History of United States Automobile
  1904

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A total of 22,130 automobiles are built in America this year

The first Buicks to on sale, with a two-cylinder valve-in-head engine under the floor, plus planetary transmission.

Studebaker sells is first gasoline vehicle, a two-cylinder; the cars are called Studebaker-Garford at first

Production Figures
Oldsmobile 5,508
Cadillac 2,457
Rambler 2,342
Ford 1,695
White 710
Stanley 550
Franklin 400
Packard 250

A huge factory fire delays Cadillac production, forcing the company to return dealer deposits on 1500 autos.

The Stoddard-Dayton car is built by John Stoddard, son of Henry Stoddard, a Dayton paint and varnish manufacturer.

A Maxwell from a 1922 magazine advertisementThe Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York was started this year. The company was named after founders Jonathan Dixon Maxwell, who earlier had worked for Oldsmobile, and the Briscoe Brothers Metalworks. Benjamin Briscoe, an automobile industry pioneer, was president of the company at its height.
 

Rivals criticize the Pope-Hartford firm for including lamps as standard equipment

On January 12, Henry Ford drives his 'Arrow' racer to a world-record 91.37 mph; the feat is topped a week later by William K. Vanderbilt doing 92.307 mph in a Mercedes

Go to 1905

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