April 29, 2021

HOLMES

Holmes Automobile Co. (1918-1923)
Canton, Ohio


This is a Holmes radiator emblem (1920-1922)     mjs
Size: 136mm wide 44mm high   MM:    

Arthur Holmes had been a vice-president and chief engineer at the H. H. Franklin Company, so he was experienced in the design and production of air-cooled automobiles. 

The Holmes was a 30 hp six-cylinder air-cooled automobile advertised as "the world's only full-sized air-cooled car" and as "America's most comfortable car". It was comfortable because of its longer wheelbase, flexible chassis and full-elliptical springs, but it was initially also an ugly looking car. From the front, with its louvred grille and horizontal slats, it was said to resemble a caterpillar's head. Later models had a more conventional radiator grille.

Annual production never met company expectations and the company was in receivership by 1922. Attempts to reorganize failed and the Holmes was finished by 1923.

Emblems

The first Holmes Series A carried a large nickel plated radiator emblem, see photo shown below of a surviving 1919 Holmes:

Holmes Series A showing large radiator emblem (1919)  conceptcarz

Close-up showing radiator emblem (1919)

I do not have a closer photo of this first Holmes radiator emblem. If you have a better photo of this radiator emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post. This Holmes radiator emblem is extremely rare.

Later Holmes models carried the black enamel Holmes radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Holmes radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Holmes radiator emblem (c1920-1922)   mjs
Size: 136mm wide 44mm high   MM:

There was a change in radiator emblem for 1922 when the Holmes company entered receivership. This new emblem has less detail in the wings in the emblem design, see the black enamel Holmes radiator emblem shown below. This Holmes radiator emblem is extremely rare.

This is a Holmes Series 4 radiator emblem (1922-1923)  cam
Size: Unknown    MM: Unknown

The following shows the Holmes hubcap and hub emblem:

This is a Holmes hubcap (1922)    cam

The following shows the Holmes hub emblem, which is vey rare:

This is a Holmes hub emblem (1918-1923)     mjs
Size: 44mm diameter    MM: Unknown







 




No comments:

Post a Comment