VAN

Van Automobile Co. (1905-1906)
St. Louis, Missouri

This is a Van maker's serial plate (c1906)    mjs
Size: 89mm wide 28mm high

The Van Automobile Company was organized in St. Louis in 1905 for the manufacture of motor cars but details of the Van automobile are not available. The Standard Catalog of American cars doubts that any automobiles were actually built.

Emblem

There is no evidence of a Van emblem, although this is not surprising for 1905-1906, when cars of this period often only displayed the company name on a small maker's nameplate.

The small cast metal Van nameplate/serial plate shown above at the top of this post indicates some activity by the Van Automobile Company. This Van nameplate/serial plate is very rare. 

However, it appears that by 1907 the Van Automobile Company was acting as a dealership, see Cleveland car advertisement shown below: 

Cleveland car ad by Van Automobile Co.(1907)  st louis post-dispatch

Whether the Van Automobile Company built a Van prototype before deciding to become a motor car dealership may never be known.