BABCOCK ELECTRIC

Babcock Electric Carriage Co. (1906-1912)
Buffalo, New York

Babcock Electric radiator script (1910)    dpl
Size: Unknown

Frank A. Babcock had been building the Buffalo Electric car since 1901 at the Buffalo Electric Carriage Company plant in Buffalo, New York (see Buffalo Electric). 

In 1906, he took his electric car powered by batteries that he had made himself on a run from New York to Philadelphia on a single battery charge and claimed this as a world record. He then set up the Babcock Electric Carriage Company and used the Buffalo Electric Carriage Company plant to go into production with his Babcock Electric.

Babcock did not achieve the success he had hoped for and, in 1912, he teamed up with the Clark Motor Company and the Buffalo Automobile Station Company to form the Buffalo Electric Vehicle Company to build a new Buffalo Electric car.

Emblem

The Babcock Electric was offered in a wide range of body styles, including some models with hoods, but most did not have a false radiator, see example shown below in a 1907 advertisement:

Babcock Electric Model 6 ad (1907)    eBay

These Babcock Electric models did not carry an emblem but would have displayed the "Babcock" name on a small maker's serial plate attached to the body or on the dash. Later models also displayed the "Babcock" name on the hubcap, see example below:

This is a Babcock Electric hubcap   dkc

However, Babcock Electric did produce some models with a hood and a false radiator to appear more like a gasoline motor car, for example see the car on the left side in the following 1909 Babcock Electric trade show photo:

Babcock Electric cars at trade show (1909)   dpl

I can find no photos showing the front of this 1909 Babcock Electric, so I cannot confirm if an emblem was displayed.

However, some original photos from 1910 showing the Babcock Electric with a hood and false radiator are seen to display a very large "Babcock" script mounted on the radiator grille, see examples shown below:

Babcock Electric with radiator script (1910)  dpl

Babcock Electric with radiator script (1910)   dpl

It is possible that this large "Babcock" radiator script continued to be used on some Babcock Electric models through 1912 but I cannot confirm to confirm this.  

The following illustration from a 1911 Babcock Electric brochure shows the Model 16 touring car with a false radiator displaying a smaller and different "Babcock" radiator script, although the detail of the script is unclear:

Babcock Electric Model 16 (1911-1912) econogics 

Detail showing smaller radiator script