Founder Martin Andrew Leach Products Power-Plus Six | Defunct 1924 (1924) | |
Industry Automobile manufacturing Founded Los Angeles, California, United States (1919 (1919)) Headquarters Los Angeles, California, United States | ||
Leach-Biltwell Motor Company designed, engineered, manufactured, and distributed luxury automobiles in the early 1920s. They used a Continental 303.1 cubic inch inline six-cylinder engine. Some of the advanced features of the Power-Plus Six included a tilt and telescoping steering column, removable steering wheel (to be used as an anti-theft feature) and a directional signal/stop light box on the rear fender (with the control switch on the dashboard).
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Power-Plus Six was the pillarless "California top" that was a popular accessory for open touring cars in the 1920s. This top effectively made the car a "hardtop," thirty years before the hardtop-convertible became a popular body style in the United States. Body styles included both two and four door models.
Leach cars were high-priced for the day, and the company found itself in financial hot water by 1923. It closed its shutters in early 1924 after a grand total of about 250 cars (chassis with and without factory bodies) were produced.