Black

Arguably the first Auto manufacturer in Indianapolis, if not the country, the C.H. Black Manufacturing Company built the Black phaetons, dos-à-dos and business wagons in 2½ to 8 HP models from 1896 to 1900. 

Charles H. Black was the proprietor of a wagon works and blacksmith shop, and he got the urge to construct a horseless carriage after driving a neighbor’s imported Benz in 1891. Completed in 1893 the Black 2 Seater was not surprisingly built along the lines of the Benz, its coachwork being essentially a buggy. Final drive was via 2 different belts allowing for a high and low speed range,  Motive power was provided by a single cylinder engine that was cranked by a turn of the flywheel. Ignition was by Kerosene torch, essentially a risky operation, but nottin untoward appears to have ever occurred.  According to Melvin Hunter who assisted Black with the project the spark plug was purchased from Benz works in Germany for $25.00, but every other part of the vehicle they made themselves. “It could run all day on 2 gallons of gas at speed of 12-14 MPH” stated Hunter.  Black would drive the car often accompanied by family, friends or his Aberdeen Poodle named “Mutt”. 

Production seemed likely when Black was able to interest Harburger & Homan, a large cigar manufacturer in Chicago to invest, but the sudden death of one of the principles spelled finis to that effort.

The 1893 Black survives and is in the collection of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and a twin to that car-the date of which was never verified-was held in a local private collection but has subsequently been sold. 

In 1896 Black was able to secure financing to build a more refined version of his runabout. Few were built, most were sold locally, and none are known to survive. Most of these were called Blacks but he called some of them Indianapolis in 1899, when he renamed his company the Indianapolis Automobile and Vehicle Company. In 1900 Black sold his patents to an unidentified group of local capatalists for $20,000. They organized as the Indiana Motor Vehicle Company and sold the Black as the Indiana in 1901.

Charles Black returned to carriage building.  He never bought an automobile, insisting to his death in 1918 that his own original car was good enough.