BARLEY

Barley Motor Car Co. (1922-1925)

Kalamazoo, Michigan

This is a Barley Six radiator emblem (1923-1924)      mjs
Size: 62mm wide 47mm high    MM: None

The Barley Motor Car Company had been manufacturing the Roamer car since 1916 (see Roamer) and in 1922 decided to build a new, medium-priced motor car to be called the Barley. Efforts were made to emphasize that the Barley was a separate make and not a model of the more prestigious and higher-priced Roamer. It was made to look quite different also. 

The Barley was a 50 hp six-cylinder automobile with touring and sedan models introduced in late 1922 and with sports sedan and touring sedan models appearing later for the 1923 model year.  There was also a Barley taxicab. 

But the Barley was not a success and the Barley name was dropped after 1924 and the cars became models of the Roamer contrary to the original intent. The Barley taxicab was renamed Pennant and was continued into 1925 (see Pennant).

Emblems

The Barley Six that appeared in 1922 had a distinctive radiator and carried a small metal radiator emblem, which was sometimes painted, see example below:

This is a Barley Six (1923)   gcm

This is a black and red painted Barley Six radiator emblem. This Barley Six radiator emblem is very rare.

This is a Barley Six radiator emblem (1922-1923)    gcm
Size: 44mm wide 32mm high     MM: Unknown

The larger Barley Six radiator emblem shown at the top of this post and again below replaced the previous Barley Six radiator emblem in 1923. This Barley Six radiator emblem is rare.

This is a Barley Six radiator emblem (1923-1924)   mjs
Size: 62mm wide 47mm high  MM: None

This Barley Six radiator emblem is seen on an original period photo of a 1923 Barley Six, see below:

Barley Six touring with larger radiator emblem (1923)  shorpy

This Barley Six radiator emblem also appears on an advertisement from May 1923, see below:

Barley Six advert (May 1923)   khc

Barley Six ad detail showing the emblem (May 1923)

This larger Barley Six radiator emblem may also have been used for the Barley taxi cab but I cannot confirm this.