Little Motor Car Co.
Detroit, Michigan (1911)
Flint, Michigan (1912-1913)
Republic Motor Co. (1913)
New York City, New York
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| This is a Little radiator emblem (dates unknown) sam Size: 45mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The Little was one of the cars that Billy Durant decided to build after he was pushed out of General Motors.
Durant wanted to make a light car of "French type" to be sold at popular prices. He engaged Louis Chevrolet, who knew what a "French type" car was, and who wanted to build a car. The Chevrolet name was also very well known in the US. Durant set up a number of companies to start his new auto empire, the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit, the Little Motor Car Company in Flint, Michigan, the Mason Motor Company, also in Flint, to build engines and the Republic Motor Company to handle the marketing and sales of Chevrolet and Little cars. He also set up large facilities for the Republic Motor Company in New York City for use as an auxiliary assembly plant.
Production of the Little began in January 1912 at the Flint Wagon Works, which had previously produced the Whiting. The first Flint built Little Four appeared in April 1912 and was essentially a re-badged Whiting Model 22. The Little Four body was restyled soon after the first few Little Fours had been built.
The Little Four was a relatively low-priced 20 hp four-cylinder roadster. The Little sold well but was not a well made car, whereas the Chevrolet Classic Six, being developed in Detroit, was well made but was too big and expensive to sell well and was not the simple "French type" car that Durant had wanted. As the Chevrolet Classic Six was not yet ready, Durant decided to bring out a smaller 26 hp Little Six touring car, which appeared later in 1912 for the 1913 model year, but Durant did not need to produce two cars. Durant decided to combine the best features of the Little and the Chevrolet into what eventually became the Chevrolet Light Six (see Chevrolet) and to reorganize his companies under the Chevrolet banner.
The Little was discontinued in May 1913. A total of about 3,500 Little units were built, including 249 units built in New York City by the Republic Motor Company in the period April 1913 to end June 1913.
Emblems
There were four different versions of the script style used for the "Little" name and at least six different Little radiator emblems are known to exist but it is difficult to determine the dates of use of these scripts and emblems with certainty. There are no original period photos of any Little cars showing the radiator and Little automobile advertisements do not show the emblems.
The earliest original period photo of a Little automobile that I can find is a side view, which shows a "Little" script mounted on the sides of the fuel tank, see below:
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| Little Four showing fuel tank script (c1911) dpl |
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| Close-up showing the Little Four fuel tank script |
I have not seen this specific Little script design elsewhere on period photos or on any surviving Little scripts or emblems. This factory photo is annotated "c1911" and may show a very early prototype Little Four with a fuel tank script that was changed before full production began. Little scripts with this design would be extremely rare.
The Advance Circular announcing the Little Four in 1912 had an illustration of what appears to be a Little emblem on the cover sheet, see below:
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| Little Four Advance Circular (1912) sfam |
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| Little Four emblem on Advance Circular cover (1912) |
The same emblem appears on the cover of the Little Four Operating and Maintenance Instructions book and on the Little Four parts lists, see example shown below:
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| Little Four Operating Instructions book (1912) acc |
It would be reasonable to assume that this illustration depicted the Little Four radiator emblem in 1912 and such an emblem does exist.
This is the red and white enamel Little radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Little radiator emblem is extremely rare.
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| This is a Little radiator emblem (dates unknown) sam Size: 45mm diameter MM: Unknown |
However, this Little radiator emblem is a mystery, as it does not appear inside the Advance Circular announcing the Little Four, and I can find find no photos or illustrations of any Little Four roadsters or, indeed, any other Little cars showing a radiator emblem with this design. It is possible that this Little radiator emblem was used for the very first Little Four roadsters using the Whiting chassis but I cannot confirm this.
If you have details of the use of this Little radiator emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post.
The illustrations of the Little Four Roadster within the Advance Circular introducing the 1912 Little Four show a very different script style for the "Little" name, see the fuel tank script emblems shown below:
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| Little Four illustration showing fuel tank side script (1912) |
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| Little Four illustration showing fuel tank rear script (1912) |
This style of the "Little" script is seen more clearly on the fuel tanks on some of the restored surviving Little Four roadsters, see example photos shown below:
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| Little Four Roadster fuel tank scripts (1912) proxibid |
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| Little Four Roadster fuel tank side script (1912) conceptcarz |
This is the small brass Little script, which was originally nickel plated. Original "Little" scripts of this design are rare.
