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This was one of the most important early builders of electric vehicles in
America, making many of the sightseeing 'rubberneck' buses which plied in
New York, Washington and other cities. Other products included ambulances,
brewery trucks, tipping coal trucks and special vehicles for lifting safes
to the upper stories of office buildings, handling' machinery and
withdrawing telephone cables from underground conduits. In 1906 the name was
changed to General Vehicle Company, and the products to G.V.
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The Vehicle Equipment Co. of Long Island City NY produced a large number
of commercial-purpose electric vehicles (e.g. delivery trucks) from 1901 to
1906. They produced a 3-seater electric car, the V.E. Electric, from 1903 to
1905. Most, if not all, vehicles were shaft-drive. Vehicle types produced
included broughams, victorias, hansoms, landaulets, and commercial vehicles
include trucks and sightseeing buses. The factory burned in 1904, and was
rebuilt. The company went into receivership in 1906, and was resurrected
after reorganization as the General Vehicle Company.
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General Vehicle Company 1906-1917?? Long Island City, N. Y. (Subsidiary
of the General Electric Company?)
Known electric vehicle builder (GV Electric) who also built buses and
funeral vehicles in the early part of the 20th century.
Day Baker of General Vehicle Co. Will Discuss Electric Vehicles at MIT
Union. (1914)
The next Electrical Engineering Society meeting will be held next Friday
evening in the Union. The speaker will be Mr. Day Baker, the New England
superintendent of the General Vehicle Company. As an appropriate subject for
the occasion, Mr. Baker will discuss Electric Vehicles.
In the first two decades of the 20th century, Long Island City was a hub
of industrial activity, and the news that the government had taken over two
of its largest plants was greeted with interest. The Stewart-Warner
Speedometer Company on Jackson Avenue and the General Vehicle Company on
Borden Avenue were to be used to manufacture materials needed for war
supplies and it was anticipated that other plants would follow. (1917
article)
IN 1914 The French-designed Gnome rotary engine was built under license
by the General Vehicle Company in Long Island City, New York, and was used
in Cole Palen's first Fokker triplane until a cylinder departed the engine
in mid-flight.
The US Army purchased a number of Peerless trucks. They were well liked
by the Army. When WW1 broke out, England purchased 12,000 Peerless Truck
Chassis and used them in the war, suppling the Army's in Europe. Peerless
changed the corporate name to Peerless Truck and Motor Car Company in the
teens. This was a result of a stock take-over that took place in 1915. The
General Vehicle Company from Long Island was involved with this.
Kenneth J. Boedecker began his engine career in 1914, working in the Long
Island shops of a General Electric subsidiary called General Vehicle Company
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