The Big Car Database

Allen Kingston

The Allen Kingston was an American automobile manufactured by the New York Car & Truck Company for motor agent Walter C. Allen of New York City.

Allen-Kingston 
The New York Car & Truck Company 
Kingston, New York 
1907-1908
The Allen-Kingston Motor Car Co. 
Kingston, New York 
1908-1909

The car was designed on European lines, featuring runningboard-mounted spare tires and an early boat-tailed body, but was meant for American manufacture to circumvent the 45% duty on imported cars. These 45 hp 7400 cc cars were advertised as combining "the best features of the Fiat, the Renault and the Mercedes in a harmonious new construction of the highest quality". They were only in production for two years, from 1907 to 1909.

In the summer of 1906 Allen began building three experimental 4-cylinder cars. One for racing and two for testing in the streets of New York City.

A few Allen-Kingston automobiles were built by the New York Car & Truck Co. However, that firm failed by March of 1908. So in 1908 Walter Allen moved his Allen King Motor Co. into The New York Car & Truck Co. factory and built Allen-Kingston automobiles there up 1909.

Walter Allen designed the Allen-Kingston car and previously had been associated with Daimler in Europe and with the Continental Tire Co. The Allen-Kingston was designed on European lines, but was meant for American manufacture to circumvent the 45% duty on imported automobiles.

The Gunboat was a light weight four passenger aluminum body American Automobile. It was called the "Gunboat" body because it is of the type first introduced by the Daimler Motor Co. The body was very low, as the frame is dropped in front of the rear axle and the seats were low also. The outline of the body was quite smooth to the bulging stern back of the rear seat. This body style was claimed to reduced dust on the rear passengers.

The Allen-Kingston was equipped with a four cylinder water cooled engines rated at 35 or 48 horsepower. The four cylinders were casted in pairs, bore was 4 3/4 inches on the 35 HP engine and 5 1/2 inches on the 48 HP engine. The stroke was 5 inches on the 35 HP engine and 6 1/8 inches on the 48 HP engine. A selective transmission with four speeds forward and reverse was used and final drive was by shaft. Wheelbase was 121 inches on the 35 horsepower car and 125 inches on the 48 horsepower cars. 34 inch x 4 inch tires were used.

The Allen-Kingston was also made in Touring Cars (The Gunboat), Runabout, Limousines and Landaulets. The Allen-Kingston Motor Car Co. was an automobile retailer in 1908.  They also sold the German Mercedes and the French De Dietrich.