NORTHERN

Northern Manufacturing Co. (1902-1906)

Northern Motor Car Co. (1906-1908)

Detroit & Port Huron, Michigan

This is a Northern emblem (1906-1908)     mjs
Size: 51mm diameter   MM: None

The Northern Manufacturing Company was established in 1902 by Charles B King and Jonathan D Maxwell from the Olds Motor Works. The first Northern was a 5hp single-cylinder runabout of which 300 were sold in 1903. A twin followed in 1904 and a four in 1906. Jonathan Maxwell left in 1904 to build his own car and all future engineering was left to Charles King.

The company was reorganized in 1906 as the Northern Motor Car Company and a second plant was opened in Port Huron in 1907. In June 1908 Northern merged with the Wayne Automobile Company. Charles King left to build his own car (see King) and E-M-F took over both Northern and Wayne. The Northern was discontinued in December 1908.

Emblems

It is unlikely the the first Northern vehicles built by the Northern Manufacturing Company carried radiator emblems but this is just possible for the four-cylinder Type K Northern built in 1906, although I have never seen such an emblem.

The photo shown below is of a 1905 Northern and is seen to carry a "Northern" script on the front dash panel. It is not known if this script is original but it is likely that early models of the Northern did display a similar brass radiator script.

This is a Northern carrying a script on the dash (1905)  autofocus.ca

The vehicles built by the Northern Manufacturing Company did display their name on a maker's nameplate and serial plate attached to the dash board, see example below. This Northern nameplate is very rare.

This is a Northern maker's nameplate and serial plate (c1904-1906)     sam
Size: Unknown

The Northern built by the Northern Motor Car Company did carry an emblem, see example shown above at the top of this post. This Northern emblem is a hub emblem but it may also have been used as a radiator emblem, although I cannot confirm this. This Northern emblem is rare.