Stevens-Duryea Model U Touring
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Car producer : |
Stevens-Duryea |
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Model: |
Model U Touring |
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Year: |
1906-1907 |
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Type: |
Tourer |
Stevens-Duryea was an American manufacturer of automobiles in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts between 1901 and 1915 and from 1919 to 1927.
The company was founded after a falling-out between J. Frank Duryea and his brother Charles in 1898. In 1900 Frank went on to form Hampden Automobile and Launch Company (Springfield) where he developed a new automobile and looked for a manufacturer to produce it. J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company who were about to enter the developing car business, entered into a partnership with Frank and took over the factory of steam car and bicycle maker Overman (car company) (sharing the premises for several months).
Stevens-Duryea's first product was a two-cylinder, 5hp Runabout that sold for $1,200.00 in 1901. No production numbers are known for 1901 but the firm produced 61 cars in 1902 and 483 in 1903. By 1904 the runabout, a tube chassis 6hp (4.5 kW) flat twin buggy runabout victoria, was called the Model L. It had a flat-mounted water-cooled straight twin, situated amidships of the car, four speed gearbox (three forward, one reverse), wire wheels, full-elliptic springs, and tiller steering. Weighing 1300 lb (590 kg), it sold at US$1300. This would be imported to Britain by Joseph Baker, but would not succeed there; in the U.S., it would survive several years. It was joined in 1905 by the US$2500 Model R, an aluminium-bodied, five-seat, 20hp four with three-speed gearbox and live axle.
The model line grew in 1906, adding a US$2400 runabout and a US$3300 limousine. There was also the new Big Six, with a 9.6 litre six cylinder motor, seven-seater tulipwood body, weighing 2900lbs. (1315 kg), at US$5000.
In 1907, both the L and R were dropped, and Stevens-Duryea focused on sixes. Yet the company was hampered by the shortage of skilled labor; only some fifty units were sold in 1904, and maximum production did not exceed 100 a year.
In 1907 to bridge the gap between the 20hp Model R Touring and massive 50hp model S, Stevens-Duryea brought out the 35 hp 6-cylinder Model U.
The Stevens-Duryea was conservatively designed and engineered but beautifully and solidly constructed. By 1913, the line incorporated two lengths of wheelbase, 131 and 138 inches, each with a 45-horsepower, six-cylinder engine with dual ignition, a three-speed transmission, and shaft drive. The Model C-Six, as it was known, could move along the nation’s growing roads with considerable power, speed, and reliability. It was a titan of its time.
Model C-Sixes were delivered to an elite clientele that included none other than George Vanderbilt, whose own long-wheelbase model remains within the artifact collection of his estate, Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina. Only eight other Model C-Sixes are known to survive, seven of which are mounted on the “short” 131-inch wheelbase chassis.
The 1915 Model D was the company's last new design, an 80hp (60 kW) 472ci (7740cc) six. It was this year Frank Duryea sold out; production stopped in 1915 because of financial problems and the plant was sold to New England Westinghouse Company. Several former employees bought the name and goodwill and in 1919 restarted production of the D as the Model E, at a stratospheric US$9500 (at a time when a physician might earn US$3000 a year).
