Ben Hur (automobile)

The Ben Hur Touring Car from McClure's Automobile Yearbook 1917-18.

The Ben-Hur Motor Company was incorporated 1916 in the state of Delaware, with the cars being built by L. L. Allen in Willoughby, Ohio.

Features

• Chassis with a wheelbase of 126 inches
• Buda six cylinder engine with splash and forced feed oiling system
• Bosch high-tension ignition magneto
• Westinghouse separate motor for starting
• Disc clutch and selective sliding gear set with three speeds forward and reverse
• 19 gallon gasoline tank is mounted on rear with a two-gallon reserve tank
• Timken axles are used in front and rear with wire wheels on which 35x4 tires are mounted.^[1]

Prices

• Five and seven-passenger touring - $1875
• Seven-passenger Sedan - $2750
• Four-passenger Roadster - $1875^[2]

Ben-Hur exhibited a cloverleaf roadster at the 1917 New York Auto Show.^[3] In February 1918 Allen announced that between 30 and 40 cars had been shipped to dealers, and that plans called for five to ten cars a week for the time being, owing to the difficulty in securing bodies. The company had a factory with a capacity of building 20 cars per day. A meeting was scheduled in March to increase capitalisation, but by May 1918 the company was in receivership.^[4]

Notes

1. Automobile Journal, Volume 42. 1916.
2. Automobile year book. McClure's Magazine, Automobile Dept. 1917.
3. "Auto Show Breaks Records For Sales". New York Times. January 13, 1917. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
4. Kimes, Beverly Rae (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805-1942. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 1612. ISBN 0-87341-428-4.

External links

• 1917 seven-passenger touring car