Anderson Carriage Co. (1907-1910)
Anderson Electric Car Co. (1911-1919)
Detroit Electric Car Co. (1919-1933)
Detroit Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Co. (1933-1939)
Detroit, Michigan
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| This is a Detroit Electric wood wheel hub emblem (1911-1918) mjs Size: 48mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The Anderson Manufacturing Company was established in Port Huron, Michigan in 1874 and moved to Detroit, becoming the Anderson Carriage Company in 1895. In 1906 Anderson moved into the automotive field with the introduction of the Detroit Electric, an urban electric motor car with an advertised 80 miles range on a single battery charge. In 1909 Anderson bought the Elwell-Parker Company of Cleveland, which had supplied electric motors to Baker Electric, Babcock/Buffalo, Columbus and others, so Anderson was then able to build all the significant components of the Detroit Electric, except the later rear axles.
Production of the Detroit Electric grew year by year from 1907 and reached 744 in 1910. In 1911, the company was renamed the Anderson Electric Car Company. Some Detroit Electric models in the 1910-1912 period were given false hoods and radiators to make them look like conventional gasoline cars, although most models retained their distinctive electric car appearance. Detroit Electric production continued to grow and reached about 1,800 by 1914.
Beginning in 1915, the Anderson Electric Car Company had a program to buy back some of their earlier cars and "re-manufacture" them with changes to modernize them. These re-manufactured cars were sold as new but some kept their old serial numbers. After 1926, all Detroit Electric vehicles were re-manufactured cars on earlier chassis and rarely had new parts
Electric car sales fell after the spread of the electric starter and was crippled by the shift to a war economy in 1917 but the Detroit Electric remained in production. Some later Detroit Electric passenger car models were again redesigned to look like contemporary gasoline cars with a false hood and radiator.
In 1919, the company split into separate parts, with Ewell-Parker returning to independence, the factory campus becoming a coach builder, the electric car business moving to a smaller factory and being renamed the Detroit Electric Car Company.
Commercial vehicles were built from 1910, starting with a 1-ton truck with a single Elwell-Parker electric motor and side-chain drive. The range of trucks grew to a 2-ton vehicle by 1916, after which the Detroit Electric truck line was discontinued.
In 1924, George Bacon, the Detroit Electric chief engineer, developed an electric powered delivery vehicle with four alternative driving positions; at the front, at the rear, and on either running-board, but Detroit Electric did not want to produce it. Bacon left Detroit Electric and with other investors set up the Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company to develop a gasoline engine version of this delivery vehicle to be called the Divco (see Divco).
After the Great Depression in 1930, sales fell sharply and production was eventually limited to an individual-order basis. Detroit Electric cars became identical to gasoline cars in appearance, some using Willys-Overland coachwork. Some of the final Detroit Electric models in the later 1930's used Dodge hoods and radiator grilles.
America's most famous and longest-lived electric car, the Detroit Electric, quietly disappeared from the automotive field after 1939.
Emblems
The Detroit Electric had a distinctive logo that was shown in Detroit Electric advertisements from 1909, see logo shown below:
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| The Detroit Electric Logo |
Some, but not all, early Detroit Electric vehicles displayed the "Detroit Electric" name using a brass script mounted on the radiator core, see the following original photo of a line of Detroit Electric cars from about 1910 with one car carrying a radiator script:
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| Line of Detroit Electric cars one with a rad script (c1910) dpl |
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| Detail showing a Detroit Electric with rad script (c1910) |
The following original period photo from 1911 shows a Detroit Electric carrying a smaller "Detroit Electric" script on the radiator tank top:
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| Detroit Electric showing radiator script emblem (1911) dpl |
However, for most of its life, the Detroit Electric did not carry an emblem on the body of the vehicle but did display the "Detroit" name on the hubcaps, the step plates and the cast aluminum running boards and on a small maker's nameplate/serial plate attached to the body or on the dash. The following show some examples used by the Anderson Carriage Company:
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| This is a Detroit Electric Model D hubcap (1910) bonhams |
This is the originally black background painted, metal Detroit Electric hub emblem shown below. This Detroit Electric hub emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Detroit Electric hub emblem (1907-1910) mjs Size: 51mm diameter MM: Unknown |
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| This is a Detroit Electric Model D step plate (1910) bonhams |
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| This is a Detroit Electric Model D serial plate (1910) bonhams |
From about 1910 to 1912, some Detroit Electric models had a false hood and radiator to make the car appear more conventional but they did not carry a radiator emblem, see Detroit Electric sales brochure illustration shown below:
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| Detroit Electric Model 31 dhc |
The following photo from Canada shows a restored 1912 Detroit Electric. The car displays the "Detroit Electric" logo on a brass script mounted on a false radiator. This Detroit Electric logo style radiator script is not seen on original period photos but is seen on several restored Detroit Electric cars and has most likely been produced specially for the restoration and for display at auto shows.
