Shawmut Motor Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 1907 Shawmut Motor Car advertisement | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Phelps Motor Vehicle Company |
| Founded | 1905 |
| Founder | Elliott C. Lee, president |
| Defunct | 1909 |
| Fate | ceased production due to factory fire |
| Headquarters | Stoneham, Massachusetts, offices in Boston, Massachusetts, |
Key people | Elliott C. Lee, president and Horace G. Waite, manager |
| Products | automobiles |
Production output | unknown (1906-1908) |
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The Shawmut Motor Company was organized in Stoneham, Massachusetts in 1905 to succeed the Phelps automobile. The Shawmut was manufactured from 1906 to 1908, when the factory was destroyed by fire. The company was headquartered in Boston. A 1908 Shawmut Roundabout was the winner of the 1909 Ocean to Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest.
The Shawmut Motor Company was organized in November, 1905 to succeed the Phelps Motor Vehicle Company.[1] Elliott C. Lee, past president of the American Automobile Association, was announced as president of Shawmut. L. J. Phelps had designed a 4-cylinder engine before retiring to California in 1905.[2] For 1906, the first Shawmut was the Model 6, a luxury automobile with a four-cylinder 40-hp touring car body costing $4,750, equivalent to $170,208 in 2025.[3] The new Shawmut was introduced in March 1906 at the Boston Automobile Show, and December at the New York Show.[3][4]
From 1907, a less expensive Roundabout (short wheelbase touring car with no doors) model was produced for $3,500, equivalent to $120,937 in 2025. For 1907 Shawmuts were designated Models A, B, C and D, representing roadster, touring, limousine and landaulet body styles, priced from $4,750 to $6,500, equivalent to $224,598 in 2025.[2] All body styles were made with sheet aluminum by Boston's premier coachbuilder, Chauncy Thomas & Company.[5][6]
In 1908 Shawmut engaged the Hol-Tan Company as their New York agency, with the intention to market cars as Hol-Tan Shawmut.[7]
On November 13, 1908 the Shawmut factory in Stoneham was destroyed by fire. Twenty cars of which 10 were finished were in the buildings. The loss of several buildings, manufacturing equipment and cars was judged to be $115,000. Shawmut was carrying $42,000 in Insurance.[8][9]
In December 1908, the Shawmut Motor Company scouted Reading, Massachusetts for a factory site and in February 1909 scouted Fitchburg before finally settling on a new factory location in South Boston in April. Shawmut could not raise the capital needed to re-start production and were closed by November 1909.[10]
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