1919 Grant Six Touring G Series, 5-passenger, 4-door
Original cost: $1,220.00
Previous owner: Car came from an owner in Canada; Bernie and Janice Taulborg Collection
Number made: 10,000 (all models)
Engine, etc.: 6 cyl.; L-head; 180.2 cid; 22 hp; 114 in. wheelbase
Grant Motor Company: Detroit, Mich. (1913), Findlay and Cleveland, Ohio (1913 – 1922)
Production began in December, 1913. By April, 1914, the company was turning out 25 – 30 cars per day.
Manufacturing began with a four cylinder, 12 hp, water-cooled engine; a shaft drive; a sliding gear transmission; and full elliptic springs in front, with semi-elliptic in the rear. It was priced at $495.
A six-cylinder was added in 1915. Manufacturing output doubled to 40 cars per day. The company began advertising in the Saturday Evening Post among others, to tout the Grant Car and cars were being shipped to California, New York and England. It cost $910 to ship six cars via Wells Fargo to Los Angeles, California.
By 1915 over 200 men were employed and the company planned to turn out 10,000 cars during 1916.
By 1916 the Grant was making six-cylinder cars only. The engine was the smallest of any six so far produced in the U. S. The car weighed less than many four-cylinder cars, carried five passengers, was provided with electric lighting, starting, and other features such as a one-man top, for $795,the lowest price of any six-cylinder so far produced.
Grant Motors closed their Findlay office in 1916 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio.
Production increased to a peak of 21,000 in 1919. The postwar depression then hit and production in 1920 fell to 5,400.
Parts inventory, ordered in anticipation of a postwar boom, continued to flow into the factory but orders for cars plummeted.
Finally, there were no financial resources left and the Grant factory in Cleveland was sold in 1923 and the company dissolved.
Sources: Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805 -1942. Beverly Rae Kimes, et al. 3rd ed. Krause Publications, 1996.
https://www.conceptcarz.com/z26303/grant-model-m.aspx (1914 Model M)
https://socialfindlay.com/grant-motor-company/ (Brief information; pictures missing.)
https://www.oocities.org/grantmotor/1913-16_Grant_Six.html#16grant (Page is old but has basic information.)
