Brewster & Co.
Brewster & Company was a famous American coachbuilder that started with fancy carriages and later built luxury car bodies. It was founded in 1810 by James Brewster in New Haven, Connecticut, and by 1827 it moved its main shop to New York City.
The firm earned a reputation for high-quality carriages and slowly moved into early automobile bodywork. They did early work on an electric vehicle in 1896 and on a Delaunay-Belleville chassis in 1905. Brewster also built bodies for Rolls-Royce cars in the United States and produced elegant cars at a Long Island City plant from 1915 to 1925, often using English-sounding names for their models.
When the Great Depression struck, sales of luxury cars fell. In 1934 they built bodies for 135 Ford V8 chassis, but financial troubles continued. The company entered bankruptcy in 1935, and its assets were sold at auction in 1937. Rolls-Royce’s American operations also changed during this period.
Brewster produced a wide range of vehicles—from small pony carts to large road coaches—and earned awards for craftsmanship in the 19th century. Today, some Brewster carriages and early cars survive in museums as reminders of the company’s stylish designs.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:38 (CET).