Brewster & Co.
| Industry | Coachbuilding |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1810 in New Haven, Connecticut |
| Founder | James Brewster |
| Defunct | August 17, 1937 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York , United States |
Brewster & Company was an American custom carriage and motorcar coachbuilder. James Brewster established the company in 1810 which operated for approximately 130 years. Brewster got its start in New Haven, Connecticut, and quickly gained a reputation for producing the best carriages in the country. In 1827, he set his shop at 52 Broad Street in New York City.
The earliest known automotive bodywork done by Brewster was on an electric vehicle in 1896, followed by a Delaunay-Belleville chassis with a gasoline engine in 1905. They eventually constructed bodywork on a variety of chassis, winning a special partnership with Rolls-Royce America Inc. in Springfield, Massachusetts
Brewster built a series of elegant and pricey cars at their Long Island City facility between 1915 and 1925. In 1929, the Great Depression started, and sales of high-end vehicles decreased. In 1934–35, they built and sold luxury bodies on 135 Ford V8 chassis, but bankruptcy proceedings began in mid-1935 and the last of Brewster's assets were sold by auction in 1937.