Chalmers Thirty History

Introduced in 1908 as the Chalmers-Detroit '30', the Thirty was the new firm's volume car and the model that established its reputation. Priced around $1,500 — well below the company's larger Forty — it offered a 30-horsepower four-cylinder engine in a relatively compact, value-minded package aimed at the growing middle market.

The Thirty earned a name for toughness and good engineering, winning praise in the touring and reliability events that mattered to buyers of the era; a Chalmers '30' took the 1910 Glidden Tour. The model is also tied to one of early motoring's best-known promotions: the Chalmers Award, under which Hugh Chalmers gave a Model 30 to the Major League Baseball player with the highest batting average. The 1910 contest ended in a Ty Cobb–Nap Lajoie controversy, after which Chalmers awarded a car to both men.