The Winton Motor Carriage Company was a pioneer United States automobile manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. Winton was one of the first American companies to sell a motor car. In 1912, Winton became one of the first American manufacturers of diesel engines.
History
1896–1903
In 1896, Scottish immigrant Alexander Winton, owner of the Winton Bicycle Company, turned from bicycle production to an experimental single-cylinder automobile before starting his car company.
The company was incorporated on March 15, 1897. Its first automobiles were built by hand. Each vehicle had painted sides, padded seats, a leather roof, and gas lamps. B.F. Goodrich made the tires.
By this time, Winton had already produced two fully operational prototype automobiles. In May of that year, the 10 hp (7.5 kW) model achieved the astonishing speed of on a test around a Cleveland horse track. However, the new invention was still subject to much skepticism , so to prove his automobile's durability and usefulness, Alexander Winton had his car undergo an endurance run from Cleveland to New York City.
On March 24, 1898, Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, became the first person to buy a Winton automobile after seeing the first automobile advertisement in Scientific American. Later that year the Winton Motor Carriage Company sold 21 more vehicles, including one to James Ward Packard, who later founded the Packard automobile company after Winton challenged a very dissatisfied Packard to do better. This is the same mistake that Enzo Ferrari would make with Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Winton sold his first manufactured semi-truck in 1899. More than one hundred Winton vehicles were sold that year, making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered automobiles in the United States. This success led to the opening of the first automobile dealership by Mr. H. W. Koler in Reading, Pennsylvania. To deliver the vehicles, in 1899, Winton built the first automobile hauler in America. One of these 1899 Wintons was purchased by Larz Anderson and his new wife, Isabel Weld Perkins.
Publicity generated sales. In 1901, the news that both Reginald Vanderbilt and Alfred Vanderbilt had purchased Winton automobiles boosted the company's image substantially. Models at the time were a two-passenger Runabout with a one-cylinder engine (8 hp) and a four-passenger Touring and Mail Delivery Van, also with a one-cylinder engine (9 hp). That year, Winton lost a race at Grosse Pointe to Henry Ford. Winton vowed a comeback and win. He produced the 1902 Winton Bullet, which set an unofficial land speed record of in Cleveland that year. The Bullet was defeated by another Ford by famed driver Barney Oldfield, but two more Bullet race cars were built.
In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made the first successful automobile drive across the United States. On a $50 bet, he purchased a slightly used two-cylinder, Winton touring car and hired a mechanic to accompany him. Starting in San Francisco, California, ending in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The trip lasted 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, including breakdowns and delays while waiting for parts to arrive (especially in Cleveland.) The two men often drove miles out of the way to find a passable road, repeatedly hoisted the Winton up and over rocky terrain and mud holes with a block and tackle, or were pulled out of soft sand by horse teams. In 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country, all inside city limits. There were no road signs or maps. They once paid the exorbitant price of $5 for five gallons of gasoline. Jackson and his partner followed rivers and streams, transcontinental railroad tracks, sheep trails, and dirt back roads.
1904–1924
The 1904 Winton was a five-passenger tonneau-equipped tourer which sold for US$2,500. By contrast, the Enger 40 was US$2,000, the FAL US$1,750, an Oakland 40 US$1,600, the Cole 30 and Colt Runabout US$1,500, while the (1913) Lozier Light Six Metropolitan started at US$3,250, American's lowest-priced model was US$4,250, and Lozier's Big Six were US$5,000 and up.
Models (1904) { |class="wikitable" |- ! Type !! Engine !! HP !! Wheelbase !! Transmission |- |Touring-5p. ||Two-cylinder ||20 ||94.5" ||2-speed sliding-gear |- |Touring-5p. ||Four-cylinder ||24 ||104" ||2-speed sliding-gear |}
Winton's flat-mounted water-cooled straight-twin engine, situated amidships of the car, produced . The channel and angle steel-framed car weighed .
Models (1914) { |class="wikitable" |- ! Model !! Engine !! HP !! Wheelbase |- |Model 20 ||Six-cylinder ||48.6 ||130" |}
