Production chronology1903
Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.
curated ↗1 year
← Covert
Covert / Model record
CovertChainless 5 HP Runabout
Production1903
Recorded originUnited States
ClassBrass-era passenger or light commercial automobile; experimental steam car
Power5 hp
The first shaft-driven Covert and the reason for the Chainless name. A November 1902 announcement described a 600 lb car with an oil-tight aluminium transmission case and a 6–30 mph range; the on-market 1903 account specified about 625 lb, six gallons of gasoline, four gallons of cooling water, wheel steering, a combined clutch/brake control and an independent emergency brake. Contemporary tables disagree between 60- and 62-inch wheelbases, so neither is normalized into a false single value. The larger-body, longer-wheelbase 6½ hp 1904 redesign receives a separate generation row, although both were marketed as Covert Chainless cars.
Chronology ledger
Dates with their meaning intact
Record depth — Documented
How this is measured → This record contains useful sourced evidence, but it does not yet meet the reference-ready standard. Still needed: attributed imagery. Fields we cannot source stay empty rather than guessed.
Research notes
No Chainless generation total or serial ledger survives.