28 ❘ September5, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.comBrass Tracks
WITHBOBTOMAINET
here’s something wonder-
fully admirable about an
automaker self-confi dent
enough to advertise its cars
as the “best,” especially one that won’t
be laughed off the market in doing so.
“The Locomobile is the Best Auto-
mobile,” its builder claimed in an early
ad showing “a 3-1/2 H.P. Locomobile
climbing Roslyn Hill in the Long Island
Automobile Club contest, April 26th.
The Locomobile won the Class A cup
out of a fi eld of twenty-three American
and foreign machines.”
The same ad
touted the fact that
“at some recent tri-
als of the Automo-
bile Club of Ameri-
ca, the Locomobile
was stopped in 139
feet while traveling
at the rate of about
32 miles an hour.
This shows the won-
derful speed of the
Locomobile and the
effi cient system of
its brakes.”
In case anyone
accused the com-
pany of crossing thelinebetweencon-
fi dence and arrogance, it also explained
that “at a recent automobile run from
Paris to Nice (about 700 miles) a 3-1/2
H.P. Locomobile fi nished 3rd out of
about sixty machines, being preceded
only by two machines of greatly supe-
rior horse power.”
If it had crossed the line, that last
part probably would not have been
advertised, but regardless of how itviewed itself, Locomobile hadn’t sim-
ply appeared out nowhere. In fact, it
had something of a heritage from the
very start thanks to F.E. and F.O. Stan-
ley. Their steam car in 1899 caught the
attention of John Brisben Walker, whoboughttheircompanyfor$250,000and
brought in Amzi Lorenzo Barber as the
money man in return for half of the
company. The cars that had been begun
in Watertown, Mass., as Stanleys were
completed as Locomobiles. When the
Walker-Barber partnership fell apart,
Walker moved to Tarrytown, N.Y., to
build the same car as the Mobile.
That failed after about two years, but
Barber had retained control of Locomo-bile and in 1902, moved production to
Bridgeport, Conn. The Stanleys by then
had given up their consulting role at Lo-
comobile and resumed business on their
own, a move that was probably good for
everyone as late 1902 saw the arrival of
something unlike
any previous Loco-
mobile, a car pow-
ered by a gasoline
engine. Steam con-
tinued into 1904,
but “gasolene” Lo-
comobiles were the
future and advertis-
ing promised that
they were “equal to
the best imported
cars in material,
workmanship, and
finish, but better
adapted to Ameri-
can conditions.”
Twinsandfourswere available with
the two-cylinder Model C tonneau
serving as the entry-level Locomobile
at $2100; at about $58,600 in today’s
money, “entry-level” might not be the
best description, but it really was the
base Locomobile in the gasoline range.
Steam models were cheaper — a mere
$750 for the runabout — and those who
wanted one were running out of time as
1904 would be their last chance. TheLocomobile:
Best Since
Day One
Its reputation was already established
when Locomobile built this Type E
touring in 1908. At the time, it was
promoting itself as “the Most Reliable
American Car.”The Locomobile’s four-cylinder displaces 199 cubic inches and is rated at 20 hp.