In 1908, Walter Flanders, of the Ford Motor Company, had joined with Barney Everitt, who had built automobile bodies, and William Metzger, who has been called America’s first auto dealer. Together, Everett, Metzger and Flanders intended to mass-produce a medium-priced car to compete with Ford. Chief engineer William Kelly designed a 226 cubic inch, 30-hp engine, which was mounted on a channel-section chassis and ran through a three-speed rear-mounted transaxle.

Sales were encouraging, with more than 8,000 E-M-F automobiles produced in the first year. The Flanders 20 was selling in the $750 price range, which at the time was less than the Model T. Unfortunately, Ford kept lowering the price and Flanders could not compete so we will never know what could have been.