Alter Motor Car Company

The Company

One of hundreds of Michigan-based auto manufacturers in the "brass age," The Alter Motor Car Company was located in Detroit, with its factory in nearby Plymouth. Alter produced over 1000 cars from 1914 to 1916. The company went into receivership and closed its doors in January of 1917.

The Car

The Alter was designed by Clarence Alter of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The car was made from component parts shipped to Plymouth by rail for assembly. Two models were produced, a 5-passenger touring car and a roadster. Only one Alter is known to have survived.

The Factory

Built in 1914 for the assembly of the Alter car, the factory stands to this day on Farmer Street in Plymouth, Michigan. It war recently refurbished and is currently the home of the C.D. Sparling Company.

Site Credits

AlterMotorCar.com was developed by John Penrice, amateur automotive historian and former Plymouth Michigan resident. Additional photos of Alter, as well as Studebaker, Avanti and Packard facilities, can be found on John's Flickr pages. Click here to contact John.

The material found here is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License , which means you are free to use any of the information provided here, including images, for any non-commercial purpose, provided you credit AlterMotorCar.com and do not alter (pun intended) the content.

Sources used in the development of AlterMotorCar.com are as follows:

•The Story of Plymouth, Michigan: A Midwest Microcosm by Sam Hudson
•"ALTERED to the APEX" The Auto Enthusiasts Bulletin, October 1964
•"Entrepreneur renovates auto plant in Plymouth" The Detroit News, 1/6/2000
•The Plymouth Historical Museum Archives, Plymouth, Michigan

The site design is by Pozycjonowanie INHEAD, Kraków, Poland.

Hosting by Penrice Technology Group