WELCH

Chelsea Manufacturing Co. (1903-1904)
Chelsea, Michigan
Welch Motor Car Co. (1905-1911)
Pontiac, Michigan

This is a Welch hub emblem (c1905-1908)    mjs
Size: 48mm diameter

A R Welch and his brother Fred Welch built their first automobile in 1901. The car was very advanced at the time and was first shown at the Chicago Automobile Show in 1903. The Welch Tourist car was a 20 hp two-cylinder automobile offered in runabout and tonneau body styles. Finance was a problem and the company was bankrupt in 1904.

A R Welch moved to Pontiac and reorganized as the Welch Motor Car Company with new financial support. The new Welch offered in 1905 was a 30/36 hp four-cylinder automobile offered in a variety of body styles. In 1908 a 70 hp six-cylinder model was added to the line. The Welch was amongst the best built and most luxurious motor cars of the period. The Welch Motor Car Company was bought by General Motors in 1910 and the last Welch cars were built by General Motors in 1911.

Emblems

The first Welch cars built in Chelsea, Michigan are unlikely to have carried an emblem but may well have displayed the Welch name on a small nameplate or serial plate attached to the rear of the vehicle or under the driver's seat.

Welch articles and advertisements from 1905 and 1906 show that the car still did not carry an emblem but did display the company name impressed or engraved on the brass panel at the bottom of the radiator, see examples shown below:

Welch illustration with inscription at bottom of radiator (1905) country life

Welch ad with rad bottom inscription (1906) catj

This Welch Motor Car Company inscription may have continued into 1907, see original photo shown below:

Welch showing company name at bottom of rad (c1907) dpl

Close up showing radiator inscription (c1907)

By 1907, original photos of Welch automobiles show a brass "Welch" script mounted on the radiator core, see examples shown below: 

Welch touring car displaying radiator script (1907)  dpl

The Welch radiator script continued in use at least through 1909, see original 1909 photo shown below, and possibly until the end of production, although I cannot conform this. 

Welch touring car displaying radiator script (1909)  dpl

The following photo shows a brass Welch radiator script displayed on a surviving 1908 Welch Model 4-L. Original Welch radiator scripts are very rare. 

This is a Welch radiator script (1908)    bonhams

I can find no photos or illustrations of Welch cars from 1910 or 1911 showing the front of the radiator after the take over by General Motors. If you have details of any Welch emblems used after 1909, please let me know, in order to update this post. 

The "Welch" name was also displayed on brass sill plates, see example shown below:

This is a Welch sill plate (1908)   bonhams

The following Welch "emblem" has clearly been cut from a Welch sill plate:

Emblem cut from a Welch sill plate     alt

The "Welch" name was also displayed on the hubcaps. There are some different hubcap designs, see examples shown below:

This is a Welch hubcap (dates uncertain c1905-1908)   dkc

The same Welch hub emblem, which was either pinned or soldered to the hubcap, is shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Welch hub emblem is rare.

This is a Welch hub emblem (c1905-1908)    mjs
Size: 48mm diameter

The following hubcap displays a variation on the hub emblem:

This is a Welch hubcap (c1905-1908)    dkc

The following Welch hubcap has a different hub emblem design with the "Welch" name in the style of the Welch radiator script shown earlier above:

This is a Welch hubcap (dates uncertain c1908-1911)  dkc

The following is an example of a similar Welch hub emblem to that seen above. This Welch hub emblem is rare.

This is a Welch hub emblem (c1908-1911)    glc
Size: 50mm diameter