1906 Pungs-Finch Limited

Born in Milton, Ontario, Canada, William C. Anderson moved to Port Huron, Michigan where he began building buggies and carriages beginning in 1884. After learning that a huge proportion of his firm's output was going to Detroit, Anderson and two Michigan businessmen named Pungs and William M. Locke formed the Anderson Carriage Co. in 1895. In 1895 Anderson relocated to Detroit and Locke was brought in as a partner.

Born in Cologne Germany on April 25th, 1849, William August Pungs was the son of Peter W. and Angeline Pungs. He moved to America with his parents in 1852 and was educated in a public school in Detroit. Since the beginning of his career, Pungs was heavily involved in the machinery and railway supply business. For 12 years he organized the Michigan Railway Supply Co., which in 1882 was merged with the Chicago Ry. Equipment Co.,

Another company that was organized by William Pungs was the Pungs-Finch Auto & Gas Engine Company which was the successor to the Michigan Yacht & Power Company. An American automobile manufacturing company located in Detroit, Michigan, this company constructed powerful touring vehicles that were built by a factory that made gas engines. This company had an extremely promising beginning in 1904 and was prospering before the plant was entirely destroyed by fire and suffered a heavy loss in 1908.

1904 models came with 14 hp cylinder engines. One year later the much bigger Model 35 Runabout of 5808 cc as well as the Model 50 of 6435 cc replaced these earliest models. An even larger model was introduced in 1906; the Finch Limited, and it was powered by an 8652 cc single overhead camshaft, four-cylinder engine. For the 1908 year, model ranged in price from $2500 to $5000, which was quite a hefty price tag back in those days.

Only a very few Pungs-Finch cars are still in existence today, and one of these beautiful models was on display at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Jay Leno is also a proud owner of one of these great collector pieces.

By Jessica Donaldson