This 1899 Columbia Electric Landaulet sold at auction this past summer for $550,000.
Darin Schnabel/RM Auctions
Classic cars 1899 Columbia Electric Landaulet
1899 electric car (yes, that’s right) sells for $550,000
bob english
Friday, Sep. 16, 2011 6:00AM EDT
If you’re looking for a way to electrify your driving experience you can opt for one of Nissan’s shiny new latest-tech all-electric Leafs for about $40,000 or you could keep an eye open for a good used model.
But be warned there aren’t many around as it’s been a century since pure electric cars have been built in any numbers and, as a result, resale value can be a tad high. An 1899 Columbia Electric Landaulet, for example, changed hands this past summer at an RM Auctions sale, setting an electric vehicle record of $550,000.
That’s quite a premium over a Leaf considering the latest owner of the Columbia might expect a range of perhaps 60 kilometres versus the estimated 160 for the Leaf. And the Leaf can wind itself up to 140 km/h while the Columbia can only manage about 20 km/h. The Leaf driver also gets to sit inside, unlike Columbia’s high and out in the open buckboard-like chauffeur’s perch. The Leaf doesn’t have that neat landaulet three-way-folding roof to let passengers enjoy a little fresh air and sunshine, though.
One thing Leaf buyers and purchasers of early Columbia electrics likely do share in spite of the century separating them is the feeling they were/are riding into a new era powered by the fuel of the future. For the Columbia owner, this notion was short-lived.
Electrical World and Engineer magazine in 1900 noted that electrics were the first vehicles to prove themselves in North America and that “it is generally conceded the electric vehicle in urban service where the mileage limitations of storage batteries need not be considered, has no rival.” But the author also felt gasoline-fuelled vehicles were more practical in most other areas of usage.
Although battery power meant the Columbia owner didn’t have to put up with nasty smelly gasoline and its rough, unreliable and noisy early engines, or deal with smooth but fiddly to operate and potentially explosive steam power, advancing technology meant it was gasoline that soon emerged as the dominant automotive power source.
Which it still is, and to the chagrin of modern electric vehicle enthusiasts, will likely remain for decades to come. Range was, and still is, the key issue. That led to electric car sales peaking by the early 1910s, fading away in the 1920s and essentially disappearing by the 1930s.
But as the century was turning, the electric car business was humming – electrics outselling gas and steam cars combined – and Pope Manufacturing Co., the biggest bicycle builder in the United States, was enjoying the fruits of its pioneering electric car efforts.
In the mid-1890s, founder Colonel Albert Pope had hired engineer Hiram Percy Maxim, the son of the inventor of the fully automatic machine gun, who had designed something that produced loud repetitive bangs himself, a three-cylinder engine he used to power a tricycle.
Working for Pope, he soon re-jigged this into an electric-powered four-wheeler that the company began producing in 1897 under the Columbia name. By 1904, the newly created Columbia Automobile Co. of Hartford was selling 22 electric and three gas models.
Things were also getting a little complicated on the business side with Pope and various partners involved in the notorious Selden Patent, which claimed design rights on all automobiles and was used to hold the industry up for licensing contributions. It was subsequently overturned.
With its Selden cash-flow gone, the Columbia company then became a pawn in another grandiose auto empire building scheme, but with interest in electrics waning and facing other problems, it was forced to close its doors in 1913. Just 27,000 Columbia-badged vehicles in total were built.
Designer Maxim – an early amateur “ham” radio pioneer and also responsible for creation of the gasoline-powered Columbia models – later parlayed muffler development into the invention of the “silencer” for rifles and pistols.
Columbia electrics, like the 1899 Landaulet, were already more or less silent, of course, which was a large part of their appeal to a mostly genteel clientele interested in being sedately chauffeured around town in the company’s offerings that year. These included Broughams, Surreys, Phaetons, Dos a Dos, various styles of physicians’ carriages, Runabouts, delivery wagons and, it appears, the one-off Electric Landaulet.
This horseless town carriage with its unique three-way-opening-top body design was built on a tubular frame with solid axles front and rear suspended on fore-and-aft mounted leaf springs. It was powered by a pair of 2-hp Edison DC motors mounted at the rear with band brakes operating on their armature shafts.
Weight was 3,000 pounds or so with the batteries accounting for about half of that. These were recharged by a system that ensured they weren’t undercharged – “starved” – or overcharged. An alloy plug was inserted into the controller beside the driver to complete the electrical circuitry and he could select from four speed ranges: three, six, 11 and 13 mph.
The Landaulet was apparently delivered to the Stevens Institute of Technology in New York where it was tested, and then used to convey officials around town before being sold to a Charleston-area plantation owner who used it for a few years and then put it into storage.
It emerged in 1976 and was fully restored to its current condition, its brilliant black finish highlighted by red pinstriping and red leather upholstery.
Back in 1899
Henry Bliss becomes the first person in North America to be fatally injured by an automobile when he steps off a New York streetcar and into the path of an electric taxi.
New York's newspaper boys – the “newsies” who hawk copies of the city's dailies to earn 30 cents for a long day – go on strike for two weeks.
