CHALMERS-DETROIT

THE HISTORY OF CMC
CHALMERS MOTOR COMPANY-CHALMERS-DETROIT:

In 1907 Hugh Chalmers, the president of the National Cash Register Company, became a partner in a firm producing the Thomas-Detroit automobile. Within a year, Chalmers had bought half of E.R. Thomas's stock and became president of the company, which he renamed the Chalmers-Detroit Motor Company. Chalmers produced very popular cars, with production rates hitting 20,000 units in 1915, but by the 1920s the auto industry was facing financial difficulties due to over-expansion and recession. In 1922 Chalmers was taken over by Maxwell, a former competitor that had become a Chrysler subsidiary.
(The historical record is from the last site listed below on this page.
The Ford Musium in Detroit, Michigan has the Chalmers-Detroit on display.)

The seeds of Hudson Motor Car Company were sown at the turn of the century at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.  Events focused around the student boarding house of Howard Coffin's mother where the eventual founders of the company were friends and roommates.  Roscoe Jackson, Roy Chapin and Howard Coffin, prior to founding Hudson, first worked at the Olds Motor Works.  The Olds Motor Works is considered to be the company which launched the Michigan auto industry.  From Olds, the three friends, together with E. R. Thomas created the Thomas-Detroit car, which later became the Chalmers-Detroit car, after Hugh Chalmers purchased majority stock from E. R. Thomas.  After working together in 1909 to produce  Hudsons, Chalmers and Chapin in early 1910 announced that each company would go its separate way.  Thus  began the independent Hudson Motor Car Company with Roy Chapin as President, Howard Coffin as Vice-President and Roscoe Jackson as General Manager.  Chapin and Coffin became partners with purchasing agent, Fred Bezner.  The three partners were represented by the three sides of the company triangle emblem.  Another symbol of the famous triangle was that each point represented performance, service and value.  Joseph L. Hudson, the Hudson Department Store magnate, provided the funds for the startup of the Hudson Motor Car Company, as well as the Hudson name

<< 1904 - The Maxwell Runabout is introduced.   It was produced by the Maxwell-Briscoe Company which Jonathan Maxwell formed in 1903 with Benjamin Briscoe.  As their company grew, it merged with another to become the United States Motor Company.  Maxwell and Briscoe parted company in 1912, but Jonathan Maxwell continued to produce cars under the banner of his own Maxwell Motor Company.  Walter P. Chrysler joined the Maxwell Motor Company in 1921 and later became owner.  He continued using the Maxwell name until 1925, and then phased it out. For several years, what had been the Maxwell was called the Chrysler Four.  Then it became the Chrysler Plymouth.  Finally, it was called the Plymouth, a name which has survived to the present.

1909 -  The Chalmers Motor Company is founded. Chalmers was the creation of Hugh Chalmers, who bought the Thomas-Detroit car business in 1908 and re-christened it Chalmers-Detroit.

1917 - The Chalmers and Maxwell entities formed a business alliance during World War I.  With Maxwell production soaring, and Chalmers production sagging, an agreement was made to have Maxwell cars built in the Chalmers plant.  In return, Chalmers cars would be sold through Maxwell dealers.  The relationship didn't last long: Maxwell Chalmers Company split into warring factions in 1922, with Maxwell buying out Chalmers.  The last Chalmers vehicles were manufactured in 1923.
>>