VICTOR

Victor Automobile Manufacturing Co. (1905-1910)

Victor Motor Car Co. (1911)

St. Louis, Missouri

This is a Victor automobile radiator script (c1911)   cbc
Size: 231mm wide 71mm high

The first Victor automobiles were high-wheeler motor buggies powered by a 6 hp single-cylinder water cooled engine. In 1909, the Victor was offered as a series of 14/20 hp two-cylinder air-cooled models in runabout, touring and light delivery body styles with the option of solid or pneumatic tires.

By 1911, the company had been reorganized as the Victor Motor Car Company and the Victor had grown to a 40 hp four-cylinder model offered in runabout and touring body styles. However, the company failed later in 1911.

Emblem

The early Victor high-wheeler buggy models did not have a radiator on which to carry an emblem but they did display the Victor name on a  small combined maker's nameplate/serial plate attached to the body or under the driver's seat, see example shown below. This Victor nameplate is very rare.

This is a Victor nameplate/serial plate (c1906)    jtc
Size:78mm wide 20mm high

The air-cooled Victor models introduced in 1908 had a hood and a false radiator and displayed a large brass "Victor" radiator script attached to the radiator grille, as seen in the following original photo of a 1909 Model C Runabout:

Victor Model C Runabout showing radiator script (1909)   william l bailey

The following rare, surviving 14/20 hp air-cooled two-cylinder Victor Model C Runabout also from 1909 on display at the Northeast Classic Car Museum carries a large brass "Victor" script mounted on the radiator:

Victor Model C Runabout with radiator script (1909)  albert mach

This Victor Runabout has been restored, so I cannot confirm if the radiator script is original but it is clearly closely similar to the script seen in the original 1909 photo. Original "Victor" radiator scripts with this design would be extremely rare.

The brass "Victor" radiator script, shown above at the top of this post and again below, is certainly original and is quite different from the radiator script on the 1909 Model C Runabout shown above. It is inscribed "St. Louis" and is clearly intended for the St. Louis built Victor motor car. 

This is a Victor automobile radiator script (poss 1911)   cbc
Size: 231mm wide 71mm high

Close-up showing the "St. Louis" mark 

This Victor radiator script may be from the 1911 Victor Model 4-40 but I cannot confirm this. This Victor radiator script is very rare.