William and George Pratt were the principals of Indiana’s Elkhart Carriage & Harness Manufacturing Company. In 1909 they began building a quality touring car, which they sold under the name Pratt-Elkhart. They dropped Elkhart from the name and began selling Pratt cars from their re-organized Pratt Motor Car Company. Then, later in 1915, they renamed the company once again as the Elkhart Carriage and Motor Car Company. Its product was called the “Elcar,” a four-cylinder car with a Lycoming engine that sold for $795. They advertised it as “The Car for the Many.”

The Pratts sold out to some Auburn executives in 1921 and retired, but Elcar manufacturing continued into 1931, latterly taxis, both for the Elkhart company and private-label cabs, among them Elfay, Martel, and Royal Martel, for other taxi-operating companies.

The Merrick Auto Museum acquired this Elcar Cloverleaf Roadster from Terry Trudell of Ortonville, Michigan, in 2006. Restored in red with black fenders, it has brown buttoned-leather seats. Front passengers have individual semi-bucket seating, with a narrow pass-through to the wide rear seat. There is a full black canvas touring top, which, when lowered, rests on the body’s curvaceous tail.

Power comes from a 35 hp Lycoming DXU L-head four driving through a dry-plate clutch to a three-speed sliding-gear transmission. Starting and lighting is via a Dyneto two-unit system, and the engine has Delco automatic spark advance. Cream wood artillery wheels are mounted with 32 × 3½ PJA Pneumatic blackwall tires.

“Cloverleaf” has a lucky ring to it. The new owner of this Elcar Cloverleaf roadster will be lucky indeed.