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Automotive history: The Paige Touring Car

First, let us define what a touring car is. According to several dictionaries it is an early type of large open automobile that would seat from four to seven people. It was designed for touring and often had a top that would fold down. It was popular in the 1910s and 1920s.


The subject of this article is the Paige touring car that was produced by the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company from 1909 to 1927. The source for much of this article is A Brief History of the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company by Bill Roberts.


No story of the Paige Touring Car would be complete without mention of the two men who started the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company. The man whose name is on the car was Frederick Osgood Paige, born in 1863, and grew up in Detroit. He helped organize the Reliance Motor Car Company which was later sold to General Motors. He continued to design and build a small passenger car.


The other man responsible for the Paige car was Harry Mulford Jewett born in 1870 in Elmira, New York. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Notre Dame he worked in Chicago and Detroit. He became wealthy enough through mining ventures to invest in the car business. He met Fred Paige who had developed a unique automobile he was trying to promote.


Paige became the head of the Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company and the first car, a roadster, was produced in 1909. This car was unique for that time because it had a two-stroke, three-cylinder 25 Horse Power engine. It was priced at $800 including side lamps but it was an extra $75 to add headlights and a top.


Jewett did not think that Paige was delivering to customers a reliable, well-built automobile which he had insisted upon from the first so Jewett took over the company in 1910. It was temporarily shut down and later reopened with Jewett at the head. He changed the name of the car from Paige-Detroit to just Paige.


In 1911 two touring car models were introduced which were given stylish names such as Pinehurst and Beverley. Standard equipment included windshields and tops. The Pinehurst had detachable rear seats and sold for $900. Later in 1912 a five-passenger touring car, the Brunswick, was added at a price of $1,000.


Self-starters were used in the cars produced in the latter part of 1912. They also began using a cork-insert, multiple-disc clutch enclosed in the flywheel and running in oil. In 1913 a 'left-side' drive, electric starting, electric lighting and 'center control' were all


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Automotive history: The Paige Touring Car

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    by Annalou Mack

    First, let us define what a touring car is. According to several dictionaries it is an early type of large open automobile

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