Kirk Manufacturing Company


Kirk Manufacturing Company was a pioneer brass era American automobile company, built at 958 Oakwood Avenue, Toledo, Ohio, from 1902 until 1905.
A manufacturer of bicycles, in 1899 Kirk announced it would begin building cars. They introduced the Yale in 1902. Describing it as "the Beau Brummel of the road", it had the choice of two gasoline engine models: a two-cylinder 14 hp side-entrance tourer for US$1000 and a four-cylinder 24 hp for US$2500. This compared to US$650 for the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout, the $700 Ford Model S, US$1500 for the Colt Runabout and Cole 30, the US$1600 Oakland 40 the FAL at US$1750, and the Enger 40 and Ford Model F at $2,000. Even so, the Yale was well below even Lozier's lowest-price Light Six Metropolitan tourer and runabout, at US$3,250, American's entry-level car, at US$4250, or the Lozier Big Six, starting at US$5,000.