Talk:Excelsior Motor Manufacturing & Supply Company

Latest comment: 7 years ago by 144.183.224.2 in topic Missing info

Regarding the company name

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The manufacturer of the Excelsior Auto-Cycle upon the beginning of series production in 1907 was the Excelsior Supply Company. Ignaz Schwinn bought the company in 1912 and renamed it the Excelsior Motor Manufacturing and Supply Company, and continued his motorcycle activities under this name until he ceased them all in 1931.

I propose that this article cover all Excelsior motorcycles made from 1907 to 1931, with a section titled either "Origins" or "Excelsior Supply Company" dealing with the Excelsior Supply Company and the Excelsior Auto-Cycle that they manufactured. Redirects to this article would include "Excelsior Supply Company" and "Excelsior Auto-Cycle".

Discussion of pros, cons, and counter-proposals is welcome. Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 16:59, 14 April 2010 (UTC)Reply

Missing info

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Like the prior suggestion - regarding the company name, I believe that the article could be improved, (mainly be removing the restrictive view points of Schwinn and/or motorcycles).

The article could be improved by including a history section, to indicate that the Excelsior Supply Company began in 1876 in Chicago (81 Jackson Street) by George Robie. Mr. Robie's business consisted entirely of Sewing Machines (sound familiar?). The Excelsior Company became the largest factor in bicycle sundries and bicycles in the United States. (1903 Motor Magazine).

In 1910, the Excelsior Supply Company and the Excelsior Motor & Mfg Co (which helped drain the supply company's resources) went bankrupt. "The original business of the Excelsior Supply Co was the sale of sewing machine supplies, not the machines themselves, which attained huge proportions; to it were successively added the manufacture of bicycles and motorcycles and the jobbing of bicycle and automobile accessories, and in each respective field the company has been a factor to be reckoned with at all times. Last year(1909), under the style the Excelsior Motor & Mfg Co, it took up the manufacture of automobile engines which involved such heavy outlays of cash and such large obligations that the other and firmly established and flourishing departments felt the drain and consequently were crippled". (The Motor World, New York, Dec. 1, 1910).

In 1912, the company was split into two (2) parts, the Excelsior Motor Manufacturing and Supply Company (Worsley, Loehwing, Jackson), and the Excelsior Cycle Company (O'Horo, Blaine, Unger, Walker), later of which moved to Michigan City in 1916. (Bicycle and Motorcycle Review, Jan. 1912). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.183.224.2 (talk) 19:56, 14 March 2017 (UTC)Reply