After several years of experimental work in Boston, Edward Clark began manufacture of steam cars at Dorchester. These were of advanced design, using horizontally-opposed 4-cylinder engines of 20 hp. These were mounded amidships, with the flash boiler under the hood. Final drive was by shaft. Earlier models were expensive ($5,000 in 1904), but by 1909 the price had been reduced to $2,500. However this was still over $1,000 more than the price asked for a comparable Stanley Steamer, and very few Clarks were sold.[1]
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1898 - 1900
Gardner D. Hiscox featured the Clark Steam Car in his early work on automobiles, pages 109 to 112. John A. Conde Collection.
On January 17, 1900, Edward Clark placed this advertisement in The Horseless Age. John A. Conde Collection.
1901
This seven-page 1901 Clark Steam Car brochure has had a hard life. It has been disassembled, bound, unbound, assembled, and finally disassembled. It may be parts of two separate catalogues. The stamp on the second page reads This catalogue is one received from the Pope Manufacturing Co. on Sept. 22, 1914, in the bound volume of the year of 1901. John A. Conde Collection.
1902 - 1903
Edward S. Clark placed this advertisement in the January 1903 number of The Automobile, page 57. John A. Conde Collection.
1904
Clark Steam Car Advertisement, Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal, January 1904, p. 380. John A. Conde Collection.
In June 1904, Clark placed this advertisement in The Automobile. It offered Oil Encased Engines as well as 3-Cylinder Single-Acting Poppet Valve Engines for highly superheated steam. Clarks offered to repair both gasoline and steam powered cars. John A. Conde Collection.
This page features the Clark steamer along with the Empire Steam Car produced by William Terwilliger from 1904 - 1905, and the Herschman Steam Truck. Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal.
This Clark Steam Car trade catalogue is a bit unusual. It contains blank pages where Clark might have promoted the features of his car and a line drawing of one model. This brochure is stamped H CUNTZ. John A. Conde Collection.
Floyd Clymer reproduced this Clark Steam Car information on page 65 of his Steam Car Scrapbook. John A. Conde Collection.
1906
Edward Clark distributed this advertising card in early 1906 to promote his luxurious steam car. It featured a flash boiler, a four-cylinder poppet valve engine, shaft drive, and adjustable stroke pumps, along with movable steering column and a locking throttle valve.
Edward Clark distributed this advertising blotter in 1906 to promote his luxurious steam car. He offered upgrades for both Stanley and White steam cars.
Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal featured at least six steam cars in a 1906 issue. The others were the Ross Steam Car, the Chicago Steam Car, the Lane Motor Vehicle Company, the Boss Steam Car, and the Johnson Steam Car.
1907
John Conde taped this photocopied advertisement to a yellow card, Motor Magazine, January 1907. Clark advertised his Flash boiler, four cylinder piopped valve engine. Adjustable stroke pumps, clutch and shaft drive. Movable steering column, [and] locking throttle valve. John A. Conde Collection.
Clark promoted The Most Luxurious Steam Car Buiolt in America in his Motor Magazine advertisement in September 1907. John A. Conde Collection. John A. Conde Collection.
In 1907, Clark ran a series of small advertisements offering a Hill CLimbing Pump for 03-04 White Steamers. His address is listed as Dorchester, MA, south of Boston.
1908
The 1908 Clark Steam Car appeared in a Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal article on June 1, 1908, p. 68-70. The first two pages are photocopoies, but the third page is original. John A. Conde Collection. John A. Conde Collection.
The two pages below come from Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal. The Clark steam car was featured along with many other manufacturers.
1909
Edward S. Clark was listed with six other steam car manufacturers in an April 1909 listing in the Automobile Trade Directory.
Edward S. Clark's 1909 steam car was featured in this Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal article entitled Steam Pleasure Cars.White Models M & O, an d the Lane Models, 14, 15, 16, & 17. two pages below c
