Smithsonian Automobile Collection

This introductory text is pulled from the 1957 Smithsonian Publication "Automobiles and Motorcycles in the U.S. National Museum" written by curator Smith Hempstone Oliver.
At present a large number of collections of antique automobiles exist in the United States. Most are small, reflecting the discoveries of private collectors; but more than a few are large, representing considerable effort by either individuals or organizations. None contains so many actual automotive milestones, however, as that housed in the U. S. National Museum, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C.
This collection includes, for example, the Duryea car, built in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is universally considered to be the first American automobile driven by an internal-combustion engine. For those who endorse the claim of Elwood Haynes and the Apperson brothers, it also includes the first vehicle produced as a result of their genius. Neither of these cars would be of much use to the collector who might wish to operate them, but they are the two most important very early gasoline vehicles built in this country.
As most of us know, the internal-combustion-engine vehicle was not the first self-propelled vehicle to travel the public road. Long before the appearance of the first Daimler, Benz, or Duryea gasoline automobiles, steam wagons of various forms were built. Recent acquisitions of the Smithsonian's National Museum that come under this heading are the Roper steam velocipede of the late 1860's and the Long steam tricycle of 1879-1881. While much more recent than the Cugnot three-wheeled gun tractor of 1770, still preserved in Paris, these are very early as far as American development is concerned, and are of unusual interest in themselves. Probably the most elusive of automotive treasures are the early racing cars, which were always few in number. The hazardous nature of their use saw to it that few remained for many years. It is astounding, therefore, that the Winton "Bullets" Nos. 1 and 2 both are to be found in the Smithsonian collection. These machines share with Henry Ford's "999" and the Peerless "Green Dragon" the honor of writing the first chapters in the romance of automobile racing here, a story still being lived on the concrete of Sebring and the bricks of Indianapolis.
Less spectacular, but no less important, are the examples of the first models of such well-known American automobiles as the Oldsmobile, Franklin, Cadillac, and Autocar. These were among the very first cars offered to the buying public by their makers, and on their acceptance the industry was destined to rise or fall. Ask any collector to choose which car in the Smithsonian collection he would like to own, and he would name the Simplex. With the Mercer Raceabout and the Stutz Bearcat, the chain-drive Simplex Speed Car is the most sought after of early automobiles. It represents all that is grand in the cars of the brassbound era a truly mighty engine and beautiful, clean lines. Only a few of these cars remain today, and this is one of the best.
Regardless of the tides of human fortune, the really worthwhile early machines are being preserved. So many important relics from the dawn of the industry have already disappeared that now, more than ever, must those remaining be saved, to be marveled at by future generations.


-
1902 Franklin automobile
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1902
- purchased
- H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
- maker
- H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Co.
- ID Number
- TR.311195
- accession number
- 143470
- catalog number
- 311195
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Haynes automobile, 1894
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1894
- Associated Name
- Apperson, Edgar
- Apperson, Elmer
- maker
- Haynes, Elwood
- ID Number
- TR.262135
- catalog number
- 262135
- accession number
- 52009
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1989 Chevrolet Blazer Automobile
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1989
- maker
- General Motors Corporation
- ID Number
- 2010.3077.01
- catalog number
- 2010.3077.01
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3077
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1902 White steam automobile
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1901
- date made
- 1902
- maker
- White Sewing Machine Co.
- White Co.
- ID Number
- TR.309497
- catalog number
- 309497
- accession number
- 101849
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Balzer gasoline automobile, 1894
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- TR.181658
- catalog number
- 181658
- accession number
- 1899.35051
- 35051
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1903 Oldsmobile gasoline automobile
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1903
- maker
- Olds Motor Works
- ID Number
- TR.312854
- catalog number
- 312854
- accession number
- 167743
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1900 Locomobile steam automobile
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1900
- ID Number
- TR.309639
- catalog number
- 309639
- accession number
- 106490
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Balzer automobile, 1894
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1894
- ID Number
- TR.181658 [dup1]
- catalog number
- 181658
- accession number
- 35051
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1898 Winton Automobile
- Description
- This is the first production car that Alexander Winton sold. One of America’s earliest automobile manufacturers, Winton had repaired and sold bicycles in the 1890s, then began producing gasoline cars in Cleveland for affluent Americans who wanted to try the new thrill of driving. Robert Allison, a retired machinist in Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, purchased this car. Winton vehicles became known for their quality and rugged durability; Alexander Winton fielded several race cars in the early 1900s, and H. Nelson Jackson made the first transcontinental automobile trip in a 1903 Winton touring car. The Winton Motor Carriage Company made cars until 1924. The Winton Engine Company, a successor company, donated the 1898 car to the Smithsonian Institution in 1929.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1898
- maker
- Winton Engine Company
- ID Number
- TR.309601
- accession number
- 105119
- catalog number
- 309601
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Kelsey and Tilney gasoline automobile, 1899
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1899
- maker
- Kelsey, Carl W.
- Tilney, I. Sheldon
- Kelsey, Carl W.
- Tilney, I. Sheldon
- ID Number
- TR.308029
- catalog number
- 308029
- accession number
- 69850
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Rauch & Lang Electric Automobile, 1914
- Description
- The Rauch and Lang Carriage Company of Cleveland, Ohio built this automobile in 1915. The car was donated to the Smithsonian in 1929. Rauch and Lang cars were expensive vehicles and were often owned by rich urban women. According to a 1913 Washington Post article, Rauch and Lang automobiles were easy to drive, and the company's product was "the one best adapted for driving by women and children." This electrically powered automobile is a four-passenger brougham, with plum-colored upholstery, solid tires, and a tiller for steering. The Smithsonian's example was donated to the collection by the wife of William C. Gorgas, who had been Surgeon General of the Army and died in 1920. It is likely that she used the vehicle rather than him. Like a number of automakers, notably Studebaker, the Rauch and Lang Company started out making coaches and carriages.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1914
- previous owner
- Gorgas, William Crawford
- maker
- Rauch & Lang Carriage Co.
