Overview

LuLu was a short-lived American cyclecar brand produced by the Kearns Motor Truck Company in Beavertown, Snyder County, Pennsylvania. It emerged from the engineering work of Charles Maxwell Kearns, an inventor and vehicle manufacturer whose earlier projects had developed from engine-equipped buggies into more elaborate automobiles and heavy trucks. Kearns established his company in 1903 and initially promoted vehicles associated with the Kearns Kar Kompany. Early Kearns vehicles used relatively unconventional mechanical solutions, including an air-cooled three-cylinder two-stroke engine and a friction-drive transmission. Their marketing emphasized the absence of valves, conventional gears, and a clutch. The LuLu represented a significant technical change from those earlier Kearns designs. Introduced in 1914, it abandoned the two-stroke engine in favor of a four-cylinder, four-stroke monobloc engine. It also used a clutch and a three-speed transmission rather than the earlier friction-drive system. The car was marketed as being more substantial than a basic cyclecar, reflecting an attempt to combine the light weight and relative affordability associated with cyclecars with more conventional automobile engineering. Contemporary production reportedly reached approximately 25 vehicles per week. The LuLu was priced at $450 when new. The available reference material gives this historical price but does not establish broader sales totals, profitability, dealer coverage, or export activity. The model was manufactured during 1914 and 1915, but production was interrupted by the effects of the First World War. After the war, the company resumed vehicle production but shifted its attention toward trucks, including fire trucks, rather than continuing the LuLu cyclecar as a major product line. LuLu therefore occupies a narrowly defined place in American automotive history: it was not a long-running mass-market marque, but a brief cyclecar project within the broader development of the Kearns vehicle business. Its importance lies primarily in the transition it represented from Kearns's earlier experimental, friction-drive vehicles to a more conventional four-cylinder automobile with clutch and geared transmission. The brand is now defunct, and the available source material does not document a continuing corporate successor, surviving production, or a modern commercial presence.

History

The LuLu cyclecar was part of the vehicle-manufacturing activities of Charles Maxwell Kearns in Beavertown, Pennsylvania. Kearns founded his company in 1903. The available historical account describes him as the son of a buggy maker who possessed strong inventive ability despite having received little formal education. His early work involved fitting an engine to a buggy, followed by the development of increasingly elaborate automobiles and heavy trucks. Kearns's earlier automobiles were associated with the Kearns Kar Kompany. A company emblem depicted the words of the business within the outline of a grille derived from a 1907 high-wheeler runabout. The company promoted its early vehicle design with the claims “Valveless, Gearless, and Clutchless.” Those vehicles used an air-cooled, three-cylinder, two-stroke engine described as having a “porcupine head.” Power was transmitted through a friction-drive arrangement rather than a conventional gearbox. A flat flywheel on the engine engaged a rubber-lined steel drive wheel at right angles; the drive wheel could move along a shaft running parallel to the rear axle. Chains then transmitted power from the shaft to the rear wheels. The LuLu, introduced in 1914, marked a departure from that earlier mechanical layout. Its two-stroke engine was replaced by a more conventional four-cylinder monobloc engine operating on the four-stroke cycle. The friction drive was also replaced with a clutch and three-speed gearing. These changes gave the car a more familiar drivetrain and distinguished it from the simplest cyclecars, which were generally designed around minimal weight and mechanical complexity. The vehicle was promoted as “more than a cyclecar,” a positioning that presented it as a relatively substantial light automobile rather than merely a stripped-down economy vehicle. Production was reported at approximately 25 vehicles per week in 1914. The listed price was $450, although the available source does not provide a complete production total, sales breakdown, dealer network, or evidence of exports. LuLu manufacture continued into 1915 but was disrupted by the First World War. The interruption prevented the model from developing into a long-running automobile line. After the war, the Kearns business resumed production but changed direction. Rather than returning to sustained LuLu cyclecar manufacture, it concentrated on trucks, including fire trucks. This strategic and product shift effectively ended the LuLu's role as a continuing passenger-vehicle brand. The available account does not identify a later owner, successor brand, surviving corporate structure, or modern revival. LuLu is consequently best understood as a brief Pennsylvania cyclecar marque associated with the early twentieth-century Kearns vehicle enterprise.

1915
LuLu production ended
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
LuLu production was curtailed during the First World War, ending the model's short manufacturing run.
1914
LuLu cyclecar introduced
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
The LuLu entered production with a four-cylinder monobloc engine, clutch, and three-speed transmission.
1914
Production reached approximately 25 vehicles per week
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
The available historical account reports a production rate of about 25 LuLu vehicles per week during 1914.
1907
Earlier Kearns high-wheeler represented in company branding
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
The Kearns Kar Kompany used a logo incorporating the outline of a grille associated with a 1907 high-wheeler runabout.
1903
Kearns vehicle company founded
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
Charles Maxwell Kearns founded the company that later produced the LuLu, following earlier experiments with engine-powered buggies and vehicle construction.
Postwar shift toward trucks
[1]LuLuen.wikipedia.org
After the war, the company resumed manufacturing but focused on trucks, including fire trucks, instead of continuing the LuLu as a passenger vehicle.

Products and positioning

An affordable but more conventionally engineered alternative to very basic cyclecars, emphasizing a four-cylinder engine, clutch, and three-speed transmission.

Cyclecar · 1914
LuLu
The LuLu was a light automobile introduced in 1914 by the Kearns Motor Truck Company. Although marketed as more than a basic cyclecar, it retained the compact positioning associated with the category. Its main engineering distinction from earlier Kearns vehicles was the adoption of a four-cylinder monobloc four-stroke engine, a clutch, and a three-speed transmission in place of the earlier two-stroke and friction-drive arrangement. It was produced in Pennsylvania during 1914 and 1915, at a reported rate of approximately 25 vehicles per week in 1914, before wartime disruption ended the program.

Brand decisions

1914
Adoption of a conventional four-cylinder drivetrainGeneration change
Background
The LuLu followed earlier Kearns vehicles that used a three-cylinder two-stroke engine and friction-drive transmission.
Action taken
Kearns replaced the earlier mechanical concept with a four-cylinder monobloc engine, clutch, and three-speed gearing for the LuLu.
Aftermath
The change positioned the LuLu as a more substantial and conventionally engineered cyclecar, but the model's production was later disrupted by the First World War.
Source
Postwar move from cyclecars to trucksStrategy
Background
Wartime disruption ended the LuLu's short production period.
Action taken
After resuming operations following the war, the company shifted its manufacturing emphasis to trucks, including fire trucks.
Aftermath
The LuLu did not return as a continuing passenger-car line, and the brand became defunct.
Source

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Sources18 sources