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From Clyde to Detroit
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The
year after the sale GM spent $600,000 on an addition to the Elmore plant.
At the height of its operation, The Elmore plant had nearly 500 employees
who produced 1,100 to 1,200 cars annually. The sudden resignation of
Burton Becker in 1911 prompted General Motors to relocate its Elmore
headquarters in Detroit. Later that year GM without notice closed the
Elmore car works in Clyde, shipping all the factory's machinery to Detroit.
The 1912 production was to include the following car lines: Torpedo
Roadster ($1,150), Light Torpedo ($1,350) and a five-passenger touring
car for $1,650.
In
October 1912 the Fremont Daily News reported that the former Elmore
plant was to be sold to the Clyde Motor Company. Although Krebs Commercial
Cars and later Clydesdale Trucks operated out of the old Elmore plant,
both these concerns were only assembly jobs. The depression of 1929
ended forever automobile production in Clyde, except for steering- wheel
parts made by the J.M. Machine Shop.
With
the dismantling of the Elmore car factory, no further Elmore cars were
ever produced. During the company's brief existence, Clyde was one of
the principal focal points of this country's early automotive industry.
Many of the industry's early pioneers, such as Henry Ford and Alexander
Winton of the Winton Motor Company, to list a few, were known to be
frequent visitors at the Becker home on Vine Street in Clyde.
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