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| This is a Little Four fuel tank script (1912-1913) mjs Size: 100mm wide 65mm high |
This "Little" script is also shown on illustrations of the chassis and engine within the Advance Circular alongside an illustration showing the front of a Little Four with a relatively large diameter round radiator emblem, see below:
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| Little Four Advance Circular (1912) |
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| Little Four Advance Circular illustration showing rad emblem (1912) |
The detailed design of this large round Little Four radiator emblem cannot be seen from this illustration but is most likely to follow the "Little" script design shown on all the other illustrations in the Advance Circular and not the design shown on the Advance Circular cover sheet.
There are some restored 1912 Little Four Roadsters, which carry a large diameter radiator emblem with a design based on the Advance Circular cover illustration but these emblems are clearly reproduction emblems made as part of the restoration work, see example shown below:
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| Restored Little Four Roadster with large rad emblem (1912) proxibid |
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| Reproduction Little Four radiator emblem proxibid |
However, the majority of the surviving 1912 Little Four Roadsters carry a smaller diameter radiator emblem finished in red and white enamel, including the quite original example shown below:
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| Little Four Roadster showing radiator emblem (1912) mecum |
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| Little Four Roadster radiator emblem (1912) mecum |
This is the red and white enamel Little Four radiator emblem. This Little radiator emblem is rare.
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| This is a Little Four radiator emblem (1912-1913) sam Size: 45mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The following is a blue and red enamel color variation of this Little Four radiator emblem, which may have been a trial emblem. This Little emblem is believed to be original and is extremely rare.
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| This may be a trial Little radiator emblem (c1912) sam Size: 45mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The following red, white and black enamel variation of the Little radiator emblem has a shorter style of lettering for the "Little" name. This Little emblem is original and is also extremely rare:
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| This is a Little radiator emblem (c1912) kmc Size: 45mm diameter MM: Childs |
I can find no examples of Little Four roadsters made in 1912 showing an original larger diameter emblem as was shown in the 1912 Little Four Advance Circular shown earlier above.
However, the following restored 1913 Little Four roadster found in Australia does carry a large diameter radiator emblem:
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| Little Four Roadster with large diameter rad emblem (1913) couriermail |
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| Little Four radiator emblem (1913) couriermail Size: 62mm diameter MM: Unknown |
Alan Carpenter, the present (2023) owner of this Little Four, has provided detailed information based on research into Little Four production numbers, which shows that the Flint built Little Four reached 3000 units by end April 1913 when Flint production ceased, with a further 249 units assembled in New York City by the Republic Motor Company, comprising 100 units in April 1913, 100 units in May 1913 and the final 49 units in June 1913. The Little Four shown above has the engine number 3007, which strongly suggests that this Little Four was most likely assembled in New York City in April 1913 and exported to Australia.
The Little Four was being offered for sale in Australia up to about 1919, which suggests that a significant number of Little Four cars were exported to Australia before all Little Four sales ended. At least 40 Little Four cars were still registered in Australia in 1919, although details of the radiator emblems used on these cars are not known. However, at least two of the large blue and white enamel Little radiator emblems have been found in Australia and one other, see below, which now resides in the US, was found in Canada. These are the only examples known at this time.
The lack of any evidence of the use of this large diameter Little radiator emblem elsewhere in the US strongly suggests that this emblem was used on the final Little Four units assembled in New York City in the period April to June 1913 many of which may have been exported. This Little Four radiator emblem is extremely rare.
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| This is a Little Four radiator emblem (1913) tcc Size: 62mm diameter MM: Unknown |
If you have details of any other examples of this Little radiator emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post.
The same "Little" script style seen above was also used on the Little Four hubcaps, see example shown below:
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| Little Four Roadster hubcap (1912-1913) mecum |
Some surviving Little Four roadsters display a larger sized "Little" script mounted on the radiator core, see example shown below, although it is possible that these scripts were not original but may have been added later during restoration.
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| Little Four showing radiator script (1912) wiki |
The following relatively large "Little" radiator script with a different design has several fixing holes to allow the script to be securely attached to the radiator core:
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| This is a Little radiator script (c1912) mjs Size: 365mm wide |
The Republic Motor Company catalog for the Little Six, which was hurriedly introduced for the 1913 model year, shows a "Little" script design similar to the script shown on the cover of the 1912 Little Four Advance Circular, see Little Six catalog page shown below:
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| Little Six Catalog page (1913) ms |
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| Little Six Chassis showing "Little" script (1913) |
The Little Six catalog illustration of the front of the Little Six shows this same "Little" script logo in the form of a small script emblem mounted on the top of the radiator shell, see below. Original Little radiator script emblems with this design would be extremely rare.
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| Little Six showing radiator script emblem (1913) |
I can find no other illustrations or photos showing the radiator of the Little Six, so I cannot confirm if this radiator script emblem was ever used on the Little Six before it became the Chevrolet Light Six.
