DREXEL

Drexel Motor Car Corp. (1916-1917)

Chicago, Illinois

This is a Drexel radiator emblem (1916-1917)      mjs
Size: 56mm wide 50mm high     MM: Unknown

Albert J Farmer began to produce his 20 hp four-cylinder Farmack automobile in 1915. The following year some Chicago businessmen decided to invest in the venture but they did not like the name, so the company was reorganised as the Drexel Motor Car Corporation and the car became the Drexel.  

The first Drexel offered was a five-seat touring car using a 41 hp overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine designed by Farmer. Farmer also planned to introduce a seven-passenger touring car with a new Farmer four-cylinder engine developing 63 hp and a four-passenger club roadster model. 

Farmer was a brilliant engineer but not such a good businessman. In the spring of 1917 Farmer was forced to resign. At about the same time two of the banks that had helped finance Drexel failed and by mid-1917 the Drexel company was bankrupt. 

Production numbers for the Drexel are unknown but would have been very low. Beverly Rae Kimes suggests that probably no more than pilot models of the new Drexel car had actually been built.

Emblems

The original red, white and blue enamel Drexel radiator emblem shown above is extremely rare.

The following Drexel advertisement from 1917 shows the Drexel trademark in different colors:

Drexel ad showing trademark (1917)  ebay

Emblem collectors should beware as there are reproduction Drexel radiator emblems. The following example has blue enamel behind the "Drexel" name:

This is a reproduction Drexel emblem

The metal Drexel emblem shown below is a hub emblem, which appears to have been used on one of the few Drexel cars made and is also extremely rare.

This is a Drexel hub emblem (1916-1917)     mjs
Size: 42mm diameter