Fostler

Fostler was the last automobile name associated with the Chicago Motocycle Company lineage. After that company had produced a Chicago-badged two-cylinder car in 1902 and three Caloric models in 1903–04, it combined with Auto Motor Cycle Company in August 1904. The resulting concern presented a Fostler at the Chicago Automobile Show in January 1905. It was a conventional open runabout with a single-cylinder gasoline engine mounted at the front, a two-speed planetary gearbox and chain drive to the rear axle. No surviving accessible account provides displacement, horsepower, cooling arrangement, wheelbase, dimensions, weight, seating count, brakes, suspension, price, chassis number or a production total. The evidence proves at least the exhibition vehicle but not sustained series manufacture, so the row states that uncertainty. A specialist source raises the possibility that 'Fostler' was a name selected by a customer or commissioning party, but neither that person's identity nor a better-supported manufacturer lineage is known; the badge is retained because it was publicly presented as the vehicle name. Automobile production ceased during 1905 as the business shifted to boat engines, while workshop operations may have continued. Fostler is unrelated to similarly spelled Foster automobiles and industrial firms. One Runabout row accounts for the complete documented range.

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