1916 Detroit Electric Brougham Model 60 Type 16A
edited by David Barth, 26 February 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver,
Colorado.
Information is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Photos were taken in February 2009.
The Anderson Carriage Company began building carriages and buggies in Port Huron, Michigan, USA, in 1884, then moved to
Detroit, Michigan in 1895. In 1907 William C. Anderson moved his company into the automotive age. George M. Bacon designed
the first Detroit Electric.
In 1909 Anderson purchased the Elwell-Parker Company of Cleveland so that he could manufacture components for his
cars. In 1911 the firm was renamed the Anderson Electric Car Company.
Some of the features of the 1916 Detroit Electric car that were advertised in The Saturday Evening Post were:
- A higher capacity battery that provided greater mileage on one charge
- An improvement in the steering mechanism that eliminated vibration in the steering lever
- An electric motor so mechanically efficient that it rarely needed attention
The car also had:
- Fine-quality aluminum formed the body panels
- Battery hoods
- Fenders
- Window frames
- A one-piece roof pressed from a solid sheet of aluminum
- Houk wire wheels
- Perfection door window lifts
- Sashless side windows
- A Hanlon patented rain vision front window
The Detroit Electric appealed to women drivers and doctors who desired the dependability and easy starting that didn't
require hand-cranking the engine as with gasoline-powered cars. Some time after WWII, the electric car quietly
disappeared from the automotive scene.
