William and George Pratt were the principals of Indiana’s Elkhart Carriage & Harness Manufacturing Company. In 1909 they began building a quality touring car, which they sold under the name Pratt-Elkhart. They dropped Elkhart from the name and began selling Pratt cars from their re-organized Pratt Motor Car Company. Then, later in 1915, they renamed the company once again as the Elkhart Carriage and Motor Car Company. Its product was called the “Elcar,” a four-cylinder car with a Lycoming engine that sold for $795. They advertised it as “The Car for the Many.”
The Pratts sold out to some Auburn executives in 1921 and retired, but Elcar manufacturing continued into 1931, latterly taxis, both for the Elkhart company and private-label cabs, among them Elfay, Martel, and Royal Martel, for other taxi-operating companies.
Story by RM Sotheby’s
