Duryea in Chicago

1895 · Petrol Racing Car · Work 276 of 1,871

Duryea in Chicago, 1895, Petrol Racing Car

The Duryea motor wagon on a snow covered road toward Evanston during the Chicago Times-Herald race, sleigh ruts ahead of the wheels, umpire seated beside the driver, tiller in hand.

What it was used for
The car was entered by the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, driven by J. Frank Duryea, with Arthur W. White as umpire. It was not a working vehicle but an advertising run in the contest announced by the Chicago Times-Herald of publisher H. H. Kohlsaat, whose paper also paid 500 dollars for the winning name, "motocycle". Scientific American reported on 7 December 1895 that of "nearly one hundred machines entered" only six started on 28 November, that the snow was "12 inches deep in places", and that Duryea covered the 54 miles in 10 hours 23 minutes, about five miles an hour. This car became the 1896 series of thirteen identical vehicles - after which the firm was finished: Frank sold his interest in 1898 and the company closed.
What was new
This was not the first automobile and was not sold as one: the field included three cars built by Karl Benz and two electric cars, and Scientific American itself wrote that the short preparation time had told against American builders compared with "the skilled construction of the most experienced French and German makers". What the same issue singled out was the arrangement of two wholly independent motors - "one will propel the carriage even if accident affects the other" - plus four forward speeds, a reverse and electric ignition. Steering was still by lever: "steered and speeded by the same lever". Only the narrower claim holds, and it comes from a museum: The Henry Ford calls the 1896 runabout the first series-produced automobile made in the United States, thirteen of them.

Further reading