1900s cars 1910s cars 1920s cars Brass Era vehicles Defunct companies based in Cleveland Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Ohio History of Cleveland Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Cleveland Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1962 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1897 Vehicles introduced in 1898