Some fun
 

Just for kicks lets name the American auto manufacturers that failed without a government bailout.

Packard
Peerless
Marmon
Dusenberg
Graham
Stutz
Kaiser
Frazer
Durant
Cord
Auburn
Stanley
Knight
Nash
Rambler
Studebaker
Hudson
Tucker
Doble
White
Franklin

When I was a teenager I used to hang out at an old machine shop. One day a man brought a car in for some parts fabrication. He built 6 of them before he gave up. For the life of me I can't remember the name, but it was a work of art. Pre WW1 manufacturer, with even the wood spoked wheels hand pin striped.

regards
gary

AMC
Desoto
La Salle

Imperial
Edsel
Oldsmobile
Reo
Pontiac

Or you could go to Wikipedia, look up the list of defunct American car manufacturers, and come up with the following - and this is just the ones that start with A!

* ABC (1906-1910)
* ABC (1922)
* Abbott-Detroit (1909-1916; Abbott 1917-1918)[1]
* Able (1917-1919)
* Ace (1920-1922)
* Acme (1903-1911)
* Adams-Farwell (1899-1912)
* Adelphia (1920)
* Adria (1921-1922)
* Advance (1908)[2]
* AEC (Anger) (1913-1915)[3]
* Aerocar (1905-1908)
* Aero Car (1921)
* Aerocar (1946)
* Aero-Type (Victor Page model)[4]
* Ahrens-Fox (1913)
* Airscoot (1947)
* Airway (1949-1950)
* Ajax (1914-1915)
* Ajax (1920-1921)
* Ajax (1925-1926)
* Ajax Electric (1901-1903)[5]
* Akron (1899-1901)[4]
* Alamobile (1913)[4]
* Aland (1916-1917)
* Albany (1907-1908)
* Albatross (1939)
* ALCO (1909-1913)[4]
* Alden-Sampson (1904, 1911)
* Aldo (1910-1911)
* Alena Steam Car (1922)
* All-Steel (1915-1916)
* Allen (1913-1922)
* Allen (1913-1914)
* Allen Kingston (1907-1910)
* Allis-Chalmers (before 1919)
* Allstate (1952-1953)
* Alma Steam (1938)[4]
* Alpena (1910-1914)
* Alsace (1920-1921)
* Alter (1914-1917)
* Altha Electric (1905)[4]
* Altham (1896-1899)
* Altman (1901)
* Aluminum (1920-1922)
* Amalgamated (1917-1919)
* Ambassador (1921-1925)[4]
* Amco (1917-1922)
* America (1911)
* American (1899)[4]
* American (1902-1903)[4]
* American (1903-1905)[6]
* American (1906-1914)
* American (1911-1912)[4]
* American (1914)[4]
* American (aka American (Balanced) Six) (1917-1924)[4]
* American Austin (1929-1934; American Bantam 1938-1941)[4]
* American Beauty (1918-1920) (see Pan-American)[7]
* American Berliet (1906-1908)
* American Chocolate (1903-1906)
* American De Dion (1900-1901)
* American Electric (1896-1902)
* American Electric (1913-1914)
* American Fiat (1910-1918)
* American Gas (1902-1904)
* American Junior (1916-1920)
* American Juvenile Electric (1907)
* American Locomotive (1906-1913)
* American Mercedes (1904-1907)
* American Mors (1906-1909)[4]
* American Motors aka AMC (1966-1987)
* American Napier (1904-1912)
* American Populaire (1904-1905)
* American Power Carriage (1899-1900)[4]
* American Simplex (1906-1910; Amplex 1910-1913)
* American Steam Car (1924-1931)
* American Steamer (1922-1924)
* American Tri-Car (1912)
* American Underslung (1905-1914)
* American Waltham (1898-1899)
* American Wheelock[8]
* Ames (1910-1915)[9]
* Ams-Sterling (1917)[4]
* Anahuac (1922)
* Anchor Buggy (1910-1911)
* Anderson (1907-1910)
* Anderson (1916-1925)[4]
* Anger (see AEC)[10]
* Angus (see Fuller)[4]
* Anheuser-Busch (1905)[11]
* Anhut (1909-1910)
* Ann Arbor (1911-1912)
* Anna (1912)
* Ansted (1926-1927)
* Ansted-Lexington (1922)
* Anthony (1897)
* Anthony (1899-1900)[4]
* Apollo (1906-1907)
* Apollo (1962-1964)
* Appel (see Apple)[4]
* Apperson (1902-1926)
* Apple (1917-1918)
* Arabian (1915-1917)
* ArBenz (1911-1918)[4]
* Ardsley (1905-1906)
* Argo (1914-1916)
* Argo Electric (1912-1916)
* Argonne (1919-1920)
* Ariel (1905-1907)
* Aristos (see Mondex-Magic)[4]
* Armstrong Electric (1885-1902)
* Arrow Cyclecar (1914)
* Artzberger (1904)[12]
* Astra (1920)
* Atlantic (1912-1914)[4]
* Atlas (1906-1907)
* Atlas (1907-1911; Atlas-Knight 1912-1913)
* Auburn (1900-1936)
* Auburn (1912-1915)
* Aultman (1901)
* Aurora (1905-1906)[4]
* Aurora (1907-1909)
* Aurora (1957-1958)
* Austen (see Roper)[4]
* Austin (1901-1921)[13]
* Auto-Acetylene (1899)[4]
* Auto-Bug (1909-1910)[4]
* Auto Cub (1956)
* Autocar (1900-1912)
* Auto Cycle (1906-1907)[4]
* Auto Dynamic (1900-1902)[4]
* Autoette (1910-1913)
* Autoette (1948-1970)
* Auto Fore (see Automobile Fore Carriage)
* Automatic (1921)[4]
* Automobile Fore Carriage (1900)[14]
* Automobile Voiturette (see Gasmobile)[4]
* Automotor (1901-1904)[4]
* Auto Parts (see King-Remick)[15]
* Auto Tricar (1914)[4]
* Auto Two (see Buffalo)[4]
* Auto Vehicle (see Tourist)[4]
* Avery (1914)[4]