- ID Number
- TR.309622
- catalog number
- 309622
- accession number
- 106301
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1904 Columbia Electric Automobile
- Description
- Dr. John Oscar Skinner, superintendent of the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C., drove this runabout from 1906 to 1932. Physicians and affluent women in many cities bought electric cars because they were clean, quiet, comfortable, and easy to operate. Cities and larger towns had power grids that provided electricity to recharge car batteries. But electric cars were expensive, and electricity rates were high. Maintaining batteries was a complicated, hazardous task often left to a commercial garage. Low mileage between charges and the absence of electric power in rural areas further limited the market for electric cars as Americans drove longer distances.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1904
- maker
- Electric Vehicle Co.
- ID Number
- TR.310575
- catalog number
- 310575
- accession number
- 123348
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
White Automobile Steam Engine
- Description
- The White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland, Ohio, began making steam powered automobiles in 1900. Cleveland was a center of early American automobile production. Other manufacturers in the city included the Winton Motor Car Company, The Cleveland Motor Car Company, and the Peerless Motor Car Company. White Steamers became a popular brand of steam car. Founder Thomas White’s sons Rollin, Windsor, and Walter, were all auto enthusiasts, and helped get the company into the automobile industry.
- In November 1906, the automaking part of the business split off into a separate company, named the White Company. After 1911, the company stopped making Steamers and focused on producing gasoline driven engines. Over the course of their steam-making career, the company produced 9,122 White Steamers. In 1918, the company stopped making cars (except if they were specially ordered) and concentrated on making trucks. It still makes trucks and buses.
- The first auto manufacturers were bicycle and carriage makers, metalworkers, and machinists. In the 1900s and 1910s, hundreds of new companies created cars of varying price and quality in limited numbers. Early automobiles—reflecting the fluid state of the emerging industry—were built with steam, electric, or internal combustion engines. Still, between the 1890s and 1920s, a standard automotive design emerged out of the competition between steam, electric, and internal-combustion cars. Manufacturers chose engines, drive trains, and accessories that they thought would attract buyers or make cars more powerful, cheaper, or easier to operate. The front-engine, shaft-driven internal-combustion car appeared by 1901 and became the norm, particularly after the Ford Motor Company's Model T grabbed a large part of the market share. Steam cars and electric cars fell out of favor and mostly disappeared from the market in the 1920s.
- ID Number
- TR.312596
- accession number
- 163014
- catalog number
- 312596
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Riker Electric Automobile, ca. 1900
- Description
- Andrew Riker was one of several electric vehicle enthusiasts who rose to prominence in the early automobile manufacturing industry. In 1884, when Riker was a teenager, he designed and built a three-wheeled electric tricycle. Four years later, he established the Riker Electric Motor Company in Brooklyn, New York to manufacture motors and dynamos. The Riker Electric Vehicle Company, which he founded in 1899, built more than a dozen types of electric cars and trucks. In the early 1900s, most cars were small and open, but the owners of the Smithsonian’s ca. 1900 Riker electric demi-coach, Herbert and Martha Wadsworth, were born to wealth and could afford a large, enclosed car, even though it was at the upper end of the price range. Herbert inherited vast acres of farm land in upstate New York, and he managed a creamery and flour mill. Martha’s father, Henry Blow, developed mining interests in Missouri and became a leading figure in the industrial and commercial development of St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth spent the winters in Washington, D. C. and mingled with the city’s social elite. In 1902, they built a Beaux Arts mansion on Washington’s fashionable Dupont Circle. They equipped it with modern conveniences: electricity in every room, dual steam radiator and forced air heat, a refrigerated room cooled with ice, and the most up-to-the-minute form of urban transportation, an electric automobile. Working with their architect, they designed a ground floor tunnel that substituted for a porte-cochere (exterior shelter over a driveway). With no tailpipe emissions, the Riker rolled safely and silently through the depths of the mansion, and it carried Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth through Washington’s winter weather in relative comfort. An “automobile room,” one of the first indoor garages in Washington, was equipped with battery charging equipment and a car wash to keep the Riker ready for use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- inventor
- Riker, Andrew Lawrence
- maker
- Riker Electric Vehicle Company
- ID Number
- TR.310470
- catalog number
- 310470
- accession number
- 118161
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1914 Twombly cyclecar
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1914
- ID Number
- 1980.0058.01
- accession number
- 1980.0058
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1927 Ford Model T sedan, railroad inspection car
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1927
- through
- Wilhite, Sam Y.
- maker
- Ford Motor Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0831.01
- accession number
- 1984.0831
- catalog number
- 1984.0831.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1912 Pierce-Arrow runabout
- Location
- Currently on loan
- Date made
- 1912
- maker
- Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company
- ID Number
- TR.326222
- catalog number
- 326222
- accession number
- 255546
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Olds Motor Wagon, 1897
- Location
- Currently on loan
- date made
- 1897
- ID Number
- TR.286567
- accession number
- 57967
- catalog number
- 286567
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Budweiser Rocket, 1979
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1979
- ID Number
- 1982.0648.01
- accession number
- 1982.0648
- catalog number
- 1982.0648.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
1901 Pierce Motorette
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1901
- ID Number
- TR.326221
- accession number
- 255546
- catalog number
- 326221
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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