1900 Locomobile


View Full Screen
 

 

  • Owner: Richard C. Paine, Jr. Automobile Charitable Trust
  • Manufacturer: Locomobile Company of America (Watertown, MA & Bridgeport, CT, 1899-1932)
  • Model: Style 03
  • Bodystyle: Victoria Runabout
  • Cost New: $900
  • Number produced: 767
  • Engine: Two-cylinder engine with 14” 21 gallon boiler
  • Horsepower: 3.4
  • Transmission: none
  • Wheelbase: 58
  • Brakes: Via steam engine
  • Additional info: In 1899, the Stanley brothers sold their business to John Brisben Walker, publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine, for the then-huge sum of $250,000. Walker got his backing from Lorenzo Barber, the asphalt king. They renamed the company Locomobile, but the two partners soon quarreled and parted ways. Barber and his son in law, Samuel Todd Davis continued the Locomobile business and product line, moving it to Bridgeport CT in 1902. Locomobile was put into production almost immediately, and by 1902, had sold 5,200 units, making them the largest producer of automobiles in America. Steam car technology in 1902 had its limits and Davis, aware of such limitations, began talking with his father in law about making plans for a gas powered motor car. The market for the Locomobile steam car dwindled. During 1904 it sold only 200 steam cars. Davis ended production and sold the remainder of the steam car business and all the Stanley patents back to the Stanley brothers for $20,000.