German sewing machine and bicycle maker Adam Opel AG begins building automobiles.
The American Lines SS St. Paul becomes the first ship to announce her arrival by “wireless” after making contact from 66 miles at sea with a Marconi station in England.
Charles Murphy sets a cycling speed record, covering a mile in less than a minute while drafting a railway boxcar on a track laid between the rails on Long Island.
globedrive@globeandmail.com
Roper Steam Cycle set to become most expensive motorcycle ever sold at auction
By Mike Hanlon
04:32 October 28, 2011
One of the world's most valuable motorcycles will go under the hammer early next year. It was hand-built by American inventor Sylvester H. Roper, one of two people with legitimate claims of inventing the motorcycle.
Though built in 1894, 27 years after the first Roper Steam Motorcycle, the machine is one of a very small number of motorcycles built by Roper (around nine), and was ridden by him regularly before his death in 1896 - he died of a heart attack while demonstrating a bike very similar to that which will be auctioned.
The Roper Steam Cycle hence has a provenance of massive historical importance, and is expected to establish a new world record for a motorcycle sold at auction in Las Vegas on January 12 - 14.
There are two contenders for the world's first motorcycle, each with a raft of supporters. Frenchman Pierre Michaux and American inventor Sylvester Roper can both lay claim to having built the world's first motorcycle, though some argue neither are eligible.
Some very esteemed writers on the subject contend that two-wheelers with steam engines and/or electric engines don't qualify as motorcycles. In the consistently excellent TheVintagent, Paul d'Orléans takes the same line that I do - any form of motive power will do, and I have not done enough research on the subject, I'll call it a tie until there's more information.
My favourite all-time motorcycle writer, Kevin Cameron, accepts only the internal combustion engine for a motorcycle, writing "History follows things that succeed, not things that fail."
In a few decades, the internal combustion engine will also fail, and be replaced by another cleaner power source, and I am sure that the last 125 years will not be erased from the history books, so that's just erroneous thinking. If Cameron is correct, the first motorcycle was built by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885.
There's another school of thought that says Michaux should be credited with the first motorcycle design because he patented his in 1869, even though there's no record of a running vehicle prior to 1871. That's it above.
Roper's first machine (pictured above) unquestionably ran on public roads in 1867 though, and it seems unfair to exclude what was clearly a working design simply because it didn't have a patent. Why he did not patent the machine, we will probably never know. Hence until more information comes along, I think it's fair that both be considered legitimate contenders.
Interestingly, both inventors can claim a number of other inventions and notable firsts.
Michaux learned his construction skills as a blacksmith but his design genius can be seen in the most prolific form of transport in history - the bicycle. His company, Michaux et Cie (Michaux and company), was the first company to construct bicycles with pedals (above) and his son Ernest fitted a small steam engine to one of the 'velocipedes' some time in 1867.
Also in 1867 (an idea whose time has come ...), American, Sylvester Roper of Massachusetts developed a twin cylinder steam velocipede with the conrods connected directly to the rear (driving) wheel, just as the world's first three wheeler, the Le Fardier de Cugnot had done in 1769 (though its driving wheel was at the front).
Roper was undoubtedly blessed with remarkable intelligence and mechanical aptitude. At age 12 in 1835, he read about the Newcomen steam engine and the development work being done around the world and built one of his own design, though he had never seen one. Indeed, he had built a full locomotive engine at age 14 (1837) before he saw another steam engine.
His first patent was filed just prior to his twentieth birthday in 1842, for a new and improved method for manufacturing padlocks and it appears he continued to develop not just patentable inventions, but manufacturing machinery throughout his life.
In 1854, he moved to Massechussets and began working at the Springfield Armory, America's sole producer of military equipment and one of the world's leading technological thinktanks at the time.
Established by George Washington, the Springfield Armory was America's first National Armory and the innovative nature of thinking there was responsible for many business innovations of global importance, including interchangeable parts, the mass-production assembly line style and hourly wages.
Roper was a prolific inventor across many fields, and as well as continuing his work on hot air engines (he was regularly seen on Massachusetts roads in his road-going steam car during 1863), he patented many versions of his vehicles.
One successful invention was a Handstitch Sewing Machine, though his work at Springfield Armory during the Civil War saw him join many of history's most fertile minds in producing battlefield weapons using the latest technologies available.
One of Roper's military inventions was the first shotgun choke - exchangeable, threaded, barrel-mounted venturi that could vary the shot spread to achieve maximum effectiveness in different conditions. Others included an improved repeating shotgun mechanism and an improved shotgun loading mechanism.
His first motorcycle of 1867, in the same year as Michaud's, was used the by the Hanlon Brothers during their travelling velo-gymnast displays at county fairs and the like.
The machine to be auctioned, is from Roper's second attempt at building a steam-powered two-wheeler. In 1894, a full decade and a half after Roper turned his hand to other business, he was commissioned by Albert Augustus Pope to build an updated Steam Velocipede based on Pope's 'Columbia' safety-bicycle frame.
The Columbia used pneumatic 'Dunlop' tires, and two such machines were built, one being the bike to go under the hammer on January 12 while the other on long-term display at the Smithsonian Institute.