Sounds like it came from the carriage and coach builder side of the early market.

I think there were several areas of industry that early cars started from. There was the coach and carriage builders who built the larger enclosed cars with nice appointments, likely with whatever running gear they could source from elsewhere, leading to ponderous underpowered things. Then there were the engineers who had a good motor and built a car around it, often compromising significantly on practicality and ergonomics, and lacking suspension design experience they probably didn't handle the roads of the day very well. Then there were the steam engineering firms who likely overbuilt stuff and thus had expensive rugged chassis, which may or may not have got a good IC engine. Then there were the bicycle manufacturers who built lightweight cars that were probably quite "sporty" given the engines of the day. I think you can see these influences up into the 20's. They all sort of copied and learned from each other and the best of each approach melded into workable, practical cars. Probably the longest lasting example of the co-operation and cross fertilisation would be the more engineering orientated firms that produced a lot of chassis and then had coachbuilders do the bodywork.

Anheuser-Busch? Glad they didn't stick with cars.

Willys
Plymouth
Geo (all rebadged imports, but owned by GM. I'll count it)
Buick and Mercury (Oh, wait... they're stilll alive. Could've fooled me!)

Wow, that's quite a huge list!

A neighbor of mine used to have a Vim. And of course I'm partial to the Cunninghams...

-BC

The difference between your list and mine Sentra, was you used a computer and I used my memory.

Also the original post was about manufacturers that failed without govt assistance not models from manufacturers that are still here.

Also REO was Ranson E Olds who made the Oldsmobile.

Using your brain seems to be a lost art with a computer for a crutch,

regards
gary

??? What was the purpose of that comment, Gary. Did you forget to take your nice pill this morning?

I must have missed the part of your original post that contained the legal fine print about the list having to come from memory, and that said using reference material is a bad thing.

Pardon me.

??? Then why did you mention the Rambler brand and/or model that was manufactured by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company, the Nash Motors Company, and AMC, but was never a manufacturer?

REO was Ransom E. Olds, who didn't make Oldsmobiles after he founded REO Motor Car Company. REO also used the name Reo, and made Speed Wagons and other models. The owner of Olds Motor Works, Old's previous company, kept Olds from using his name in his proposed R. E. Olds Motor Car Company, so Olds used Reo. Olds Motor Works used the Olds automobile name, popularly called Oldsmobiles.

LOL