Kirk Manufacturing Company (automobile company)

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Manufacturer	Kirk Manufacturing Company Company
Production	1905
Body style(s)	roadster
Engine(s)	V8
Curb weight	1400 lb (635 kg)

Kirk Manufacturing Company was a pioneer brass era American automobile company, built at 958 Oakwood Avenue, Toledo, Ohio,^[1] from 1902 until 1905.

A manufacturer of bicycles, in 1899 Kirk announced it would begin building cars.^[2] They introduced the Yale in 1902. Describing it as "the Beau Brummel of the road",^[3] it had the choice of two gasoline engine models: a two-cylinder 14 hp (10 kW) side-entrance tourer for US$1000 and a four-cylinder 24 hp (18 kW) for US$2500. This compared to US$650 for the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout,^[4] the $700 Ford Model S, US$1500 for the Colt Runabout^[5] and Cole 30,^[6] the US$1600 Oakland 40^[7] the FAL at US$1750,^[8] and the Enger 40^[9] and Ford Model F at $2,000. Even so, the Yale was well below even Lozier's lowest-price Light Six Metropolian tourer and runabout, at US$3,250,^[10] American's entry-level car, at US$4250 (its highest was US$5250),^[11] or the Lozier Big Six, starting at US$5,000.^[12]

[edit] Notes

^ Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.158.
^ Kimes, Beverly Rae. The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942 (Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1989), p.774.
^ Clymer, p.158.
^ Clymer, p.32.
^ Clymer, p.63.
^ Clymer, p.104.
^ Clymer, p.84.
^ Clymer, p.104.
^ Clymer, p.104.
^ Clymer, p.111.
^ Clymer, p.91.
^ Clymer, p.111.

[edit] Sources

Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925. New York: Bonanza Books, 1950.
Kimes, Beverly Rae. "Kirk", in The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942, p.774. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1989.