1911 Stoddard-Dayton Model 11-A

The Stoddard family of Dayton, Ohio, were entrepreneurs in business with farm equipment, hay rakes, and paint. It began around the mid-1870s and was formally incorporated by 1884 as the Stoddard Manufacturing Company. John W. and Charles G. Stoddard, however, were inspired by the automobile and began investigating and experimenting with the three different power sources gasoline, steam, and electricity. They settled upon gasoline and contracted the Rutenber Company in Chicago for a supply of engines for their Stoddard Daytona automobile.

The Stoddard-Dayton automobile was produced from 1904 through 1913. The 1904 model had a 96-inch wheelbase and a four-cylinder engine offering 26 horsepower. The only body style offered was a Side Entrance Touring which had a base price of approximately $2,000. Approximately 125 vehicles were produced in 1905 and 385 a year later. In 1906, the Stoddard-Dayton consisted of the Model E and the Model D. The Model E was equipped with an 18-horsepower engine for the 88-inch wheelbase Runabout. The Model D was available as a Touring or Limousine with a 103-inch wheelbase and a 35-horsepower engine. The 35-horsepower T-head engine had been designed by Charles Stoddard. For 1907, production rose considerably to approximately 2,000 vehicles.

In regards to competition, one of the new 35-horsepower Stoddard Daytons finished the Glidden Tour with a perfect score. Another Stoddard Dayton won the first race held on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909. A pace car was used at the 1911 Indy 500 auto race and has been used every year since. The car selected to pace the race in 1911 was a Stoddard-Dayton.

An engineer from England named H.J. Edwards joined the team in 1908 and was tasked with helping to design and built the company's next engine. The 36-horsepower four-cylinder unit was introduced in 1909 and had a true cross-flow head with inclined overhead valves and hemispherical combustion chambers.

The layout and design of the early Stoddard Dayton engine had efficient moving parts, but the friction loads imposed on the valve gears were intense due to working against the pressure of the intake valve opening springs. The valve gear quickly wore out due to the rubbing loads on the camshaft and tappet. The engine was later redesigned to separate the valve gear, placing a second camshaft on the other side of the engine and duplicating the pushrods and rocker arms for conventional valve operation against springs which held the valves closed.

In 1911, the company was sold to Ben Briscoe, and when U.S. Motors went under in 1913, Stoddard Dayton experienced a similar fate. The only company that survived and was associated with the U.S. Motor empire was Maxwell.

In 1912, the company introduced a 70-horsepower Knight sleeve valve six-cylinder engine to its catalog. They were the second American manufacturer to use the Knight sleeve valve technology (Stearns was the first).

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2019