Rambler was an automobile brand name used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914
General
The first use of the name Rambler for an American made automobile dates to 1897 when Thomas B. Jeffery of Chicago, Illinois and builder of the Rambler bicycle, constructed his first prototype automobile.
After receiving positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National Automobile Show in New York City, Jeffery decided to enter the automobile business. In 1900, he bought the old Sterling Bicycle Co. factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and set up shop.
Jeffery started commercially mass-producing automobiles in 1902 and by the end of the year had produced 1,500 motorcars, one-sixth of all existing in the USA at the time. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company was the second largest auto manufacturer at that time, (behind Oldsmobile).
Rambler experimented such early technical innovations as a steering wheel (as opposed to a tiller), but it was decided that such features were too advanced for the motoring public of the day, so the first production Ramblers were tiller-steered. Rambler innovated various design features and was the first to equip cars with a spare wheel-and-tire assembly. This meant that the driver of a Rambler, when experiencing one of the all-too-common punctures could simply exchange the spare wheel & tire for the flat one.
In 1914, Charles T. Jeffery, Thomas B. Jeffery's son, replaced the Rambler brand name with Jeffery in honor of his now deceased father.
In 1916, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company was purchased by Charles W. Nash and became Nash Motors Company in 1917. The Jeffery brand name was dropped at the time of the sale and the manufacture of Nash branded automobiles commenced.
In 1937, the concern became the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation through a merger with the well-known appliance maker.
Early Registrations
- 1902 MBB-2 6 hp
- 1903 BS 8143 6.5 hp
- 1903 BS 8245 6 hp
- 1903 BS 8492 6.5 hp
- 1903 DS 6619 8.1 hp
- 1903 WU 47V 6 hp
- c1903 1DOX 119 6.5 hp
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia