1915 Twombly
What IS a Twombly?!?
During the early decades of the 20th Century, automobile manufacturing exploded across the United States. Hundreds of different makes came into existence. Farmers, blacksmiths, and various industrial facilities tinkered with "horseless carriages" of their own design. Most produced from one to a dozen vehicles, then returned to more familiar vocations.
Driggs - Seabury Ordnance Company had a large machine shop on Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon, Pennsylvania. It was largely a manufacturer of small, rapid fir guns for military use. Company President, John Stevenson, Jr., sought to add a consumer product to their manufacturing line. With rail transportation, steel production, and a skilled labor force readily available, this new technology called the automobile seemed a lucrative venture to explore.
A New York entrepreneur named Willard Irving Twombly Had tried unsuccessfully to manufacture his car designs in 1904, and again in 1910. Convinced the third time would be the charm, he obtained financial backing and in 1912 approached Driggs - Seabury about producing his line of compact Twombly cyclecars. With only about half of his initial three thousand car order completed, the main financial backer for Twombly pulled out of their business arrangement. Twombly was forced into bankruptcy.
​
Driggs - Seabury ended up owning the vehicle tooling and mechanical stock They attempted various versions of the Twombly, branded as Driggs, Sharon, and Sharon Light Delivery. During this period, the company also made prototypes of a more conventional roadster called the Ritz. Near the end of 1915, with interest in cyclecars waning, and the war in Europe gaining momentum, Driggs - Seabury needed the manpower and plant space put back into ordnance production. Automotive work was ceased.