Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
OVERLAND-DUBUQUE COMPANY
OVERLAND-DUBUQUE COMPANY. In 1903 the Overland Automobile "runabout" was developed by Claude Cox, a graduate of Rose Polytechnic Institute, while he was employed by Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. It had a two-cylinder water-cooled engine mounted up front under a hood and was fitted with a two-way switch plug for change over to two dry batteries. The switch plug was removable so it could not be driven without it. In 1905, Standard Wheel allowed Cox to relocate the Overland Automobile Company to Indianapolis, Indiana, and he got a partner.
In 1908, the Overland Co. of Indianapolis had produced almost its entire 1907 production run of 47 cars and was out of cash. John North Willys arrived in town to look for the cars he had been promised, only to find that the company was to go into receivership the following Monday. He purchased the company, hired the best engineers, and took over production. The company in 1912 was renamed--Willys-Overland.
In the years following Willys’ rescue of the corporation and before America’s entry into the WORLD WAR I, Willys-Overland produced so many different models of automobile that, even today, historians are confused as to what was made, when and how many for, at one time. The company was producing no less than eleven different basic models. The 83B hearse, on the same chassis as the touring, had the entire rear part of the vehicle hand-carved to look as much as possible like one of the earlier horse-drawn hearses.
The Model 75 is actually a Model 75LH, or left-hand model, for the right-versus-left-drive controversy was not yet settled at the time it was built. The Model 75, at $850 one of the cheapest (and most durable) cars on the market, was the forerunner of the more common Model 90 Overland. Its black lacquer finish, rounded radiator shell, drop and axle were Overland characteristics of the period.
Overlands continued to be produced until 1926.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWquO6PwkEw Overland touring car
The 1916-1917 White's Dubuque County Directory listed the corner of Main and 3rd.
The 1918 Dubuque and East Dubuque City Directory listed 395-99 Main.
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Source:
Overland. mbautomuseum.com/Tour/Overland.htm
Overland. www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/americanautomobile
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