Henry was interested in information on the Rugby . If you are a Rugby owner or have information that Henry might find useful  Or own a Rugby please use  the form on this page.

MOTOR DELIVERY NOTE Mrs M.W.Hurst  sale note- no 43425 – date 25 – 10- 1924 Received from C Richards Limited  Currie Street Adelaide In good order the following Rugby model F Body type – touring

Briefest History of  Rugby Cars –

 William C. Durant (1861-1947): The founder of General Motors Corporation. Durant began his career with a horse-drawn carriage company in 1886 and took over Buick in 1904, forming the General Motors (GM) Company in 1908. He lost control in 1910 to Chevrolet but regained ownership in 1915. He was forced out for good in 1920 and founded his own company, Durant Motors, Inc., in 1921

January 12, 1921 William Crapo Durant created the Durant Motors Incorporated. New Jersey USA

March 1, 1921 The first Durant Motors car had been designed, manufactured and set ready for demonstration. –

May 1921 – the “Durant Four” was put on the market.

June 1921– Durant Motors incorporated had received orders for 30,000 cars

February 15, 1922, Durant stated that his company would offer a small four-cylinder Car of modern design. The car was called the “Star.”

In 1923, when Durant Motors tried to export the Star car, a company in Wolverhampton, England, had already registered the Star name for use in the British Empire. So, the name Rugby was chosen. Star cars continued to be sold for export under the Rugby name until production of Star cars ceased in 1928.

Rugby cars were distributed by H.C. Richards of Adelaide and sold for £275 “fully equipped, including five Straight-side Cord Tyres.” At this time, these cars were imported from Canada, taking advantage of the lower duty for British Empire Products.

THE PERFECT ACCESSORY  for a Rugby Automobile,

Henry had just the one made for his own head. At the time this page was posted, Henry was organizing some rugby badges.

 A lad on Ebay was flogging a  1930 – 1932 Durant radiator shell, and I got talking to him about what the shell is really for to correct his info, covering Durant Motors and Dominion Motors and that, like most US folks they fail to realize we continued, the Durant after early failure 1931 under Dominion Motors into 1933. The shell didn’t fit 618, 619, or 633 but did fit all the rest, 30 – 32, including Rugby trucks. He asked me what my handles looked like, and I sent him pictures of the in and out ones. That’s when he came back with the site above about my inside ones looking like the 37 Olds handles. They do to a point. You can compare the repro site 37 Olds to these pics. Mine have more detail and an art deco look.

I’ve been told my handles are 1930 Essex by eBay handle sellers and rare.

It is very possible Dominion Motors bought up the defunct Essex Co handles to use only on our 1932  614 / 618’s. I thought maybe in the past someone put different handles on my 1932, but no.  I have been told the identical handles are on all 618s.  614 I can’t vouch for, but the T handle over the front window has the same markings. The 1931 uses the 1930 handles. I say I can’t vouch for this as there seem to be only two 1932 614s in existence. My sedan J5222 and a coup J5090 near Whitby, Ont. He has no handles in or out. I had half of both. I now have a full set of inside ones by sheer luck. I advertised for items, and a lad in Brampton, Ont, said he had my handles. I about called him a liar they are so rare. Sure enough, his pic was my handle. Not trusting the PO to lose them in the mail, my recently deceased wife and I drove the 400 miles to pick them up. I got the 4 door, 4 window winders, 8 backing plates and 8 pins. And deluxe as well. The window winders have Bakelite knobs. (not the metal shown in the pic and two originals on the car presently).  He even threw in two headlight lenses off a 633 Durant. He bought the handles years ago at an auto wrecker just in case he needed handles for a hot rod but didn’t use them.

633 .. No one knew about 633 Durants a few years ago until two came out of the woodwork. We are continually learning more about this empire of cars as new things pop up. Like blind back 1930  Durant’s. (No back window.  One surfaced in California  about a year back)  Like my 1932, history seems to repeat itself, and a coup and a 4-door sedan exist of the 1933 633’s. It’s unknown if these are production or promo cars. It’s either 9 or 15 made. The consensus so far is promo and the possibility of a 3rd 633 but two-door sedan wreck, which gives more credence to promo and 9 only. One of each style.

Oh the lenses I was given .. Dominion Motors used Depress Beam lights (Durant Motors used Glolite) for our Durant and Frontenac’s. The 633 lens is convex, not flat, of the 31 / 32. The only other application for this lens is the Reo Royal, also built in the Dominion Motors plant by REO. So you can imagine how rare those lenses are. And yes will fit my 32 if I wanted it to be different.   from Norm.

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