The Trumbull was the most successful of the crop of American cyclecars that flourished in the years 1912 to 1916. The design originated in Detroit, where it was made by the American Cyclecar Co, but in the summer of 1913 the Connecticut Electric Manufacturing Co of Bridgeport absorbed the Detroit company and increased capital stock from $100,000 to $500,000. The name was changed to the American Cyclecar Co of Bridgeport, and the car was renamed Trumbull after company president Alexander H Trumbull, born in 1878. His brother, Isaac B Trumbull, was company secretary and treasurer.
The Trumbull had a 1.7 litre 4-cylinder engine made by the Hermann Engineering Co of Detroit, whose designer KL Hermann was also on the Trumbull board. Transmission was by friction disc and final drive by chain on the first 300 cars, but afterwards by a conventional three-speed gearbox and shaft drive. Bodies were mostly open two-seaters, although coupes (pictured below) and delivery vans were also offered. These bodies were made by Hale & Kilburn of Philadelphia. The open two-seater cost $425, rather more than the average American cyclecar which sold at between $300 and $400. However, the Trumbull purchaser got more car for his money, without the crudities of belt drive, tandem seating or two-cylinder engine. Even so, the Trumbull sold much better in export markets, and of the 2,000 built not more than 500 found buyers in the United States. The rest went to Europe or Australia, which took about 400 cars.
Early in 1915 the company name was changed to the Trumbull Motor Car Co. In May, Isaac Trumbull was on his way to London on the Lusitania with 20 cars when the ship was torpedoed, and Trumbull and the cars were lost, together with 117 other Americans. It seems that Isaac had become the driving force behind the company, and without his leadership the other directors decided to close the Trumbull Motor Car Co in June 1915. It would probably not have lasted much longer anyway, as the vogue for cyclecars in America had disappeared by 1915. Alexander H Trumbull died in 1959.
Credit: Graham Clayton