Smithsonian Automobile Collection

This introductory text is pulled from the1957 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.

Cyclecars were small, inexpensive automobiles that resembled a cross between a car and a motorcycle. For a brief period in the mid-1910s, cyclecar enthusiasts believed that this type of vehicle offered the promise of personal mobility for the masses.
Description
Cyclecars were small, inexpensive automobiles that resembled a cross between a car and a motorcycle. For a brief period in the mid-1910s, cyclecar enthusiasts believed that this type of vehicle offered the promise of personal mobility for the masses. The two-passenger 1914 Twombly cyclecar cost $395, compared with $450 for a 1914 Ford Model T runabout. Its manufacturer, W. Irving TwThe famous factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania was not the original location of Milton Snavely Hershey's candy-making enterprise. M.S. Hershey had attempted a number of business ventures in Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago before settling back in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the early 1890s, and opening a caramel candy making company. Twombly, was an airplane and automobile enthusiast who was attracted to the cyclecar fad. He established the Twombly Car Corporation in New York City in 1913 and served as a director of the Cyclecar Manufacturers National Association. Twombly claimed that his 1914 Light Underslung model could run at speeds up to 50 miles per hour and could travel 40 miles on a gallon of gasoline. Cyclecars attracted an avid following for about two years (1913-1915), but their usefulness was limited by weak, inefficient mechanical systems. Meanwhile the price of a Ford Model T continued to drop because of Ford's mass production methods. Soon it became evident that the Ford Model T fit the description of "a car for the masses" better than anything else on the road, and cyclecar sales declined. By 1915 Twombly's company was bankrupt.
The long, narrow body of the 1914 Twombly cyclecar held a driver and one passenger seated behind the driver. The wheelbase is 100 inches, and the tread is only 38 inches. The four-cylinder, 15-horsepower engine is water-cooled; most cyclecars had air-cooled engines. Friction transmission and chain drive provided power to the rear wheels. The Twombly cyclecar weighs only 700 pounds.
The cyclecar craze of the mid-1910s was an attempt to democratize automobile ownership by manufacturing cars that were smaller, less expensive, and more economical to maintain and operate than standard touring cars and runabouts. One headline about the advent of cyclecars proclaimed, "Poor Man's Auto is Here at Last." Scores of companies built and sold two-passenger cars with belt drive or chain drive transmission. Advocates claimed that a cyclecar was better suited to muddy or rutted roads because of its light weight and narrow profile. Some cyclecars, including Twombly, were so narrow that they had tandem seating (one seat behind the other). Unorthodox mechanical features installed on cyclecars included wooden brakes, friction transmission, and an air-cooled engine placed in the rear, but these systems did not work well. Soon it became apparent that the cyclecar was not a viable solution to personal transportation needs and could not compete with the mass-market Ford Model T. Despite its ultimate failure, the cyclecar fad reflects intense interest in the promise of motorized mobility and a quixotic, grass-roots effort to build small cars that were equal to standard production cars at a fraction of the cost.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1914
maker
Twombly Car Corporation
ID Number
1980.0558.01
accession number
1980.0558
catalog number
1980.0558.01
accession number
1980.0058

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.