TEXAN

Texas Motor Car Association (1918-1921)

Fort Worth, Texas

This is a Texan radiator emblem (1920-1922)     mjs
Size: 70mm high 65mm wide     MM: None

The Texas Motor Car Association was formed in December 1917 to build motor cars, trucks and tractors. It was a cooperative venture with stockholders limited to a maximum holding of $500.

The first Texan motor car advertised in 1918 was a modified Elcar. Production of the real Texan motor car was delayed by the First World War. The Texan appeared in 1920 and was a 35 hp four-cylinder assembled car, offered as a five-passenger touring or as a two-passenger roadster. Unfortunately, the Association was soon in serious financial difficulties and was in receivership by October 1920. An attempt was made by stockholders to reorganize the Association in 1921 but this failed. The Moco Monkey Grip Rubber Company bought the Fort Worth plant in April 1922 and offered the remaining Texan cars for sale at a large discount.

The total production of the Texan motor car was less than 200 units.

The Texan motor truck began production in small numbers in 1918. The first Texan trucks were the Model A-36 Light Delivery and Oil Field Special trucks. There was also a Texan Model TK 1-ton capacity truck. How many Texan trucks were built is unknown.

Emblem

The Texan logo was a star over a wheel, see below. This logo was used for the Texan motor car radiator emblem.

Texan logo

The following photo shows a surviving 1920 Texan displaying a radiator emblem:

Texan motor car (1920)       hometownbyhandlebar

This emblem is the blue and white enamel Texan radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post. This Texan radiator emblem is very rare.

The Texas Motor Car Association also built some motor trucks and tractors. I can find no photos of Texan trucks. However, the following Texas Motor Car Association advertisement from 1918 includes an illustration of a Texan truck: 

Texan Motor Car & Truck ad showing Texan truck (1918)   ebay

The illustration is small and does not show the front of the radiator but the truck does appear to carry the Texan logo on the side panel under the driver's seat, possibly in the form of a decal.

The following illustration of a 1-ton capacity Model TK Texan truck shows a star on the truck body side panel and a radiator emblem. The radiator emblem is not the same as the Texan motor car radiator emblem. It appears larger and more rectangular. If this is an accurate representation of the Texan truck radiator emblem, it may be a cast plate displaying the "Texan" name but I cannot confirm this. If you have better information regarding the nameplates used on Texan trucks, please let me know, in order to update this post.

Texan Model TK truck showing rad emblem & body side nameplate (1919)   mroz