Lozier Model 72 Meadowbrook Runabout
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Car producer : |
Lozier |
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Model: |
Model 72 Meadowbrook Runabout |
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Year: |
1913-1914 |
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Type: |
Roadster |
After selling his bicycle business, Lozier moved to Plattsburgh to manufacture boat engines. In 1900, he entered the automobile business. At his death in 1903, his son Harry took over the company.
Loziers were top line luxury cars and for a time were the most expensive cars produced in the United States. The 1910 model line featured cars priced between US$4,600 and US$7,750. The same year, a Cadillac could be had for about US$1,600 and a Packard US$3,200. A pre-assembly line Ford Model T of the same year retailed at approximately US$850 (after installing assembly line production a few years later, new Model Ts sold for as little as US$240). The average annual salary in America that year was approximately US$750.
The company was moved to Detroit in 1910. In 1911, a Lozier was entered into the first running of the Indianapolis 500. The car, in the hands of Ralph Mulford, finished second in a controversial scoring decision and many observers felt Mulford's Lozier had actually won the race. On March 19 the same year, Lozier ads claimed, a stock 49 hp (37 kW) model piloted by Teddy Tetzlaff set a world record for 100 mi (160 km) at 1:14:29.
Because of Lozier's limited market niche, the company only produced a few thousand cars during its brief lifespan. Production peaked in the 1912 model year at 600 cars.
The company faced new pressures as more manufacturers entered the market. Frederick C. Chandler, Lozier's top designer, left the company in 1913 and formed the Chandler Motor Company which produced cars similar to the Lozier but at a substantially lower sales price. Chandler took several top company executives with him producing a brain drain from which the company never recovered.
Despite a change in management, the situation worsened, and by late 1914, Lozier was in receivership. A reorganization effort in 1915 failed and a second attempt yielded no better result. In September 1918, the splendid name of Lozier was consigned to automotive history.
Before its demise, Lozier’s production peaked in 1912 at 600 cars. That year, the company announced that it would build only six-cylinder automobiles and introduced two new models: the Type 72 “Big Six” and the Type 77 “Light Six.” Replacing the top-of-the-line Type 51, the Type 72 utilized its predecessor’s 131"wheelbase and 554 cid T-head engine, conservatively rated by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) at 51 hp, but estimated to produce 88 hp. Major advances over the Type 51 included left-hand-drive steering, electric headlamps, multi-point ignition, and an automatic splash-lubrication system. Built in limited quantities during 1912–1913, the Type 72 was the very last of the elegant, high-priced Lozier motor cars.
Lozier offered the Type 72 in a variety of body styles including the Knickerbocker Berline, Briarcliff Toy-Tonneau, Lakewood Torpedo, Riverside, and Larchmont Touring cars. The most sporting of all was the Meadowbrook Runabout, named after the exclusive Long Island, New York, hunt club. According to the factory sales catalogue, the Meadowbrook Runabout was “built to meet the large demand for a racy-looking two-passenger car. The chassis is identical to the Lakewood and Briarcliff models in all principal details, except that the tires are carried on the platform back of the front seats. A side seat on the running board is provided for the chauffeur. Stripped of fenders, the Meadowbrook is the Lozier model which has won so many notable victories in the great races of the past.”
At the 1913 Los Angeles Motordome, however, the company introduced the 88hp (66 kW) Big Six, with electric headlights, with tourers and roadsters at US$5,000, limousines and landaulets at US$6,500. It was joined by the 52hp (40 kW) Light Six Metropolitan, with electric starter and lights; the tourer and runabout were US$3,250, coupe US$3,850, and limousine US$4,450.
Lozier tried to expand into the mid-priced car market and in 1914 offered a four-cylinder car priced at US$2,000. It faced competition from the US$2000 Enger 40, the cheaper FAL at US$1750, the US$1600 Oakland 40 and Cole Four at US$1925, and Western's US$500 Gale Model A roadster, to name just a few. The new four was not a sales success and company finances continued to falter. After a failed attempt to merge with Ford Motor Company, the company declared bankruptcy in 1915.
