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Duryea 1893-1917 - With drawbar

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Created in 2011

Text:

Roger Gloor

Photos:

Darin Schnabel - Courtesy RM Auctions

Darin Schnabel - courtesy of RM Auctions

Archiv

Darin Schnabel - Courtesy RM Auctions

Darin Schnabel - courtesy of RM Auctions

Archiv

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Duryea Four-Wheel Phaeton (1901) - sold at RM Auction Arizona (January 19 and 20, 2012) for USD 96,250

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Stevens-Duryea Model C-Six Five-Passenger Touring (1913) - as lot 208 at the RM Auction in Monterey on August 15/16, 2014

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Summary

There were around 10,000 car brands and designers - most of which have disappeared. Among these vanished brands is Duryea, which can be counted among the pioneers of automobile manufacturing, as the Duryea Motor Wagon Company was America's first factory for the production of gasoline cars.

Estimated reading time: 3min

Preview (beginning of the article)

It is not known who was the No. 1 among the 5,000 or so car designers in the USA. Among the first was one with Swiss roots: Henry Nadig, who motorized horse-drawn carriages from 1891. The brothers Charles E. and J. Frank Duryea were also pioneers: in 1893, they equipped a carriage with a single-cylinder engine and friction gearbox in Springfield, Massachusetts. The second carriage was built by Frank Duryea in Peoria, Illinois, and won a competition organized by the "Chicago Times-Herald" in 1895. In the same year, Charles founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in Springfield , America's first factory for the production of "gasoline cars" (automobiles with internal combustion engines)! Of the 13 belt-driven cars built, two started in the London-Brighton race in 1896, which Frank finished in first place.

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