THOMAS-DETROIT

E R Thomas Detroit Co. (1906-1908)
Detroit, Michigan 

This is a Thomas-Detroit radiator emblem (1907-1908)  ckepc
Size: Unknown   MM: Unknown (prob None)

Erwin Ross Thomas was successfully building 50 hp four-cylinder Thomas cars in Buffalo, New York (see Thomas) but, in February 1906, he agreed to help finance Howard E Coffin and Roy Chaplin from the Olds Motor Works to produce a smaller but similarly high-quality 40 hp four-cylinder car in Detroit, initially to be called the Thomas Forty. The E. R. Thomas Detroit Company was set up in May 1906 and a site for a factory in Detroit was found in June 1906. 

The first Thomas Forty cars appeared in October 1906 and were well received. The Thomas Forty was built in Detroit but was marketed by Erwin Thomas in New York. By June 1907, Thomas had marketed 503 Thomas Forty cars, the largest number ever sold by any automobile company in the first year. Erwin Thomas then called for another 750 cars.

Thomas Flyer cars built in Buffalo had been extremely active and successful in auto contests, whereas the Thomas Forty cars built in Detroit took only a modest involvement in automobile contests before 1907. In June 1907, however, a Thomas Forty came 3rd in the 24 hour endurance race at the Michigan State Fairground and won the 24 hour endurance race in Chicago in the same month. Together, Thomas Flyer and Thomas Forty cars won 75% of all important contests of speed, hill climbing, reliability and endurance tests in 1907. 

In September 1907, it was announced that Thomas cars built in Detroit would be known as "Thomas Detroit" instead of Thomas Forty to avoid confusion with the Thomas Flyer built in Buffalo, New York. Interestingly, there was no hyphen in the name "Thomas Detroit" in the announcement, although advertisements and automobile press statements sometimes did use the name "Thomas-Detroit" with a hyphen.

Coffin and Chaplin were unhappy with the marketing and sales being controlled by Erwin Thomas and persuaded Hugh Chalmers of Detroit to buy a controlling interest in the E. R. Thomas Detroit Company. Hugh Chalmers became President of the company in December 1907. 

The Thomas Detroit was entered into and won many automobile contests in 1908. The New York Tribune in June 1908, for example, carried a Thomas Detroit advertisement listing the Thomas Detroit victories achieved during May 1908, including the Endurance Runs held in Detroit, Hartford, Kansas City, Baltimore-Hagerstown and Minneapolis, and the Cincinnati, Albany and Wilkesbarre Hill Climbs plus several more.

The Thomas-Detroit became the Chalmers-Detroit in June 1908 (see Chalmers-Detroit). A press announcement in July 1908 simply stated that henceforth the Thomas-Detroit Forty will be known as the Chalmers-Detroit Forty and that there was no change in company ownership or personnel.

Emblems

There are very few original period photos of Thomas-Detroit cars showing the radiator before mid-1908 when the Thomas-Detroit became the Chalmers-Detroit. The many fine period photos taken at the Savannah Grand Prize Races in October 1908 labeled as Thomas-Detroit are in fact Chalmers-Detroit race cars, even though they may have been entered as Thomas-Detroit cars.

The following examples, however, are believed to be 1907 Thomas-Detroit cars but show no sign of an emblem:

Thomas-Detroit Forty race car with no emblem (1907)  hcg

Thomas-Detroit Forty with no emblem (1907)   dpl

It is possible that the "Thomas Detroit" name was initially only displayed on a serial nameplate and on the hubcaps, see examples shown below:

Thomas-Detroit Model C serial nameplate (1907)  tomlaferriere

This is a Thomas Detroit hubcap (1906-1908)  dkc

The following advertisement includes a photo of a possibly later 1907-built Thomas-Detroit Forty displaying an emblem. The photo was taken in February 1908 during a high speed endurance run:

Ad showing the Thomas-Detroit Forty Snow Bird (1908) prewarcar

The Thomas-Detroit Forty carried a round radiator emblem and a brass radiator script, see more detailed photo below. Original Thomas Forty radiator scripts with this design are extremely rare.

1907 Thomas Forty Snow Bird with radiator emblem & script (photo 1908)    ms

The following original period photo shows a 1908 Thomas-Detroit also carrying a round radiator emblem:

Thomas-Detroit showing radiator emblem (1908)  dpl

Detail showing round Thomas-Detroit radiator emblem (1908) 

The Thomas-Detroit radiator emblem was a round stamped brass, painted, see example shown above at the top of this post and again below. This emblem is believed to have been originally soldered to the radiator tank top, so any holes used for screws to mount this emblem on a display board are not original. This Thomas-Detroit radiator emblem is extremely rare.

This is a Thomas-Detroit radiator emblem (1907-1908)  ckepc
Size: Unknown   MM: Unknown (prob None)