This page is to be devoted to counting and documenting known MICHIGAN automobiles produced by the Michigan Buggy Company later known as the Michigan Motor Car Company (1911 through 1913).
Updated: 11-10-19
Craig & Janet Correll, Carlsbad CA -1912 Model K, Touring Serial #3531 K; Buda Engine #477567
Our car, #3531, Model K, 1912 — BEFORE restoration.
Loren & Louisa Cuthbert, Nipomo CA – 1911 Model H, Touring Serial #1001; Falls Engine #0211 (1784 F.M. Co.)
#1001, Model H, 1911
Michael & Nancy Howard, Kalamazoo MI – 1912 Model K, Touring Serial #3477; Buda Engine #470236 A
#3477, Model K, 1912
Bill & Marion McCleary – Ontario, Canada – 1912 Model K, Touring, Serial #3535
#3535, Model K 1912
Michael & Nancy Howard, Kalamazoo MI – 1913 Model R, Touring Serial #XXXX
#XXXX, Model R, 1913
Michael & Nancy Howard, Kalamazoo MI – PARTS ONLY – NOT A COMPLETE CAR – 1913 Model R? Chassis ONLY, Serial #5063, Body ONLY #5010, Buda Engine ONLY #???????
#5063, Model R, 1913 – Frame & parts
Gilmore Museum, Hickory Corners, MI, 1913 Model R, Serial #5881
#5881, Model R, 1913, Engine#: 16639
Ladd & Jeanette Henderson, Pacific City OR, 1913 Model R, Engine #477 2724F, Serial #XXXX
#XXXX, Model R, 1913, Engine#: 477 2724F
Where to find your car’s serial number and engine number:
Serial Number Location – click on photo to enlarge.
BUDA Engine Number Location – click on photo to enlarge.
We intend to add others to the list when we obtain verification from owners.
Please contact me at: craig.correll@gmail.com if you know of a car that should be added.
I have a keen interest in early Michigan cars. It’s great to see your progress on this project, but we are long overdue for an update.
I’m also super curious as to the status of a Michigan that made it all the way to England, as noted by the gentleman who commented on your blog post here:
https://michiganmotorcar.com/nuts-bolts-2/engine/
Best wishes.
Hello Al – I do not know how the Roger Missing MICHIGAN made it to England. I do know that Roger advertised the car for sale earlier this year (2019). We are currently dealing with PAINT for our car. I’ve done a test spray on one door of the car in a very nice olive green. We think that will be the color of the body & hood, with the fenders in black. Thanks, Craig
Hello again Craig,
Thank you so much for the update on your project. I love your plans on color choice, and I’m really excited to see the outcome. It is certain to be a star!
I nearly convinced my Father to invest in, and co-own with me, a 1913 Jackson, which was built in my hometown in Michigan and its namesake, just a couple miles from my old family home. We were close to a deal, but just couldn’t pull the trigger.
Keep up the terrific work! Will check back again.
Best wishes,
Al
Greetings Our names are Bill and Marion McCleary. We own a 1912 Model K Michigan. We live in Canada near Niagara Falls. Our Michigan is almost completely restored, running and appears to be a well built rugged car. It has a Budda engine. Its painted Michigan gold and sand, as one of the advertisement stated. Bill’s been working on it (as well as several other old cars) for the last ten years. Will you be at Hershey this year?
Wow! Great to hear from you. I’d very much like to have a picture (or several) of your car and to speak with you about your restoration project.
I’m sending this to you on email as well as posting on the website. Thanks!
Craig,
My name is Emmett Hood and I am replying to West Peterson’s Prest-O-Starter column in the latest issue of Antique Automobile.
In 1912 my grandfather, John Hood, while in New York on business visited the annual New York Automobile Show and purchased his first car a Great Western “Forty” five passenger “Fore-Door” open car equipped with an “automatic engine starter” which was delivered by rail to Pocatello, Idaho, his home. In later years the story told by my father was that the car’s starting system employed acetylene gas and that it was unreliable, that the system only became reliable once the engine was warm. I have a copy of the Great Western Automobile Company, Peru, Indiana’s sales literature for their 1912 cars and it repeatedly mentions that all of their cars are “equipped with automatic engine starter”. I believe that it is very likely that the Great Western’s starting system was the same Prest-O-Starter system as installed on 1912 Michigan cars.
Have you heard of other cars manufactures that employed the Prest-O -Starter system?
Very truly your,
Emmett Hood
rehood2@verizon.net
Phone: 908-464-6636
Thanks for your comments about another rare car that used the Prest-O-Starter. I am led to understand that the Prest-O-Starter was used on Crow Elkhart cars and perhaps Overlands. A contemporary magazine, “The Automobile” from January 4, 1912 lists the types (not brands) of self starters that were available on a list of American automobiles in early 1912. Nearly every listed brand of automobile is extinct. And the list does not include our MICHIGAN automobile. A copy of the list can be found on my web page entitled “Nuts & Bolts” under the pull down menu entitled “Starter (Acetylene)- Prest-O-Starter, Prest-O-Lite Company.” I only recognize Cadillac as a surviving brand. Cadillac introduced their electric starter as standard equipment in 1912. Thanks again for your comments.
Craig,
I enjoyed your excellent website on your nifty Michigan automobile – especially the info on the Prest-O-Starter.
I have a 1913 Buick Model 25 with that same system intact. Others have advised me to not use it (I never have). As the story goes, those little acetylene lines in time break, and when the system is activated the acetylene fills, not just the cylinders, but the entire engine compartment Pushing the start button then makes a rogue spark somewhere, causing the hood to be blown off the car!
I have photos of the system and other info if you would be interested.