American Motor Body Corp. - 1920-1928 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 1922-1928 - Detroit, Michigan
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American Motor Body Corp. - 1920-1928 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 1922-1928 - Detroit, Michigan |
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SIX-WHEEL (US) 1924-1928 Six-Wheel Co., Philadelphia, Pa. American Motor Body Corp. was formed in 1923 by Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel and other investors as a reorganization of American Motor Body Co., formed in 1920 to succeed Wadsworth Manufacturing Co. The automobile body plant in Detroit that Wadsworth had operated was sold to Chrysler in 1925. Meanwhile in 1923, American Motor Body acquired the Philadelphia factory of Hall & Kilburn Co., an old established manufacturer of railroad car and streetcar seats, and expanded its line to include tandem-rear-axle buses and trucks marketed under the Six-Wheel name but also sometimes known as "Safeway" buses. There were a few 4/5-ton trucks, which were sold in Turkey, South Africa, India and the Sudan as well as in the United States, and the heavy-duty bus design with its Continental engine was favorably received in several large cities, particularly New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. Most of the bodies were built by Wolfington in Philadelphia, but some were supplied by Auto Body Co. (Lansing), American Car Co., St. Louis Car Co., Fitzgibbon & Crisp, Kuhlman, Lang and Hoover. Approximately 400 SixWheel buses were sold. The company also had interests in several small operating companies in New Jersey during the 1920's. MBS xxxxxx Just to avoid confusion, I had better mention that there was another body builder back in the twenties with the word "American" in their name. This was the American Motor Body Company, and it had no connection with the Buffalo firm, The firm had started in Philadelphia, and was one of several of which Charles M. Schwab, Jr., acquired control about the same time that he obtained a large share of the stock of Stutz - say 1921. Schwab moved American Motor Body to Detroit, where they turned out, a bit later, some of the first bodies for the new Stutz 8. However, I have found a reference to the fact that when they first moved to Detroit in 1922, they were building bodies for the Gray, a much less expensive car. Hugo Pfau - Cars & Parts March 1976 pp145-148 Over in Indianapolis, the Robbins Body Company had built standard bodies for Stutz and, some others. With the introduction of the Stutz -Eight in 1925, their bodies came from the American Motor Body Company in Detroit, a firm that Charles Schwab had acquired in Philadelphia and moved there. Soon Robbins was back in the picture again, and when LeBaron redesigned the Stutz line in 1927, the first of the new bodies came from Robbins.
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For more information please read: Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Car Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Era Beverly Rae Kimes - Packard: A History of the Motorcar and Company Beverly Rae Kimes & Henry Austin Clark Jr. - Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 Richard Burns Carson - The Olympian Cars Raymond A. Katzell - The Splendid Stutz Brooks T. Brierley - There Is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow Brooks T. Brierley - Magic Motors 1930 Nick Georgano - The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile: Coachbuilding John Gunnell - Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975 James M. Flammang & Ron Kowalke - Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1976-1999 Daniel D. Hutchins - Wheels Across America: Carriage Art & Craftsmanship Marian Suman-Hreblay - Dictionary of World Coachbuilders and Car Stylists Michael Lamm and Dave Holls - A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design Thomas E. Bonsall - The Lincoln Motorcar: Sixty Years of Excellence Fred Roe - Duesenberg: The Pursuit of Perfection Arthur W. Soutter - The American Rolls-Royce John Webb De Campi - Rolls-Royce in America Hugo Pfau - The Custom Body Era Hugo Pfau - The Coachbult Packard Griffith Borgeson - Cord: His Empire His Motor Cars Don Butler - Auburn Cord Duesenberg George H. Dammann - 90 Years of Ford George H. Dammann & James K. Wagner - The Cars of Lincoln-Mercury Thomas A. MacPherson - The Dodge Story F. Donald Butler - Plymouth-Desoto Story Fred Crismon - International Trucks George H. Dammann - Seventy Years of Chrysler Walter M.P. McCall - 80 Years of Cadillac LaSalle Maurice D. Hendry - Cadillac, Standard of the World: The complete seventy-year history George H. Dammann & James A. Wren - Packard Dennis Casteele - The Cars of Oldsmobile Terry B. Dunham & Lawrence R. Gustin - Buick: A Complete History George H. Dammann - Seventy Years of Buick George H. Dammann - 75 Years of Chevrolet John Gunnell - Seventy-Five Years of Pontiac-Oakland
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