CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Ann Arbor (automobile)

automobile manufactured in Michigan from 1911 to 1912

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ4766211 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Ann Arbor Convertible Car was a vehicle manufactured in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by the Huron River Manufacturing Company from 1911 to 1912. The Ann Arbor Convertible Car was a dual-purpose vehicle, which could be converted from a small pickup, to an automobile to carry passengers. Only a few vehicles were built before the company shut down production and sold the plant. Only one surviving vehicle is known to still exist.

Huron River Manufacturing Company

The Huron River Manufacturing Company was incorporated in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1910. A number of local and regional businessmen were appointed to senior management including E. D. Hiscock, president; Gottlob Luick, vice-president; W.H.L. Rhode, treasurer; D.C. Chipman, secretary; Charles Hiscock, George Seabolt, and G.L. Coffinberry, the latter of Cleveland, Ohio. The company acquired a single-story plant (measuring 256 feet by 100 feet) which had been built by the Fawn River Manufacturing Company to expand their manufacture or magnetos. They sold the plant to Huron River Manufacturing before occupancy. A few vehicles were manufactured but Huron River Manufacturing continuously lost money and in 1912 agreed to their stock for shares of Star Motor Car Company of Augusta, Maine which planned to take over production in the Ann Arbor plant. Estimates of production are not available but the best information suggests less than a dozen were made under Huron River management.

Editorial summary

“Ann Arbor (automobile)” enters the record as automobile manufactured in Michigan from 1911 to 1912. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Arbor, automobile and manufactured can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1911, 1912, 1910—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1911. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Arbor, automobile and manufactured.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Ann Arbor (automobile)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Arbor, automobile and manufactured provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4766211. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 1912 and 1910.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ann Arbor (automobile)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ann Arbor (automobile) primary sources, Ann Arbor (automobile) archive and Arbor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ann Arbor (automobile)”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ann Arbor (automobile)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.