BUCKMOBILE

Utica Automobile Co. (1902)

Buckmobile Co. (1902-1904)

Black Diamond Automobile Co. (1904-1905)

Utica, New York

This is a Buckmobile nameplate (c1902-1905) gsc
Size: 76mm wide 48mm high

Albert J Seaton had the idea of the Buckboard, which was then designed by William H Birdsall in 1901. 

The first Buckmobile cars were made in 1902 and were advertised by the Utica Automobile Company, which was an automobile dealership, see the Buckmobile advertisement shown below:

Buckmobile advert (1902)  ms

Plans to develop the Buckboard grew and with finance provided by A Vedder Bower, the Buckboard Company was incorporated in June 1902 to succeed the Utica Automobile Company. Albert Seaton was the Buckboard Company president and William Birdsall the general manager.

The Buckmobile was a small 15 hp two-cylinder, two-seat runabout, which could be had with either water or air cooling. The Buckmobile was introduced at the New York Automobile Show in January 1903 and was such a great success, that the company immediately decided to expand their production facilities to double their output. This was a bad mistake. The company overextended themselves financially, the anticipated flood of orders did not materialize and the company never recovered.

The name "BUCKMOBILE" was registered as a trademark in March 1903 and it was claimed that the name had been used since May 3, 1902.

In October 1904, the Buckmobile Company merged with the Black Diamond Automobile Company, which continued to manufacture the Buckmobile for a while but it was all over by August 1905.

Total production of the Buckmobile was only about 40 cars.

Emblems 

There are believed to be only three surviving Buckmobile cars and two of these carry a brass "Buckmobile" nameplate, see the 1904 example shown below which displays a brass "Buckmobile" nameplate on the front of the wooden firewall just above the hood:

1904 Buckmobile touring car with a nameplate (1904)  gsc

Close up showing Buckboard nameplate (1904)    gsc

It is known that this Buckboard nameplate was on this car long before any restoration work took place and is believed to be original.

The same Buckmoile nameplate is attached to the rear deck of another 1904 Buckmobile now residing at the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Alaska:

Buckmobile (1904)   fountainhead museum

Buckmobile nameplate (1904)  fountainhead museum

This is the painted brass Buckmobile nameplate shown above at the top of this post and again below, This Buckmobile nameplate is extremely rare.

This is believed to be a Buckmobile nameplate (c1902-1905) gsc
Size: 76mm wide 48mm high 

The following restored, surviving 1904 Buckmobile runabout displays a chassis serial number plate on the side of the body:

 

Buckboard runabout showing chassis serial plate (1904) rmsothebys

This Buckmobile chassis serial plate does not show the name of the car or the manufacturer simply the chassis number "244", see below:

Close up showing Buckboard chassis serial plate (1904)  bonhams

Elsewhere on this Buckmobile, the number "34" is chiseled into the wooden frame in Roman numerals, see photo below. This may indicate that this was the thirty-fourth Buckmobile built but I cannot confirm this.

Buckmobile "34" chisel mark (1904)   bonhams

This particular surviving Buckmobile no longer carries a "Buckmobile" nameplate but holes in the wooden firewall may indicate where the nameplate was once located:

Close up showing where a nameplate may have been located