Rambler (Jeffery era) History
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This is a brief catalog introduction with limited source documentation. A licensed, identity-checked lead photograph has not yet been added for this page. Detailed year, configuration and ownership coverage must be identified separately; this page is not a complete vehicle catalog.
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Thomas B. Jeffery, a bicycle maker who had used the Rambler name on a successful line of cycles, built his first car prototype in 1897 and, after a strong reception at the 1899 auto shows, bought the former Sterling Bicycle factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in December 1900 to build automobiles.
The first production Ramblers appeared in 1902: the US$750 Model C runabout and the $850 Model D, powered by a one-cylinder engine mounted under the seat and steered by a right-side tiller. About 1,500 were built that year, making Rambler one of America's earliest volume car makers — second only to Oldsmobile at the time, and ahead of Ford. The company is also credited with pioneering the spare wheel-and-tire assembly.
Larger two-cylinder (1905) and four-cylinder (1906) cars followed as Rambler moved upmarket. After Thomas Jeffery died in 1910, his son Charles renamed the marque 'Jeffery' for the 1914 model year in his father's honor, ending the original Rambler. Charles W. Nash bought the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in 1916, founding Nash Motors — the corporate ancestor of AMC, which would revive the Rambler name decades later.
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