1896–1903 In 1896,
Scottish immigrant
Alexander Winton, owner of the Winton Bicycle Company, turned from
bicycle production to an experimental
single-cylinder automobile before starting his car company. By this time, Winton had already produced two fully operational prototype automobiles. In May of that year, the 10 hp (7.5 kW) model achieved the astonishing speed of on a test around a Cleveland
horse track. However, the new invention was still subject to much skepticism , so to prove his automobile's durability and usefulness, Alexander Winton had his car undergo an endurance run from Cleveland to
New York City. This is the
same mistake that
Enzo Ferrari would later make with
Ferruccio Lamborghini. Winton sold his first manufactured semi-truck in 1899. More than one hundred Winton vehicles were sold that year, making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered automobiles in the United States. This success led to the opening of the first automobile dealership by Mr. H. W. Koler in
Reading, Pennsylvania. To deliver the vehicles, in 1899, Winton built the first automobile hauler in America. That year, Winton lost a race at
Grosse Pointe to
Henry Ford. Winton vowed a comeback and win. He produced the 1902 Winton Bullet, which set an unofficial
land speed record of in Cleveland that year. The Bullet was defeated by another Ford by famed driver
Barney Oldfield, but two more Bullet race cars were built. In 1903, Dr.
Horatio Nelson Jackson made the first successful automobile drive across the United States.) The two men often drove miles out of the way to find a passable road, repeatedly hoisted the Winton up and over rocky terrain and mud holes with a
block and tackle, or were pulled out of soft sand by horse teams. In 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country, all inside city limits. There were no road signs or maps. They once paid the exorbitant price of $5 for five gallons of gasoline (equal to $ today). Jackson and Crocker followed rivers and streams, transcontinental railroad tracks, sheep trails, and dirt back roads. The car is now part of the permanent collection of the
Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of American History after Jackson himself donated the vehicle to the museum where it can still be seen on display. File:Winton auto ad car-1898.jpg|1898 Winton Motor Carriage Company's first automobile ad 1899Winton.jpg|1899 Winton
Stanhope 1899 Winton.jpg|1899 Winton at Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum 1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy. Athy, Ireland. Alexander Winton in the Winton Bullet 2.jpg|
1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy,
Athy,
Ireland;
Alexander Winton in the
Winton Bullet 2 HoratioJacksonNelson.jpg|1903
Horatio Nelson Jackson in his two-seat Winton
tourer, "
The Vermont", drives across America
1904–1924 The 1904 Winton was a five-passenger
tonneau-equipped tourer which sold for
US$2,500. By contrast, the Enger 40 was US$2,000, ::
Models (1904) :: Winton's flat-mounted water-cooled
straight-twin engine, situated amidships of the car, produced . The channel and angle steel-framed car weighed . ::
Models (1914) The Winton Motor Carriage Company ceased automobile production on February 11, 1924. ::
Models (1922) Image:1910Winton.jpg|1910 Winton Six File:111-SC-18384 - NARA - 55196832 (cropped).jpg|1918 Winton Six Model 33
Limousine File:Winton at Cleveland Classic Cars (34719672554).jpg|1922 Winton Six Model 40 seven-passenger touring File:Winton plant (1903).jpg|Winton plant (1903)
Winton Engine Company In 1912, Winton started producing diesel engines for stationary and marine use, and gasoline engines for heavy vehicles, independent of Winton's automobile production. The subsidiary
Winton Engine Company remained successful while Winton's automotive sales went into decline, and would outlive the Winton Motor Carriage Company. Winton became the main supplier of engines for
internal combustion-electric powered railcars in the 1920s.
Sale to General Motors On June 20, 1930, Winton Engine Company was sold to
General Motors and on June 30 was reorganized as the
Winton Engine Corporation subsidiary of General Motors. It produced the first practical
two-stroke diesel engines in the 400-to-1,200 hp (300 to 900 kW) range, which powered the early
diesel locomotives of
Electro-Motive Corporation (another General Motors subsidiary), as well as
United States Navy submarines. In 1934, a Winton eight-cylinder, 8-201-A diesel engine powered the revolutionary streamlined passenger train the
Burlington Zephyr, the first American diesel-powered mainline train. The Winton Engine Corporation provided 201 Series engines for rail use until late 1938, when it was reorganized as the General Motors
Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, which produced the
GM 567 series locomotive engines, and other large diesels for marine and stationary use. In 1941, locomotive engine production became part of General Motors
Electro-Motive Division (EMD). In 1962, Cleveland Diesel was absorbed by Electro-Motive Division, which remains in business today as a subsidiary of
Progress Rail.
Marine engines Winton and Cleveland engines were used widely by the U.S. Navy in
World War II, powering submarines, destroyer escorts, and numerous auxiliaries. The Winton engines were systematically replaced with the more reliable Cleveland Diesel engines during refittings during the war. == Overview of production figures ==