Northeastern Engineer and Craft

Northeastern Engineering and Crafting (Shinasthana: 上東造專機作, danq-twang-skuks-twran-dring-dzak), usually doing business as Northeastern Motors, is primarily a car manufacturer based in Themiclesia. By sales volume, it is the largest car company in that country.

The company was founded in 1883 as an firm designing and building machines and first built its own road-purpose engine in 1901. From 1904, the company regularly took orders to build engines to vehicle frames, initially specializing in steam engines and then making the transition to petrol engines in the mid-20s. Steam engine production ceased in 1936. The company's long-standing models include the Standard Car, Grand Tourer, Resonation, and Asteroid.

History

Steamers

Following the expansion of the application of engine power to many industries, the concept of non-railway steam engines was initially developed in Casaterra and found its way to Themiclesia in the last years of the 19th century. As the market for such small, mobile steam engines had not yet been explored, NEC hopped to the chance to develop its market niche and escape the intensifying competition of engineering firms in industrializing Themiclesia. The company thus made its A vehicle in 1901 for its director Hi-mri Kyu; however, Kyu retired in 1902, and the steam car project was temporarily suspended while the company adjusted to new management. The suspension continued into 1903 as successive large orders arrived from non-car-related business.

In 1904, seeking new business, the company publicly advertised its "superlatively extensive experience in the building and adjustment of road steam engines" (which ostensibly consisted of only one vehicle) and solicited orders for engines, typically priced at ₤1,000. But NEC sold only the frame with powerplant attached, and customers were expected to furnish their own car bodies to NEC, which would attach it to the frame. Between 1904 and 1913, the company developed several standard patterns (serialized A through D) for its engines, consisting of two cylinders driving the front axle, a boiler, and a condenser; the frame, however, was mutable to accommodate the body the customer specified. 221 cars were delivered over the next 10 years, becoming one of NEC's primary trades. The company's car strategy was to create "a reliable replacement for the private horse carriage".

In 1914, the engine pattern E was finalized and installed first on vehicle 282, dramatically improving condensation performance and thus reducing the need to replenish water. In 1914, NEC made its initial foray into internal combustion engines with the EM-1, which stood for "experimental motor". Then, the following year, the EM-7 appeared, but it is unclear if EM-2 through EM-6 ever existed, even as shop drawings, since the company's ledgers did not record any expenses on them. In view of the EM-7's performance (never properly attached to a body), the board concluded that petrol engines were ill-suited as a replacement for horse and carriage and redoubled the company's focus on steam technology. The EM-7 was then sold as scrap, but the scrap metal dealer spotted the engine and instead resold it to Coastal Motors, which was interested in competing engine designs.

The company's prospects dramatically shifted with the company's directors swapping some of their shares with Excelsior Motor, resulting in a collaborative resurrection of NEC's petrol engine in 1921. The resulting engine was built at NEC's shop but christened the Excelsior 25, as it maximally developed 25 horsepower. Internationally, however, steam cars were waning in importance as gasoline cars had become much cheaper to manufacture. Nevertheless, NEC's shop continued to take orders for steam vehicles until as late as 1936. During the last decade of steam car manufacture, they were known as "dowager cars" as wealthy old women seemed most inclined to their serener operation than obtained in contemporary petrol cars. Empress-dowager Gwits placed one of the final orders. Though the operation of steam cars were more complex, this did not matter to their owners, which invariably had chauffeurs.

There is some disagreement whether steam car production would have ceased anyway in 1936, if not for the industrial and economic controls occasioned by total war. The company did not lose money on most of its cars and still made a positive return on them, on the whole, in the 1930s. All the company's steam vehicles were made to order, and craftsmen, when not working on steam vehicles, could be employed elsewhere in the company's large portfolio in engineering. Over the 30 or so years of the company's car production, it delivered 5,245 steam vehicles, the final one leaving the shop on November 30, 1937.

Petrol cars

Despite the company's earlier dismissal of petrol cars as monstrosities, by the early 20s the view from the top had changed considerably. New manufacturing techniques employed in Casaterra were making petrol cars much cheaper to produce, and imports were threatening to crowd out the 20 or so car-manufacturing workshops in Themiclesia.