Welch

Welch was an American luxury car maker headquartered in Chelsea, Michigan, which began in 1901 and built luxury vehicles until 1911, when it merged with General Motors. The brothers A. R. and Fred Welch, who started as bicycle manufacturers, built and tested water-cooled engines from 1898, and by April 1901 had run their first motor wagon, powered by a two-cylinder, 20 horsepower engine. With limited financial backing from J. D. Watson, their Chelsea Manufacturing Company began assembling vehicles, shipping its first in January 1903. The first car, the Welch Tourist, had a telescoping steering column and a two-cylinder vertical engine, and the company was the first American car company to introduce an overhead camshaft. It was reorganized in 1904 as the Welch Motor Car Company and built cars in Pontiac and later Detroit.