1912 Crane Model 3

The Crane Motor Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, produced automobiles from 1912 through 1915. The early experimental automobiles were powered by a large, T-head four-cylinder engine which was built in 1907. The following year, two more cars were built.

In 1896, Henry Crane graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering. After working at the Bell Telephone Company, he left to work for their manufacturing subsidiary, the Western Electric Company. In 1906, he formed the Crane and Whitman Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, which became the Crane Motor Car Company by 1910.

In 1912, the company began the production of the Model 3, which would continue through 1915. It came equipped with a six-cylinder engine that was mated to a four-speed transmission and featured shaft drive. The large 9.2-liter engine had three paired cylinder blocks and a single Newcomb Updraft carburetor. The suspension used semi-elliptic leaf springs with tubular dampers, and stopping power was handled by double-acting hand and foot brakes on the rear wheels.

Crane built the chassis and then sent the vehicles to coachbuilders to be fitted with coachwork. The chassis alone was very expensive, selling for $8,000. A popular coachbuilder for the Crane was Brewster & Company, and most of the Cranes wore their coachwork.

Between 1912 and 1913, around 20 examples of the Model 3 were built. 4 were built in 1914. The major difference between the 1914 models and the prior examples was the way the engines were made. Instead of the cylinders cast in three pairs, they were now in two blocks.

The company's six-cylinder engine caught the attention of the well-established Simplex Automobile Company of New Brunswick, NJ. Many automakers were switching to larger, more powerful engines, and the Simplex chain drive four-cylinder engine was in need of being replaced. The Simplex Automobile Company purchased the Crane Motor Car Company and future cars were known as the Crane-Simplex. Production continued in the simplex factory and by 1917, around 500 chassis examples were built. Brewster continued on as one of the favored coachbuilders, along with Holbrook, Demarest, and Healey.

by Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2019