Calimobile

Calimobile was adopted by California Automobile Company after its substantial 1902 board reorganization. Although it shared Bainbridge L. Ryder's San Francisco corporation and facilities with the earlier California automobiles, it was a distinct public marque and a focused steam-car range rather than merely a model nickname. Three recoverable complete families account for the known catalog: a compact steam Runabout, a Four-Passenger Steam Touring Car, and a Nine-Passenger Steam Car. The Palace Hotel in San Francisco bought two touring cars, showing institutional use of the middle body family. Three nine-passenger vehicles were built, the only dependable model-level production count recovered. The exact boiler, burner, cylinder arrangement, rated output, drive system, dimensions, prices and factory type codes are unresolved; capacity and body evidence are recorded without inventing mechanical precision. The enterprise ended abruptly when fire destroyed its factory and machinery on 13 May 1903. Some English-language summaries instead place the fire in May 1902, but the detailed corporate chronology and standard marque encyclopedias support 1903 after the documented Calimobile phase. The badge is unrelated to the Los Angeles California Automobile Company founded in 1909, its Tourist predecessor, the California Motor Company motorcycle concern, and other California-named vehicles.

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