The Chandler Motor Car Company

A Brief History!

The Chandler Motor Car Company was incorporated in January 1913, with Frederick C Chandler as President. The factory to be in Cleveland, Ohio. Frederick Chandler was a former designer for the Lozier Motor Company a top end luxury automobile manufacturer. ( Lozier succumbed to bankruptcy in February 1914 folding in 1918. ) Chandler concentrated on producing good quality motor cars within the price range to suit middle class Americans. Of all the initial employees (many ex Lozier), all but two had ties to the bicycle industry and all had laboured several years in the automobile trade. • 1913; Factory construction started in

April. Car number 1 a Model 14 straight six was used for months as the factory runabout picking up parts for the purchasing department. Driven between Ohio,

Michigan and Pennsylvania averaging 150 to 200 miles per day it soon had recorded 20,000 miles. By July 30th the factory had opened, and the Model 14 was selling for $1,785 fully equipped. In 1913 - 550 cars were produced and sold with orders for more piling up. • 1914-1916; Production focused on Touring

Cars however there were three more body styles, Roadster, Four Passenger Coupe, and

Limousine.

Standard colours were a Blue Body with

Black Wheels, Hood and Fenders. The 1915

Roadster broke the tradition with and Ivory / Cream version.

At a stockholders meeting in February 1914 it was announced the company had a backlog of orders amounting to $2,500,000 ensuring that the factory would run at capacity until June 30th. In the 1914 Swedish Reliability Test a Chandler travelled over 800 miles of storm wrecked roads that were deemed impassable. It was the only American made automobile to finish with out a breakdown. By May

Chandler were shipping 60 cars per day and company shares were selling at $350.00 each. Chandler now being a $10 million company. • 1917-1918; War Years: Still producing five

Models ranging from $1,395 to $2,695.

Distributer orders for $30 million were signed, exclusive of foreign sales. In early 1918 Chandler contracted to the US

Army to produce 10-ton Military Crawler

Tractors, a $10 million contract. Tractors were built under the Holt patents who via the Best Tractor Company went onto to become the Caterpillar brand we know today. • 1919-1922; In February 1919 the Cleveland

Automobile Company was formed to produce smaller and cheaper cars, this was headed by Chandler officials.

They later fully merged to become

Chandler-Cleveland Motors with Cleveland as a nameplate being dropped in the summer of 1926.

Chandler continued with six body styles in 1920 increasing to seven styles with the two-seater roadster in 1921.

In 1922 more colours were introduced, along with the Royal Dispatch model. Prices were reduced by up to $300 over the range.

As the post war recession was a thing of the past Chandler decided to exhibit at the

London Motor Car Show. • 1923-24; The year started with a lavish three day convention for distributors and dealers from across the nation, one special train alone bringing 70 representatives from

Philadelphia.

The “Pikes Peak” engine was introduced after months of testing on Pikes Peak mountain. All 1923 cars would be powered by this engine billed as; “The Engine Built to Master a Mountain”.

Chandler had Ralph Munford a renowned race car driver and engineer as their mountain testing driver.

Late 1923 saw the promotion of the

“Chandler Traffic Transmission” a constantmesh gearbox this was several years before

General Motors offered the Synchro-Mesh.

Chandler displayed eight models at the New

York and Chicago Shows. The 1924 Adverts list 13 Model options all with ‘’Traffic

Transmission”. • 1925-1926; Intensive promotion had

Chandler saying they were ahead of their competition mechanically; with features such as, Balloon Tires, Traffic Transmission,

Pikes Peak engine, Four-wheel brakes, cowl lights, Zerk pressure chassis lubrication, new headlights and carburettor all being noted. Nine models featured in 1925

Adverts.

The new Vision and Ventilation windshield was introduced, the driver could now raise or lower the windshield a few inches with a central crank handle. ( old fashioned air conditioning ? ).

A Chandler on September 7th, 1925 set a new record for the Pikes Peak hill climb.

The Bowen ‘’One Shot” automatic chassis oiler was introduced in 1926. A step on a plunger at the driver’s left heel and your car was lubricated. • 1927; Now fully merged with Cleveland found them producing 26 different models on four different chassis. The company was struggling to maintain profitability.

In January the new Royal Eight was introduced, an inline eight which produced 80 horsepower at 3,000 rpm and reported to do 75 miles per hour. The Royal Eight had five passenger styles.

As the 1927 model year ended Chandler was making many cars but no money. This was Chandlers peak manufacturing year with sales of 20,000 cars. • 1928; the line-up initially consisted of twenty-three body styles in three series; the Royal Eight, Big Six and new Royal Six.

Prices ranged from $945.00 to $2,195.00. 1928 Ads show – Chandler the first

American Car to offer Westinghouse

Vacuum Brakes.

By 1928 Chandler were shipping 15% of cars manufactured to foreign countries.

Cars were being shipped to 103 countries.

As the 1929 Model production started in

August 1928 Chandler was barely staying solvent. The Model 65 De Luxe Sedan with all its opulence was sold for $995.00 and Chandler was running at a loss. The production of 26 Models many with

Spanish hand buffed leather or Blue / Grey

Mohair upholstery was the bring Chandler to an end.

Fred C. Chandler being the astute businessman that he was, listened carefully when DuBois Young the President of the Hupp Motor Car Corporation made overtures to purchase Chandler.

On Friday, November 22nd it was confirmed that Hupp had purchased

Chandler. Hupp purchased Chandler for its factories and extensive dealer network.

Fred had made the best decision for the

Company as Hupp were to struggle in the

Great Depression eleven months later, only to last until the mid-1930’s. - Author: John Lees (HBVCC - Acknowledgement: James Lackey

The Chandler Automobile