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| Detroit Electric showing a radiator script (1912) vancouver electric vehicle association |
From 1911, the Detroit Electric company name changed to the Anderson Electric Car Company, which appeared on the hub emblems, sill plates, step plates, running boards and nameplates, see examples shown below.
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| This is a Detroit Electric wood wheel hub emblem (1911-1918) mjs Size: 48mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The following are Detroit Electric wire wheel hub emblems. These Detroit Electric hub emblems are scarce.
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| This is a Detroit Electric wire wheel hub emblem (1914-1917) ghc Size: 56mm diameter MM: None |
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| This is a Detroit Electric wire wheel hub emblem (1918-1919) mjs Size: 56mm diameter MM: None |
The following is an Anderson Electric Car Company Detroit Electric sill plate:
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| This is a Detroit Electric sill plate (c1916) mjs Size: 307mm wide 26mm high |
The following is a Detroit Electric step plate:
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| This is a Detroit Electric step plate (c1918) mjs Size: 210mm wide 103mm high |
The following is a Detroit Electric nameplate/serial plate:
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| This is a Detroit Electric nameplate/serial plate (c1918) mjs Size: 89mm wide 25mm high |
The following is a Detroit Electric patent plate. This Detroit Electric patent pale is rare.
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| This is a Detroit Electric patent plate (c1916) mjs Size: 66mm wide 33mm high |
The company name was changed to the Detroit Electric Car Company in 1919 and the Detroit Electric hub emblem was changed to the design shown below. Originally, the Detroit Electric hub emblem had the letters and borders finished in polished nickel on a dull black background. This Detroit Electric hub emblem appears to have been superseded later in 1919 but reappeared in the later 1920's. This Detroit Electric hub emblem is scarce.
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| This is a Detroit Electric hub emblem (1919) mjs Size: 50mm diameter MM: None |
In 1919, some Detroit Electric models were given a false hood and Fiat style radiator and carried a radiator emblem, as shown on the following Detroit Electric brochure cover and newspaper advertisement:
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| Detroit Electric brochure (c1919) historicnewengland |
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| Detroit Electric ad with rad emblem (1919) ld |
The following detail taken from a production drawing shows the Detroit Electric Fiat style radiator and emblem mounted under a shaped recess in the top of the radiator:
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| Detail drawing showing Fiat style radiator & emblem (1919) dhc |
This Detroit Electric emblem arrangement is clearly seen on the following photos of a restored Detroit Electric Model 82A from 1921:
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| Detroit Electric Model 82A (1921) hyman |
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| Detroit Electric radiator emblem mounted in radiator recess (1921) hyman |
This Detroit Electric radiator emblem originally had polished nickel letters and borders in a dull black background, see worn example shown below. This Detroit Electric emblem is rare.
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| This is a Detroit Electric radiator emblem (1919-c1925; 1930) sam Size: 34mm diameter MM: Unknown |
The same emblem was also used as the hub emblem, see example shown below:
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| This is a Detroit Electric hub emblem (c1920) ms |
The "Detroit Electric" name was also displayed on the running board and the sill plates where fitted, see examples shown below:
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| Detroit Electric Model 82A running board (1921) hyman |
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| Detroit Electric sill plate (1926) rmsothebys |
The Detroit Electric radiator emblem seen from 1919 to about 1925 reappeared in 1930, see the Detroit Electric factory photo of the 1930 Model 99 "A" and a surviving 1931 Model 99 showing the radiator emblem:
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| Detroit Electric Model 99 "A" with rad emblem (1930) ghc |
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| Detroit Electric Model 99 Coupe showing radiator emblem (1931) sportscarmarket |
This is the same Detroit Electric radiator emblem used on the Fiat style radiator in 1919 as shown earlier above.
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| Detroit Electric radiator emblem (1930) ghc Size: 34mm diameter (emblem only) MM: Unknown |
Detroit Electric models in the later 1930's did not carry a radiator emblem but continued to display the "Detroit Electric" name on the hub emblems, which were re-used from earlier cars. The surviving 1937 Detroit Electric example shown below, for example, uses hubcaps taken from an earlier Detroit Electric car:
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| Detroit Electric Model 99 without a radiator emblem (1937) rmsothebys |
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| Detroit Electric hub emblem taken from an earlier car rmsothebys |
I am grateful to Galen Handy, who holds the residual assets of the Anderson/Detroit Electric car company, and Ted Panofsky for their most helpful advice regarding Detroit Electric cars and their emblems. Any error in my interpretation of this advice is entirely down to me.
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