Carl Spoerer's Sons Co. (1908-1914)
Baltimore, Maryland
 |
| This is a Spoerer radiator script (c1908-1914) mjs Size: 393mm wide |
The first Spoerer car was built in 1907 and was introduced at the Baltimore Automobile Show in 1908. Full scale production of the Spoerer began in late 1909 for the 1910 model year. A Spoerer took part in the 1909 Munsey Reliability Run and finished seventh out of a field of forty entrants.
The Spoerer was a big car and was initially offered in a variety of 40 hp four-cylinder models with a smaller 25/27 hp companion model available from 1911. A delivery wagon model was introduced in 1912.
Advertising by Carl Spoerer Sons Company peaked in 1910 and then fell sharply. Advertising after 1911 was mainly for tires and other accessories. There were financial problems and the Spoerer car was finished by 1914.
Emblem
The "Spoerer" name was displayed by a brass script attached across the radiator core, certainly from 1909, see original Munsey Reliability Run photo shown below, and most likely from the outset in 1908.
 |
| Spoerer car in the Munsey Reliability Run with rad script (1909) dpl |
This is the brass Spoerer radiator script shown above at the top of this post. This Spoerer radiator script is extremely rare.
There are very few photos or illustrations showing the front of Spoerer cars after 1909, but those that do exist do not show any radiator emblem and advertisements only show the "Spoerer" radiator script, see examples shown below:
There appears to be an emphasis on the local market in later Spoerer advertising, see example below:
It is most likely that the Spoerer did not sell well outside the local Baltimore area and the Spoerer car remained essentially unchanged from 1911/1912 to the end in 1914.
 |
| Spoerer ad showing rad script (1910) the washington times |
 |
| Spoerer Model 40C chassis with no emblem (1911) digitalmaryland |
There appears to be an emphasis on the local market in later Spoerer advertising, see example below:
 |
| Spoerer ad showing script (1911) the evening sun |
It is most likely that the Spoerer did not sell well outside the local Baltimore area and the Spoerer car remained essentially unchanged from 1911/1912 to the end in 1914.
It appears most likely that the Spoerer did not carry an emblem but retained the "Spoerer" radiator script throughout.
No comments:
Post a Comment