Briscoe (automotive company)

The Briscoe was an American automobile manufactured at Jackson, Michigan, by a group headed by Benjamin Briscoe.

A few months after his departure from the United States Motor Company in 1913, Benjamin Briscoe established a manufacturing plant at Billancourt, France to design and manufacture the first automobile in France built by American methods. The business was called Briscoe Freres; Billancourt was the home of Renault.

In 1915, Briscoe offered what he called "The First French Car at an American Price." Briscoe claimed that the auto had been designed by a French design studio. It featured a single headlamp in the front, faired into the radiator shell. The auto was priced at US$750.00 but this price did not include a top, windshield, or starter.

The company also produced the Argo, the Hackett, and the Lorraine.

Benjamin Briscoe (May 1867–26 June 1945) was born in Detroit, Michigan and was an automobile pioneer and industrialist.

Briscoe entered business for himself at age of 18 with capital of $472, organizing the firm of Benjamin Briscoe & Co. to manufacture sheet-metal stampings. This later became part of the American Can Company. He then invented a machine for the production of corrugated pipe for the Briscoe and Detroit Galvanizing Works, later the Briscoe Manufacturing Company.

In 1901, the automobile industry was in its infancy when Briscoe helped finance David Buick's first car. He was later president of the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company that manufactured the Maxwell automobile. This was probably his greatest success in the industry. The company was backed by J. P. Morgan & Co. and Richard Irvin & Co., but in the panic of 1907, Briscoe had the first of many bad experience with bankers and was forced to do his own financing.

Mr. Briscoe conceived the idea of consolidating the four largest automobile manufacturers—Ford Motor Company, Buick, REO and Maxwell-Briscoe—into one company. His negotiations with William C. Durant, Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds failed, so he proceeded to organize his own corporation along the broad lines he envisaged resulting in the United States Motor Company.

...
Wikipedia