Coachbult.com - Wadsworth Mfg. Co.



Wadsworth Manufacturing Co. 1890s-1920 - American Motor Body Co. 1920-1923 - American Motor Body Corp. - 1923-1925 - Detroit, Michigan (sold to Chrysler in 1925) -

In 1919 and 1920 both Fisher and Wadsworth supplied Ford with sedan bodies for the Model T.

see FMC archives - general letter no. 347 dated Feb 20, 1919

FROM: Ford Motor Company, Detroit Office
February 20, 1919
General Letter No. 347
......

INSTRUMENT BOARD

One length of board is being furnished for sedans, both Wadsworth and Fisher made, and as the Wadsworth body is somewhat wider between pillars at instrument board section than the Fisher body, it becomes necessary for various reasons that one length be furnished for both jobs and when branch receives same it will be in order to cut off ends of the board to fit Fisher body if Fisher bodies are being received. After cutting the boards to size, see that the imitation leather is again placed over ends of boards in a workmanlike manner. Instruments will be shipped to branch from main plant with instrument boards until the body manufacturers can bring the instrument boards through to fit their respective bodies, after which they will ship bodies with the instruments and wiring fastened thereto so that same can be fastened to dash assembly in accordance with diagrams which you have at this time. Coupe bodies are now going forward with the instrument board in position.

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The Model T sedan bodies were made by at least two different body builders: the Fisher Body Corporation and the Wadsworth Body Corporation.

The sedan bodies were made by at least two different body builders: the Fisher Body Corporation and the Wadsworth Body Corporation. There are subtle differenced between the two manufacturers.

The "Centerdoor" Sedan body was built from 1915 till 1923 when it was replaced by the Fore door sedan and the Tudor sedan. Over the period from 1915 till 1923, around 500,000 "Centerdoor" bodies were built. In 1920 alone, around 81,616 "Centerdoors" were built.

The centerdoor body style made Ford one of the first automobile manufactures to offer an enclosed automobile that the entire family could fist into. Remember that ford offered an enclosed 2-passenger coupe in 1909, but the centerdoor which was first offered in 1915 would hold 5 passengers. At the time, the open touring cars and roadsters were the most popular selling body styles, but only 10 years later, the sedan would become the most popular body style.

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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 Hale & 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

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By 1919, Michigan Steel Boat Company had moved its office and factory to the corner of Kercheval Avenue and Conners Creek, and was associated with The Wadsworth Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of auto bodies, auto tops and auto parts. Frederick E. Wadsworth was president of the firm, Mary M. Wadsworth, vice-president and H. E. Cronenweth, treasurer.

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Michigan Steel Boat Company [Detroit]

Michigan Steel Boat Company was a second company with the same name, along with another in Kalamazoo. Michigan Steel Boat Company was organized in 1900 and incorporated on December 27, 1901, in Detroit, Wayne County. Principals of the firm in 1903 were Hugo Scherer as president and Frederick E. Wadsworth as secretary and treasurer. Wadsworth was associated with the Detroit Boat Company. The company was located initially at two different locations in Detroit, at 280-284 Jefferson Ave. and 1256 Jefferson Ave. in 1903, and later at 1252-1270 Jefferson Ave. in 1905. It appears that it shared the plant and management with Detroit Boat Company and several marine engine manufacturers such as Detroit Engine Works, Thrall Motor Company, Columbia Engine Company and others. A portion of the plant was acquired from the Olds Motor Works, the first plant built specifically for automobile manufacturing. A 1905 description of the property called it “the largest steel boat building establishment in the state.” The plant covered a space of 1,200 X 100 feet with seven separate buildings. The main factory and office building was a two-story high cement block structure, complete with show rooms. All buildings had automatic fire extinguishers and a private telephone system. Motive power for the plant was electricity, furnished by the company’s own private generating plant. The company in its new location appears to have gotten off to a good start as it reported that 1,200 boats were built in 1905.

Michigan Steel Boat Company may have been the manufacturer of the “White Flyer” rowboats for Sears, Roebuck & Company in 1908. The boat was shipped direct from “our factory at Detroit, Mich.” and retailed at $27.50, including one pair of oars and oarlocks. A rudder cost an extra $1.75. The “White Flyer” was a 14-foot square stern steel clinker rowboat of “Apollo” steel construction, with horizontal plates. Sears advertised that the “bow, stern and seats of this boat are made of cypress, the gunwales are of oak, all finely finished in natural oak.” The boat came equipped with patented steel airtight chambers at either end for additional buoyancy. The hull was painted with white pegamoid, and imported waterproof paint, the same as that used by the United States Navy. The catalogue No. 6K8700 “White Flyer” was 14 feet in length; 43-1/2" beam amidship, and 14" in depth amidship, with the height of the bow being 22" and the height of the stern being 24". The boat weighed about 150 pounds and when crated weighed about 200 pounds.

By 1915 the firm had grown to include these managers and officers: Hugo Scherer, President; Frederick E. Wadsworth, Secretary and Treasurer; H. E. Cronenweth, General Manager; W. C. Rowling, Purchasing Agent; and A. M. Ratigan, Advertising Manager. The company manufactured a wider range of products by this time, “Boats, Motor Boats, Row Boats, Canoes, Marine and Stationary Engines, Outboard Motors, Auto Tops and Bodies.” The address and phone were listed as 1526 Jefferson Ave., Tels. East 406-407-408.

By 1919, the firm had moved its office and factory to the corner of Kercheval Avenue and Conners Creek, and was associated with The Wadsworth Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of auto bodies, auto tops and auto parts. Frederick E. Wadsworth was president of the firm, Mary M. Wadsworth, vice-president and H. E. Cronenweth, treasurer.

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

Marc Ralston - Pierce Arrow

Brooks T. Brierley - There Is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow

Brooks T. Brierley - Auburn, Reo, Franklin and Pierce-Arrow Versus Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln and Packard

Brooks T. Brierley - Magic Motors 1930

Nick Georgano - The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile: Coachbuilding