Flagler Cyclecar Company

Elias S. Flaglor was by trade a glass worker but was also an automotive tinkerer. Around 1911 he started to develop a prototype of a cyclecar which was the size of an early motorcycle but twice as wide. He started the Flagler Cycle Car Company out of his house in 1913 and quickly moved to a new temporary location. By 1914 he had moved the company to Cheboygan occupying an old pea canning factory. Trouble with design delayed the car but by April the company was incorporated and was slowly producing vehicles. A regular cyclecar and light delivery vehicle would be the beginning models and orders began to pour in. The vehicles received great reviews and were taken to Detroit to be shown and raced to prove their durability. Although the future seemed bright very few vehicles were made and by 1914 the company was in receivership. Flaglor continued to perhaps produce and sell them out of his house in Chicago where he started but by 1917 the company was officially bankrupt. Flaglor continued in the glass business and doesn't seem to have entered the automobile business in the years following. This stop on the tour is pinned at the Historical Cheboygan County Museum where one can learn more about Flaglor and auto manufacturing in this part of the state.

Elias S. Flaglor was in the glass business but was also an automotive tinkerer. Around 1912 the cyclecar craze started to take shape and many manufacturers began to produce small economical vehicles that were roughly the size of early motorcycles but twice as wide. Flaglor started to develop a prototype for production just a year earlier and in 1913 informally established the Flagler Cyclecar Company out of his house in Chicago.

In short order the company was in a temporary factory which was also located in Chicago and in January of 1914 the first fifty cars were assembled. Flaglor was soon in talks to bring the company to Cheboygan, MI and a great investment would be made by many of the town’s residents. In April of that year the company was formally incorporated and were developing both a passenger car and a light delivery vehicle.

The factory was ready in June and the prototype light delivery vehicle was shown around town rendering great reviews. Sidney Flaglor took examples to Detroit to be shown and raced in the International Cyclecar Races in July gaining even more exposure for the company. By August it was said that the company was producing a car a day and the future was looking very promising.

Accessed May 23rd 2022. www.wheelswaterengines.com.