BROOKS

Brooks Steam Motors Ltd.
Stratford, Ontario, Canada (1923-1928)
Buffalo, New York (1927)

This is a Brooks passenger car radiator emblem (1923-1928)  mjs
Size: 84mm wide 25mm high    MM: None

The American born Oland J. Brooks established his Brooks Steam Motors Limited business in Stratford, Ontario in Canada in 1923. The Brooks steam car became the most popular steam car in Canada and was second in popularity to the Stanley steam car in America in the 1920's. 

A Brooks prototype car was first introduced at the Toronto Exhibition in September 1923. It was planned to produce three models of steam cars, which had some similarity with the defunct Trask-Detroit steam car. In the event, only one Brooks model was produced. The chief engineer for the Brooks was Eric Delling, who based the Brooks power plant n the two-cylinder Stanley steam engine.

The Brooks passenger car had fabric bodies using a special material from the American Auto Trimming Company. This gave a durable light weight body, which could be styled as if they were metal bodies. The Brooks car was expensive and sales did not meet initial expectations.

A factory was acquired in Buffalo, New York in 1926 to produce steam buses and a few Brooks steam cars were also built there in 1927. Very few Brooks steam buses were  built. A prototype 29-passenger bus with an aluminum body was shown at a bus show in Cleveland, Ohio in 1927. In 1928, a second 39 passenger steam bus was introduced using a new generation of steam power technology. This bus was also shown just before the stock market crash in 1929. The Brooks steam vehicle business did not recover from the Depression.

Total production of Brooks steam cars is estimated between 180 and 300 units and only a handful of steam buses. 

Emblems

The Brooks passenger car carried a rectangular, black painted Brooks radiator emblem, see example shown above. This Brooks radiator emblem is rare. 

The "Brooks" name was also displayed on the hubcaps, see example hub emblem shown below:

This is a Brooks hub emblem (1923-1928)     sam
Size: 56mm high 50mm wide

Brooks steam bus advertisements in Canada included photos of Brooks buses, which show a very different Brooks radiator emblem, although the detail design of the emblem cannot be seen with clarity, see examples shown below:

Brooks bus chassis showing radiator emblem (1927)   vscm

Brooks steam bus ad with radiator emblem (1928) automotiveindustries

If you have a clearer photo of the Brooks bus radiator emblem, please let me know, in order to update this post.