1908 Sears Model J

Sears, Roebuck and Co. first added automobiles to their mail-order catalogue in the fall of 1908. In a similar fashion to the International Harvester Company, they essentially installed a motor in their best horse-drawn buggy, and called it the Autobuggy. An engineer and inventor named Alvaro S. Krotz approached the company with the idea of designing a simple and inexpensive car and sold them on the idea. A factory was found in Chicago, where Sears was based. Krotz managed the new factory while Sears' owner W.M. Tippett headed sales. Percy Herrick, another Sears employee, supervised production.

The Sears Motor Buggy was an assembled car, with some of the parts being unique to the vehicle. Most of the parts, however, were purchased from many sources. The Motor Buggy had high hickory wheels with solid rubber tires, tiller steering (on the left), and a dual exhaust system. Power was from a two-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled engine offering 10 horsepower that drove through a friction transmission. Fuel was provided by a Schebler carburetor, which was ignited by a jump-spark from dry-cell batteries. The high-wheel runabout was priced at $395.

The Model G was the entry-level model with few amenities. The Model H added a top and fenders. The Model J and Model K added additional features, with the Model J having running boards and the Model K having cushion tires.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2020