Dayton Electric

Dayton Electric was the passenger-car marque organized in Dayton, Ohio by John L. Baker in 1911. Contemporary Life advertisements first identify the Dayton Electromobile Company and, by January 1912, the Dayton Electric Car Company, establishing a legal-name change without creating a second brand. The compact cars used steering wheels rather than tillers and were marketed with Exide or Tronclad-Exide batteries. Advertising proves that battery relationship but does not supply pack voltage, cell count, chemistry, motor maker or output; those details remain unknown. Model 101 opened the range in 1911 on 80- and 86-inch wheelbases, with two-, three- and four-seat coupés, Victoria and Stanhope bodies. A local specialist records a $2,600 price and claimed seventy-to-eighty-mile range, but no standardized test basis survives. For 1912 Dayton used separate Model 102 coupé, Model 103 Straight Front Coupé and Model 104 Victoria designations, with buyers reportedly able to choose chain or shaft drive. Final 1913–14 production consisted of the 86-inch Model 1021 and 92-inch Model 1022 coupés. Body and seating alternatives stay within their numbered model rather than inflating the range. Insolvency and receivership in November 1914 ended Dayton Electric production. J. L. B. Motor Car Company acquired assets and completed a few remaining parts or cars in 1915 under the separate JLB identity, so a broad 1911–15 company tail is not used as a Dayton model year. Six numbered rows exhaust the supported passenger program; no commercial truck, competition vehicle or special-purpose Dayton Electric has been established. The unrelated Dayton gasoline makes, Stoddard-Dayton, DELCO, industrial Dayton Electric companies and the later Dayton Electricar Volkswagen conversion are excluded.

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