Pungs-Finch
The Pungs-Finch was an American automobile manufactured in Detroit, Michigan from 1904 to 1910. They were powerful touring cars built by a factory which primarily made marine gas engines.[1]
 | |
 1906 Pungs-Finch Touring Car | |
| Formerly | Sintz Gas Engine Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Defunct | 1910 |
| Fate | Discontinued automobile production |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan, |
Key people | William A. Pungs, E. B. Finch, D. C. Rexford |
| Products | Automobiles Marine Engines |
History
E. B. Finch was an engineer who had studied at the University of Michigan and who had built his first automobile in 1902. William A. Pungs was his father-in-law who had arranged the purchase of the Sintz Gas Engine Company for the Michigan Yacht and Power Company. Pungs bought out his partner O. J. Mulford, who departed and established the Gray Marine Motor Company in 1905. The new company was named the Pungs-Finch Auto and Gas Engine Company in 1904.[1]
Sintz Gas Engine had developed a car that became the basis for the 1904 Pungs-Finch that had a 14-hp twin-cylinder engine. In 1905 the twin was replaced by the much larger Finch designed Model D 4-cylinder of 5,808-cc and the Model F of 6,435-cc, selling at $2,000 or $2,500 (equivalent to $81,426 in 2022) respectively. The Pungs-Finch were displayed at the New York, Chicago and Detroit automobile shows in 1905.[2]
In 1905, the marine engine and boat building part of the factory burned and production was delayed while Pungs-Finch rebuilt. E. B. Finch designed a larger advanced model for 1906 called the Finch Limited powered by an 8652-cc single overhead camshaft, four-cylinder engine priced at $3,500, equivalent to $113,996 in 2022. It was guaranteed to be 50 horsepower and go 50 miles an hour. E. B. Finch departed in 1906 after an argument with his father-in-law and became a dealer for Chalmers in Cleveland.[1] From 1906 to 1910 Pungs-Finch cataloged 22-hp and 40-hp models, again selling for $2,000 and $2,500 respectively. The 50-hp model was offered again in 1908 but by now the company concentrated their efforts on marine gas engines and boat building.[1][2]
The 1906 model Finch Limited, probably the only one built, was discovered in a factory and restored by automobile historian Henry Austin Clark Jr. in the 1950s. It is the only know extant Pungs-Finch.[1]
Advertisements
1904 Pungs-Finch advertisement in Motor World Magazine
1906 Pungs-Finch advertisement
1907 Pungs-Finch advertisement - Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal
See also
References
- Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark Jr., Henry Austin (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (3rd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9.
- Georgano, Nick (2001). The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile (3 vol. ed.). Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.