Topic: NTM #56 - Find the connection: namesake makes with American cyclecars (solved by Wendax)

[ftg3plus4]

Starting this with the Experts...

Here are examples of 13 makes, most of them well-known (and with a couple of shameless re-posts included). No points will be given for identifying the makes (though, of course, you'll need to know what at least some of them are). Your task, for a point, is to find the very specific common ground between them. (Note that a strong hint may be found in one or more of my previous group puzzles.)

1 of 2:

[ftg3plus4]

2 of 2:

[Otto Puzzell]

Very cool!

[ftg3plus4]

No action in Expert-land. Time to toss this to the Pros.

[Otto Puzzell]

Of those I can identify, each has in common either it's manufacturer or model designation, with an aircraft manufacturer or type designation. 


#1   American Bantam / Micro Aviation Bantam
       
#3   Columbia Record run car from 1904 / Columbia Aircraft
#4   Lincoln Continetal Mk II / Fairey Swordfish Mk2
#5   1948 Davis Divan / Davis Aircraft D1K/W 
#6   Dodge D11 Luxury Liner 4-Door Sedan 1939 / Jodel D11 aircraft
   
#10   Mercury S-55 / Savoia-Marchetti S.55
      
#12   Standard Ensign / Armstrong Whitworth Ensign

[ftg3plus4]

Interesting guess there, but keep in mind that I'm not clever or knowledgeable enough to come up with something like that. The connection between makes is simpler (think about what kinds of things my group puzzles tend to concern themselves with), although the full answer does call for some particular knowledge of automobile history.

Makes identified so far:

 1 - Bantam
 3 - Columbia
 4 - Continental  (was a separate make from Lincoln at this point)
 5 - Davis
 6 - Dodge
10 - Mercury
12 - Standard

[Wendax]

The connection between those marques is that to all of the companies whose cars are shown above existed another American company that used the same marque and existed only in 1914. I can prove it at least for the already identified ones as well as for #2 which is a 1924 Cleveland and for #7 which is a Falcon 515. The 1914-only companies are:

 1 - Bantam: Bantam Motor Co, Boston, Mass.
 2 - Cleveland: Cleveland Cyclecar Co., Cleveland, Ohio
 3 - Columbia: American Cyclecar Company, Seattle, Washington, which built a Columbia
 4 - Continental: Continental Engine Manufacturing Co, Minneapolis, Minn.
 5 - Davis: Davis Cyclecar Company, Detroit, Mich.
 6 - Dodge: A.M.Dodge Co., Detroit, Mich.
 7 - Falcon: Falcon Cyclecar Co., Cleveland, Ohio
10 - Mercury: Mercury Cyclecar Company, Detroit, Mich.
12 - Standard: Standard >Engineering Co., Chicago, Ill.

[ftg3plus4]

You are so VERY close. The 1914-only makes you've named are all relevant to the connection, but that's not quite it. Not every one of the missing makes fits the 1914-only connection, but they do fit the other, very closely-related connection that I'm looking for.

Locked for you for 24 hours.

[Wendax]

To complete the list:
#8 ?
#9 shows a 1923 Liberty Six and there was the Belmont Auto Mfg Co, New Haven, Conn. which built a cyclecar called Liberty in 1914.
#11 ?
#13 shows a 1913 White 30 hp and there was a White Manufacturing Co, Waterloo, Iowa, which built a cyclecar in 1914.

I had noticed that the Dodge namesake built their cars from 1914 to 1915. 

Is the connection that the namesake companies all built cyclecars around 1914?

[ftg3plus4]

That's it -- each of the namesake makes were short-lived ones from the American cyclecar boom of 1913-14.

The other makes were:

8 - Imp
11 - Puritan

Well done!