1919 Columbia Six

The Columbia name was a popular automotive choice with no fewer than nine different American cars wearing the name. Perhaps the most memorable and remembered of those were the cars built by Colonel Albert Pope in Hartford, Connecticut. They built gasoline and electric cars from 1897 to 1913. This particular vehicle was not built by Pope but rather by the Columbia Motors Company in Detroit, Michigan. The company had been formed in 1916, when J.G. Bayerline, Walter l. Day, and T.S. Bollinger left the King Motor Car Company and joined William E. Metzger, one of the founders of E-M-F, and A.T. O'Connor, formerly of Olds Motor Works. They built an assembled car with engines from Continental, Timken axles, Warner transmissions, and other sourced components.

Production of the Columbia Six began in 1917 and continued until 1924. They were (perhaps) the first car to use thermostatically controlled radiator shutters to maintain engine temperature. The company did rather well for a startup automobile company, with their vehicles selling for under $2,000. In 1923, production reached 6,000 cars, and enthusiasm was rather high, so the partners bought the neighboring Liberty Motor Car Company. However, within the year, both firms were no more.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2020