Remarkably, it has a known, unbroken history from new. Regularly used by Roper, it averaged a record speed of 40 miles per hour on the Dorchester Road in Boston for a measured mile in May 1896.
Following Roper's passing in 1896, the motorcycle was sold by one of his heirs to a Long Island museum and after moving through a series of other museums, including America's Circus City Museum and Bellm's Cars of Yesterday, formed part of two prominent private collections. The current owner acquired the historic motorcycle in 1996 and has seldom lent it for display, with its most recent showing at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, where it helped to celebrate the induction of Sylvester Hayward Roper, America's first motorcyclist.
Auctions America Las Vegas Premier Motorcycle Auction will be held January 12 - 14, 2012 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, 3700 W. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, Nevada.
http://www.auctionsamerica.com/
The current world record for a motorcycle sold at auction is held jointly by a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer OHC, which sold for US$551,200 in 2008 and a Brough Superior SS100 which sold in October 2010 for GBP286,000.
http://www.gizmag.com/brough-superior-the-worlds-most-expensive-motorcycle/17318/
Due to currency fluctuations, the Brough Superior's GBP286,000 equated to US$450,188 at the time of its sale, while the Cyclone's US$551,200 equated to GBP278,400 in imperial currency. So there are two "most expensive" motorcycles at present and the Roper will almost certainly break both records if it meets reserve.
sk8norcal said:
AussieJester said:
sk8norcal said:
Rare Bikes and Plates Under the Hammer
MELBOURNE – Nov 14, 2011: Rare motorcycles and low-digit black and white number plates could outshine many of the classic cars at Shannons Melbourne Summer Auction next Monday, November 21.
Four of the 11 motorcycles in the auction are being sold with no reserve and five are sought-after Harley-Davidsons.
These range from a Veteran 1917 1000cc Solo in complete but ‘project’ condition (guiding range $7,000-$10,000), to a superb one owner 2002 FLSTCI Heritage Softail that has travelled just 3,580km from new on sunny weekends ($15,000-$18,000).
Another standout Harley in the auction of great interest to collectors is a 1928 Harley-Davidson J Model 1000cc with Sidecar outfit that has been in the current owner’s hands for the past 30 years.
The sidecar, which is in largely original condition and still displays some of its original paint, is believed to have been attached to the bike for most of its life, while the bike is fitted with front and rear lights, an electric horn, an original electric switch box and a rare 100Mph Stewart Warner Police speedometer with twin needles.
In recent years, the Harley has seen little use, but starts and runs and – with a little work – could be brought back to road use as a rally or club bike. It is expected to sell in the $14,000-$18,000 range.
Another very special motorcycle in Monday’s sale is a 1988 factory-verified Ducati 851 ‘Tricolour’ that has been converted to 888cc and has covered only around 3,949km from new.
Geoff Whitaker of Ducati Sydney originally imported the three-owner bike and to the vendor’s knowledge has never been raced. It is expected to sell in the $28,000-$34,000 range.
Shannons also have 12 very desirable three, four and five digit black and white Victorian Heritage number plates in Monday’s auction.
Standouts amongst the three-digit plates, which start at ‘317’ are the ‘Chevrolet Big Block’ plate ‘396’ and the ‘Boeing’ plate ‘787’ – ideal for frequent low-flyers!
The four-digit plates include ‘9.991’ – ideal for intending owners of Porsche’s new Type 991 Porsche 911 Carrera – while interesting numeric combinations for five-digit plate buyers are ‘11.222’, ’33.444’ and ’98.889’.
The three-digit plates are expected to sell in the $45,000-$75,000 range, four-digit plates should bring $15,000-$20,000 and five-digit $10,000-$16,000.
World’s Oldest Electric Car Gets Rebuilt, Driven (video)
November 20, 2011 By Jo Borras
Looking like the steampunk love-child of a Segway and an old English penny-farthing bicycle, Ayrton and Perry’s electric car offered its owners quiet operation and a top speed of 9 (nine) mph – courtesy of its 0.5kW vertical electric motor and 7.5Ah battery. Nine miles-per-hour may not seem too impressive today, but when the Ayrton and Perry electric was new – back in 1881 (!) – it was a sensation, easily matching the speed of horsedrawn carriages without the expense of stables and hands and without the black soot and dangerous crank-starting of the combustion-powered horseless carriages of the day.
The Ayrton and Perry electric shown here isn’t original (there are no surviving examples known), but it is a painstaking recreation by the German Autovision museum that used the original patent drawings to create this 100-point-perfect “recreation”, celebrating this electric-car milestone that was in production less than 18 months after Edison’s first electric lightbulb made its debut – and a full five years before Benz’ “first car”, three years before the first steam cars, and nearly twenty years before the first gas/electric hybrids (the 1900 Porsche Lohner hybrid) went on sale.
Perspective is pretty neat, eh?
Enjoy the video of Autovision’s Ayrton and Perry electric on the road (slowly), below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VBabxSba9w
[youtube]9VBabxSba9w[/youtube]
Source | Photos: Gizmag.
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sk8norcal said:
