ST LOUIS

St. Louis Motor Carriage Co. (1899-1905)

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis Motor Car Co. (1905-1907)

Peoria, Illinois

St Louis "Rigs That Run" decal   cccm
Size: c60mm

The St. Louis Motor Carriage Company was established by George Dorris and John L. French in 1898. George Dorris was the chief engineer. The company was successful from the start with production numbers of 130 cars built by 1900, 250 cars for 1902 to 1903, 230 cars in 1904 and 300 cars in 1905. 

The first St. Louis carriages were single-cylinder and two-cylinder tiller-steered, chain-driven vehicles. A 10 hp single-cylinder delivery van and a 25 hp two-cylinder bus were offered in 1901 only. Steering wheels appeared in 1902 and a 35 hp four-cylinder touring car model was introduced. Early St. Louis Carriage Company cars were advertised using the slogan "Rigs that Run".

The company was reorganized in 1905 as the St. Louis Motor Car Company and moved to a large new manufacturing plant in Peoria, Illinois. All Peoria built cars were four-cylinder shaft driven cars. 

However, George Dorris decided to remain in St. Louis and went on to build his own car called the Dorris (see Dorris). This was a serious blow to the St. Louis Motor Car Company. By mid-1907 the company was in serious financial trouble and it was all over by December of that year.

Emblems

Original period photos of some early St Louis cars show body side plaques, see examples below, but I am advised that these did not show a St Louis mark:

St Louis car (1899)   gdc

St Louis car George Dorris driving (1901)   wiki

From 1902, however, St Louis cars displayed the St Louis Carriage Company name and the "Rigs That Run" slogan on a colored decal on the sides of the body and on the front of the dash or the cowling above the radiator, see examples on original catalog and advertising illustrations and photos shown below:

St Louis Tonneau adv showing decals (1903)   gdc

St Louis Tonneau showing front & side decals (1903)

St Louis Carriage showing side decal (1903)   gdc

An original St Louis decal is preserved on the front and sides of the following surviving St Louis car from 1903:

St Louis car showing original decals (1903)  gdc

The original decal St Louis carriage is shown below:

Original St Louis body decal (c1902-1905)  gdc

A reproduction St Louis decal has been made for restoration projects, see below and the example used on a restoration shown above at the top of this post:

Reproduction St Louis decal  gdc

The St. Louis Carriage Company name was also displayed on the sill plate, as shown in the very rare example below:

This is a sill plate used on early St. Louis cars (c1903-1905)   mjs
Size: 290mm wide 45mm high

From 1905, the St. Louis did have a radiator, which was used to display a brass St. Louis script, see example below. Original St. Louis radiator scripts are very rare.

This is a St. Louis radiator script (c1906)   sam
Size: 360mm wide