Mitchell Limo

[jeff_a]

I was looking at pictures of cars at the Antique Auto Club of Portugal Permanent Exhibition in Porto, Portugal and saw a nicely restored 1909 Mitchell Limousine. I didn't know Mitchells were made in that body style.

[JV Puleo]

I've seen the same picture. The most likely explanation is that they didn't and that the body was replaced or built new for the chassis. Since its in Europe, I'd guess the latter is more likely and that the car was exported as a chassis. Mitchell did have agents in Europe at the time and depending on what the pertinent laws were, it may have been much cheaper to pay duty on a chassis rather than a chassis & body... then have the body built to order where the chassis was sold. While Mitchell did supply stock bodies (which was the common American way to sell automobiles) I wonder if anyone knows how the European market was handled? It was much more conventional in Europe to order a chassis and have it bodied locally. Where this practice is assumed to have been confined to big expensive cars in the US, in Europe medium priced and even quite inexpensive cars were often treated this way. I'm thinking of WO Bentley importing DFP chassis to England and having them bodied in London to British tastes before WWI. I even wonder if it didn't happen here more often than is commonly thought as there are many advertisements in the period literature for small body makers. Without the company records, it is impossible to say at this point.

[cben09]

In parts of europe,,and this country,,one had their taylor,,favorite silver smith,,and favorite carragemaker,,sometimes for generations,,,,,Ben

[Rust Rustler]

i have not seen the picture of this particular car in Portugal but Of course Mitchell built Limosines