Wilson - Pilcher Automobile
United Kingdom, 1901-1904

The company Wilson-Pilcher was founded in 1901 by Walter Gordon Wilson in London to produce automobiles. Percy Pilcher had died in a gliding accident in 1899, and Wilson had been working with him on the engine for an attempt at powered flight. According to Bonhams there is photographic evidence of a wooden mock-up of the car in 1899, and a photo of a working car taken at Stanhope Hall in 1900.

Wilson Automobile Manufacturing Co.
Wilson, NY 1903-1905

The Niagara was a runabout model that could seat 2 or 4 passengers and sold for $850, equivalent to $29,747 in 2024. The vertically mounted water-cooled single-cylinder engine, situated at the rear of the car, produced 5 hp (3.7 kW). A 2-speed sliding transmission was fitted. The steel and wood-framed car weighed 1100 lb (499 kg). Full elliptic rear suspension and semi-elliptic front suspension was fitted.

The assets of the company were purchased by the La Salle-Niagara Company in 1905. Wilson became an automobile dealership.

C.R. & J.C. Carriage Co. (1873-1880)
C.R.  Carriage Co. (1880-1897)
Wilson Body Co. (1897-1924)
J.C. Wilson Motor Trucks (1920)
Detroit, MI

Charles R. Wilson was born near Cobourg, Ontario, CA in 1845. Charles established a blacksmiths and wagon repair shop and within a couple of years brought his brother into the concern forming the C. R. & J. C. Wilson Carriage Co. in 1873. The regions infinite resources soon produced quite a few large manufacturing firms and Detroit was home to the nation’s three largest stove manufacturers. The Wilson’s were soon manufacturing hundreds of wagons, sleighs, drays and carriages for the city’s growing population at their central Detroit factory.

The firm had over 60 employees in 1890, and within a few short years was Detroit’s largest producer of buggies, carriages and wagons. 

Henry Ford worked at Wilson for a short time while he was between jobs in 1900.  In 1903, WIlson Body Co. became Ford Motor Company's first auto body supplier, starting with the Model-A.

In 1924 it merged with other body builders to form the Murray Body Corporation.

Wilson Electric
Patridge Wilson Engineering
Leicester, England (1926)

Based in Leicester, Partridge, Wilson & Co. manufactured battery-electric road vehicles marketed under the Wilson Electric marque. While primarily renowned for delivery vans and specialized commercial vehicles (including milk floats and the Wilson-Scammell electric tractor), they also produced battery-electric passenger runabouts during the 1930s.