Doble Steam Car - Doble Steam Motors Company

Doble Steam Motors Company

The first model E was sold in 1924, and Doble Steam Motors continued to manufacture steam-powered cars for the next seven years. In 1924 the State of California learned that Abner had helped to sell stock illegally in a desperate bid to raise money for the company, and though Abner was eventually acquitted on a technicality, the company folded during the ensuing legal struggle.

For all their innovations, Doble cars were hindered by two significant problems. The first was the price: the chassis alone sold for $9500, and adding a body virtually doubled that figure, making the car a luxury item in the 1920s. In 1922 the brothers had begun work on a lower cost model, projected to sell for less than $2000. This was named the Simplex, and was to be powered by four uniflow single-acting cylinders. One prototype is known to have been constructed, but the car never approached production stage. The other problem was Abner Doble himself, who was said to be such a perfectionist that he was seldom willing to stop tinkering and actually release an automobile for sale.

Doble made two further steam engines, designated models G and H respectively. These were larger units and used experimentally in several buses. The first were tested in 1926 by International Harvester, using a Doble Model G engine, and the Detroit Motorbus Co, in a double decker, with a Doble Model H engine. A second Detroit bus had a Doble steam engine added in 1927 and at least one of them covered some 32,000 miles. In 1929 a Doble Model H was installed in a Yellow Coach for General Motors. This was followed by another Model F in a Fageol bus.

The company eventually went out of business in April 1931. The total number of cars built up to that date is difficult to determine; but as the numbers were consecutive, whatever the model, even with the solitary known Simplex, it seems unlikely that more than 32 were built from 1922.