WHARTON

Wharton Motors Co. (1922-1923)

Dallas, Texas

This is a Wharton radiator emblem (1922-1923)   sam
Size: 64mm wide 35mm high    MM: Unknown

The Wharton Motors Company was organized in 1920 by Thomas Wharton and a group of Dallas businessmen. with plans to manufacture motor trucks, tractors and automobiles. 

The Wharton motor car was announced as a 104 hp automobile powered by a Curtiss-OX-5 aero engine and was to be offered in seven body types. Lower cost four-cylinder and six-cylinder models were also announced by Wharton. In March 1922, Wharton Motors Company announced the start of production in Dallas and plans for an additional plant in Pennsylvania. However, the very limited production of the Wharton took place only in Dallas.  

Total production of the Wharton is not known and the Standard Catalog of American Cars suggests that Wharton production may have been limited to the only single OX-5 roadster known to have been built. However, Wharton newspaper advertisements, which include photos of Wharton motor cars, show at least four different models, the Wharton Eight De Luxe two-passenger roadster, the Wharton Eight four-passenger roadster, the Wharton Eight four-passenger sports and the Wharton De Luxe Twin Six. Some of these Wharton cars may have been prototype models.

 

In March 1924, some Wharton stockholders filed suit against the company and requested receivership. It was all over for the Wharton.

Emblems

I can find no photos of Wharton motor cars clearly showing the radiator but Wharton radiator emblems do exist. 

There is the rectangular gold, red and black enamel Wharton radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post. This Wharton radiator emblem is extremely rare.

There is also a round Wharton radiator emblem, see below. This Wharton radiator emblem is also extremely rare.

This is a Wharton radiator emblem (1922-1923)   chw
Size: 66mm diameter    MM: Unknown

The following Wharton nickel plated emblem has the same design as the Wharton radiator emblem shown immediately above but is smaller and fully plated. This Wharton emblem is believed to be a Wharton hub emblem and is also extremely rare:

This is a Wharton hub emblem (1922-1923)       mjs
Size: 54mm diameter     MM: Unknown

 
It is possible that the two very different Wharton radiator emblems shown above were used on different Wharton models or, perhaps, the rectangular emblem was changed to the round emblem for the production Wharton models, as the company details are more clearly seen.