Car-Nation


The Car-Nation was a brand of automobile manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, by the American Voiturette Company from 1913 to 1914.
The Car-Nation roadster was an cyclecar costing $495. The vehicle had a four-cylinder Herreshoff "25" engine and a three-speed transmission.
Car-Nation also manufactured a larger four-seat Tourer model with a base price of $520. They also advertised a fore-and-aft tandem; it's not known if more than a few prototypes were produced. Two roadsters and five touring cars are known to survive.
In 1912, former Pope-Toledo manager Forrest Keeton moved his Keeton Towncar Works into a factory in Wyandotte, Michigan, a city south of Detroit on the shore of the Detroit River, and formed the Keeton Motor Company. He began construction of his first “French-like” car, the big Renault-influenced, air-cooled Keeton. It sold well enough to allow Keeton in 1913 to launch a second line of continental-influenced, low priced cars under a new name: Car-Nation. All that activity apparently attracted the attention of oil magnate Charles Schaeffer, and shortly after the introduction of the new car, the short-lived Car-Nation Motorette Co. and the existing Keeton Motor Co. unified under his ownership, reincorporating as the American Voiturette Company in Detroit.
Slow acceptance of the Car-Nation's nonstandard gauge and reported problems with the Herreshoff engines in the Car-Nation sent the company into receivership in 1914. At a public auction in February 1915, Forest Keeton appears to have bought the assets of the company, including 60 Keetons and 350 Car-Nations, along with machine tools and countless thousands of parts. But while he did supply repairs, he never again built a car.

Specifications (1913 Car-Nation roadster)

ENGINE

Type

Herreshoff cast-iron L-head straight-four, integral valves, cast-en-bloc
Displacement

Bore × stroke

x
Horsepower

18
Main bearings

2 nickel babbitt
Fuel system

Gravity, Zenith updraft carburetor, alloy intake manifold
Ignition system

6-volt, Splitdorf fixed-spark magneto
Lubrication system

Splash; plunger pump
Exhaust system

Single, iron
TRANSMISSION

Type

Three-speed Detroit Gear & Machine sliding gear, cone clutch
DIFFERENTIAL

Type

Weston-Mott semi-floating
STEERING

Type

Adjustable worm gear
BRAKES

Type

Rod-actuated manual
Front

None
Rear

1¼ x internal expanding emergency; external contracting service on transmission shaft
CHASSIS & BODY

Construction

Full-frame riveted 1/8-inch channel steel, 1x3 ash sills, composite body
Body style

One door, two-passenger roadster
Layout

Front engine, rear-wheel drive
SUSPENSION

Front

Quarter-elliptic leaf springs
Rear

Quarter-elliptic leaf springs
WHEELS & TIRES

Wheels

Detachable Detroit Stanweld wire
Front/rear

30 x 3 inches
WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Wheelbase

Overall length

Overall width

Overall height

; with top
Front track

Rear track

Shipping weight

CAPACITIES

Crankcase

3 quarts
Cooling system

8 quarts
Fuel tank

Transmission

8 pints
Rear axle

4 pints
CALCULATED DATA

bhp per c.i.d.

7.44
Weight per bhp

Weight per c.i.d.

PERFORMANCE

Top speed

Fuel mileage

PRODUCTION

Car-Nation, total est.

2,000