Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-29

lieved to be the most efficient motor of
its class and weight that could be
built. Its performance justified the
thought. 1t was powerful and flexible.
1t was economical. 1t gave us from
twenty-five to thirty miles per gallon
of gasoline. 1t was simple and acces-
81 Bile in its construction. 1t could be
throttled down to low speed instantly.
1t carried its load smoothly at lowest
speed. We knew that we were safe in
using the great descriptive word
Perfect
ITO make this dream-car a reality
had cost me and my associates a world
of thought and labor. I knew that the
investment would doubly repay me
from the financial point of view. At
that time, the compensation of accom-
pllshment was the most gratifying re-
ward / had ever known-and it still is.
BY the time we had completed our
tests, 1t was late in the summer of
1918. Preparations for the annual
Paris Automobile Salon in October
were taking shape. In France, this
event is as important as the New York
and Chicago shows in this country,
and we determined to exhibit our car.
We did not dream that it would meet
with the success which followed. It
was more than a success-it was an
ovation. During the week of the Salon,
tremendous crowds of visitors exam
ined the car from nose to taillights.
They inspected the motor, the trans
mission, the cooling system. They
omitted nothing.
The most gratifying results of that
tremendously busy year and a half
was the sheaf of orders we received
some six thousand of them at forty
five hundred francs each, or nine hun
dred dollars in American money. The
European dealers were the most in
terested of all. One from Barcelona
demanded a thousand for southern
Spain. a London exporter ordered
samples shipped Immediately to New
zealand and an Irishman in Belfast
who had seen accounts in the papers,
cabled us to hold Ireland until he
arrived in Paris next day. There were
plenty of buyers. Theylrepres sented all
nationalities - Italians, Germans,
Swedes, Russians, South Americans.
The car was the real sensation of the
Salon and French manufacturers at
once started to initiate it or to pro-
duce something similar.
After the close of the Paris Salon,
we took the cars to the Olympia Show
in London, in November. 1913, where
our Paris success was repeated. In
matter -of-fact England, we took or
ders for three thousand more cars.
Unfortunately We never filled all the
orders we took in Paris and London.
The war put the brakes on our activi-
ties and we were able TO deliver but
eight hundred cars to Europe. These
cars are still running and giving COM
plete satisfaction.
1T was my intention, as I said be-
fore, to manufacture the new car on a
large scale in France, and during the
test period l was at work on the or
ganization of our company to be
known as 'Briscoe Freres." AS a matter
of fact this organization had been
completed and a factory building Sc
cured at Courbevoie, another Paris
suburb. But the war stopped that too,
temporarily. When it is all over we
will resume our plans and operate in
Paris, in conjunction with our Amer
lean plant.
After the London show, we ship
ped our exhibition cars to New York
where they were shown at the 1914
show. Here our European success was
repeated. Dealers and public alike
gave us an ovation. We priced the
cars at $3.50 and found a great sale at
this figure. AS we perfected our pro-
duction methods this price was reduc-
ed TO s7S5. and then TO $625-its price
to-day. The car now known as the
Four-Twenty-Fo -Four is the same as the
original French model-but improv-
ed and refined. The motor is the Half
Million Dollar Motor. The difference
between the original price and the
price to-day, is entirely due to the diff
ference in French and American man
ufacturing methods.
Il know the Briscoe "a is the best
car for the money manufactured and
hope you will have as much pleasure
in its use as we have had in it's Gre
ation.'