E-M-F Company

The EMF Company was an early American automobile manufacturer who produced 1909-1912. The company's name derives from the initials of its three founders ago: Barney Everitt, a wheelwright from Detroit, William Metzger, formerly of Cadillac active and Walter Flanders, Operations Manager at Henry Ford

Origins

Everitt

Byron F. "Barney " Everitt was born in 1872 in Ridgetown (Ontario) and learned the wagon construction in Chatham. In the early 1890s he worked for the Wagnerei Hugh Johnson in Detroit. In 1899 he opened his own business, filling orders from Ransom Olds and Henry Ford Ca. 1904 mounted of its first car, the Wayne. From 1909 to 1912 he turned automobiles in America under his own name.

Butcher

William E. Metzger was born 1868 in Peru ( Illinois). He was one of the first car sellers, buyers and resellers, and probably opened the first dealership in Detroit in the late 1890s. He was a key figure in the "Association of licensed automobile manufacturers " ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ) and organized his first car race in Grosse Pointe. In 1902 he was associated with the Northern Motor Car Company and also worked with Cadillac by gave them orders on the New York Automobile Show in January 1903.

Flanders

Walter E. Flanders was born 1871 in Rutland ( Vermont). He was a mechanic, learned at the Singer Corporation the repair and maintenance of sewing machines and then worked in the late 1890s at the Maschinenfabrik Thomas S. Walburn in Cleveland (Ohio ). This company got an order for 1,000 crankshafts by Henry Ford and managed to impress the client. In the early 1900s Flanders again worked together with Walburn, this time for Ford at the Ford Piquette plant corner Puiquette Street / Beaubien Street in Detroit. Flanders became manager in this work, where he also with two later vice president of Ford, Peter E. Martin and Charles E. Sorensen, worked. These two gentlemen followed by Flanders also at his post, when he suddenly announced on 21 April 1908. Flanders' specialty was the installation of rationalized production processes and methods in the work in which the engineers developed the Model T in late 1907, production of which began in 1908 and that probably led to the invention of the modern assembly line, when demand in 1910 increased enormously.

Survey

EMF put forth various models of their own design and agreed with Studebaker selling on their coach dealer network.

EMF vehicles were known for their poor quality. Scoffers said soon that EMF for " Every Morning Fix -it" ( Every morning a repair), "Every Mechanical Fault" ( Any type of error) or "Every Miss Fire" ( Any kind of misfires ) would. Disputes between the owners led to further problems.

Takeover

John M. Studebaker, who was dissatisfied with the lousy quality of the EMF - cars and the inadequacies of management, took over in 1910 company and factory. In order to limit the damage to their image, which was caused by EMF, Studebaker mechanic sent to any dissatisfied customers who exchanged the defective parts, what society 1 million U.S. $ cost. Until 1912 there was the name EMF, where the name Studebaker was always known in the automotive industry. From 1913, then replaced " Studebaker " dropped the name "EMF ".

Despite the problems EMF had its own, growing market. 1909 EMF was in fourth place ( with 7,960 vehicles produced ) of the U.S. automobile manufacturers and only Ford, Buick and Maxwell had to admit defeat. Cadillac took the fifth spot. 1910 built the company 15,020 automobiles and in turn took the fourth place behind Ford, Buick and Overland. In 1911 it was already the second place with 26 827 produced automobiles.

Trivia

Flanders also ran the short-lived Flanders Automobile Company, their automobiles, one and all were based on previous EMF constructions. The company Flanders was purchased by Maxwell, the newly emerged from the United States Motor Company in 1913.

The three original company owners, Everitt, Metzger and Flanders, founded in 1922 along with Eddie Rickenbacker Rickenbacker Motor Company, which existed until 1927.

On 20 June 2005, the former EMF work in the Piquette Street caught fire and burned in a few hours up to the foundation walls. The fire was so great that almost, would have affected the well-known Ford plant, where the first Model T was born.