Parry Auto Company

[1] Thomas Parry was born in Pittsburgh in 1822 and traveled to Indiana to begin farming.

[1] David M Parry was born on March 26, 1852, on the family farm near Laurel, Indiana, and grew up there.

[1] He went to Indiana and bought a stake in the Woodburn Charvin wheelworks, where he began constructing farm tools.

[1] In 1909, Parry sold his remaining land shares to Willis, later overseeing the successful Overland automobile's construction.

[1] In 1906, David Parry gained control of the Overland Company, and thus officially got into the auto business.

By 1908, he sold the company to John North Willys, since Parry had lost everything, including his house, in the Panic of 1907.

[1] The beginning payroll included 389 employees, but the company laid plans to expand that number to 3000.

[1] The critical components of a four-cylinder Parry motor was a 4.25-inch bore and 4.5-inch stroke, a recycling splash oiling system, a high-tension magneto, and a specially developed Schebler carburetor were the critical components of the 1910 Parry.

[1] The roadster and touring models were priced at $1285 and $1485, respectively, and included leather facing cone clutches and expanding internal bands for emergency brakes.

[1] Under the supervision of W Teasdale, a former Parry vice president, the company was transformed into a motor vehicle manufacturing corporation.

[1] The radiator, fenders, and body were all built by Parry, as were the front axle and transmission.

[1] The company did not do well, and a lawsuit was threatened due to a disagreement between Parry and Glidden organizers about how performance times were measured.

[1] The firm also took part in the 1910 desert rally, which ran from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona.

[1] Parry contracted a condition that caused his kidneys to fail while on tour to Korea, Japan, and Hawaii in 1909 and died on May 12, 1919, at the age of 63, at his residence in Golden Hill.