Victor Steam Carriage
1899 – 1904
1. Overman Wheel Co., Chicopee Falls, MA 1899 – 1900
2. Overman Automobile Co., Chicopee Falls, MA 1901 - 1904
The Overman Wheel Co. were manufacturers of Victor bicycles and began development work on autos in 1896 when H. A. Knox was hired to design a gasoline engine. This was never put on the market and Knox left, later to manufacture the Knox and Atlas cars.
A steam car, the Victor, appeared in 1899. It was typical of the many New England steamers of the period, with 4 hp vertical 2-cylinder engine and single chain drive. In 1900 the Victor bicycle business was sold to the Stevens Arms & Tool Co., and for a few months Overman leased the top floor of the building to assemble Victor cars.
In January 1901 a new company was formed, and they took over space in a factory at Chicopee, where Victor steamers continued to be built. In 1902, A. L. Riker joined the firm, and they became associated with Locomobile.
The first Locomobile gasoline cars were developed at Chicopee s well as new Overman gasoline cars and the steamer. By 1904 the firm was wholly absorbed by Locomobile. Meanwhile the Chicopee Falls plant was used for the manufacture of Stevens-Duryea cars.[1]
[1] Georgano, G. N., Encyclopedia of American Automobile, (New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1968), p. 147.
This advertisement for the Victor Steam Carriage appeared beside an advertisement for the American Cycle Mfg. Co. in the May 1902 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine.