In the late days of the Studebaker Corporation the company was diversified with many divisions and a variety of interests. However they had been branching out since the early days. Here’s one example.
The Tincher was an independent automobile produced between 1903 and 1906 in Chicago, Illinois, and from 1907 to 1909 in South Bend, Indiana. The car was named after its developer, Thomas L. Tincher, but built by the Chicago Coach and Carriage Company. The Studebaker brothers were majority stock holders in Tincher.
The Tincher debuted at the 1903 Chicago Automobile Show, where its air-braking system was the technical wonder of the event. Not only could the air-system stop the car, but it could be used to inflate flat tires and power the car’s horn.
The Tincher was also one of the costliest cars in production at the time with a race version beginning at $12,000. Custom coach work on the touring cars and coach models would raise the prices even higher. There were smaller Tinchers with a 90 inch wheelbase that were priced in the $5,000 – $10,000 range.
In 1907, Tincher moved the newly incorporated Tincher Motor Car Company to South Bend, Indiana, where Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company maintained its production facilities. Tincher had hoped that being near Studebaker would help not only development of cars and custom bodies, but sales as well.
Though the cars were well built the Tincher was discontinued in 1909 when the company and Thomas Tincher both declared bankruptcy.
An advertisement for the Tincher automobile
