a block test of 48 hours. The engines were tested for speed on the Vanderbilt track in Long Island. Other road tests included driving on bumpy surfaces, in sand, and in the mountains. In total, each engine was tested for the equivalent of 5,000 miles of travel before going to the customer. "The car had to be right or Mr. Crane would not send it out," according to Walter B. Reynolds who was chief of the final road testing department for Simplex-Crane. Each Crane-Simplex was custom-built and high-priced for its era; the chassis was introduced at $5,000 () in 1915, increased to $6,000 in 1917, and to $7,000 () in 1918. The Model 5 chassis included a complete dashboard with instrumentation, front fenders, trimmed running boards, Goodrich Silvertown cord tires, an electric horn, headlamps, a reel-mounted trouble lamp, taillamp, a jack, and tools. Based on the company's catalog, customers could choose between a limousine, landaulette-limousine, touring landaulette, and enclosed bodied coach to add to their chassis. However, the seven-passenger touring model by Brewster & Company coachworks was the only body that went into regular production. Other coachbuilders for Crane-Simplex customers include A. T. Demarest and Co., Healey & Co., and Holbrook Co. Adding a coach to the chassis cost $1,500 for the seven-passenger touring body or $2,000 for a custom coach. In 1916, one of the company's executives noted, "We make the highest price car in the world." However, it did have a market; as Horseless Age magazine wrote in its review of the Simplex-Crane Model 5, "There are always people who want only the very best and are willing to pay a good price for what to the ordinary purchaser may seem minor advantages." John D. Rockefeller purchased two Simplex-Crane Model 5 cars, decked with summer and winter bodies. Other owners of a Crane-Simplex automobile include Alfred Atmore Pope, Theodate Pope Riddle, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Herbert L. Satterlee, and Frederick William Vanderbilt. In 1936, Satterlee invited Crane to drive his Simplex-Crane Model 5 as its speedometer turned to 300,000 miles. In October 1915, the Wright Company of Garwood, New Jersey entered into an agreement to purchase Crane-Simplex. Car production at New Brunswick ceased in October 1917 as Wright began making airplane engines for World War I. In all, 467 Simplex Crane Model 5s were produced. In January 1920, the Mercer Motor Company of Trenton, NJ under the control