Scripps-Booth


Scripps-Booth was a United States automobile company based in Detroit, Michigan, which produced motor vehicles from 1913 through 1923.

History

The company was founded by artist and engineer James Scripps Booth, who also built the Bi-Autogo. Scripps-Booth company produced vehicles intended for the luxury market. In 1916 they consolidated with the Sterling Motor Company to become the Scripps-Booth Corporation. By this time Scripps-Booth had been purchased by Chevrolet whose founder William C. Durant was also the founding president of Sterling Motor Company. General Motors discontinued the brand name in 1923.

Vehicles

The Vintage Chevrolet Club of America accepts the following Scripps-Booth models:
For 1914, Scripps-Booth offered a three-passenger torpedo roadster, powered by a 103in3 18 hp water-cooled four-cylinder of valve-in-head design with Zenith carburetor and Atwater-Kent automatic spark advance. It featured a 110 in wheelbase and 30×3½-inch Houk detachable wire wheels, with three speeds and shaft drive. With complete electrical equipment, from Bijur starter to ignition to headlights to Klaxet electric horn to pushbutton door locks, it sold for US$775, compared to US$700 for the Ford Model S, US$650 for the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout, Ford's Model T at $550, Western's Gale Model A at US$500, the Black starting as low as $375, and the Success at an amazingly low US$250.
The 1916-17 Model D was powered by an overhead valve V8 engine designed by Alanson Brush.

In popular culture

Before marrying the main character in John O'Hara's 1934 novel Appointment in Samarra, a youthful Caroline Walker drives a Scripps-Booth Model C Roadster. The car's unusual seating arrangement, in which "the driver sat a foot or so forward of the other seat, which made kissing an awkward act," is especially noted.