Columbia Electric Landaulet de 1899 aux enchères

ici on discute de tous ces précurseurs (quelques soit le nombre de roues) que sont les véhicules électriques routiers classés collection (+30 ans)

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ptitphoque
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Enregistré le : sam. 08 03 , 2008 22:08
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Columbia Electric Landaulet de 1899 aux enchères

Message par ptitphoque » jeu. 28 07 , 2011 19:16

Au hasard de mes recherches sur le net, j'ai trouvé un véhicule exceptionnel. C'est une voiture électrique de 1899 :shock:
Si un internaute fortuné pouvait l'acheter et nous faire partager ce petit bijou...

A voir chez RM Auctions

c. 1899 Columbia Electric Landaulet
[CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS]
Chassis No.
384
Estimate:
$250,000-$350,000 US
AUCTION DATE:
To be auctioned on
Friday, August 19, 2011
Mark XXXV. Dual direct-drive Edison DC motors, solid front and rear axles with full-elliptic leaf springs, and two-wheel mechanical brakes.

- Ex-James Cousens
- Elegant electric Landaulet
- Believed to be the only survivor
- Zero-emission horseless carriage!

Colonel Albert Pope had become the nation’s largest bicycle manufacturer, and he aimed to do the same with cars. In 1896, he completed an experimental electric car and the next year hired Hiram Percy Maxim to head the motor carriage department of the Pope Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut. By 1899, they had built several hundred more electrics under the Columbia name, which he also used for his bicycles.

Meanwhile, the Electric Vehicle Company had been started by Isaac L. Rice in New York City, with the intention of building electric taxicabs. Rice had managed to put several dozen in service, which performed quite well during the city’s blizzard of 1899. Financier William Collins Whitney took notice and bought the company.

Whitney needed a manufacturing base, so he went to see Colonel Pope. The result was the Columbia Automobile Company of Hartford, organized in 1899. The Electric Vehicle Company was to be a holding company for a series of taxicab operating firms that Whitney wanted to create. Whitney, moreover, had grander ideas.

That same year, he purchased the rights to the Selden Patent, a very broad assemblage of claims that George B. Selden, a Rochester, New York patent attorney, hoped to use to collect royalties from the burgeoning number of manufacturers of gasoline motor vehicles. Whitney and Pope maneuvered the Electric Vehicle Company into a holding company and began issuing licenses to the likes of Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile. The income from the Selden licenses provided positive cash flow for Electric Vehicle, which soon took over from Columbia Automobile Company as manufacturer of Columbia cars, which were being built in both electric and gasoline form.

By 1902, there were nine models of Columbia electrics, carrying such names as “Mark XXXI Elberon Victoria” and “Mark XXX Seabright Runabout,” as well as a single Mark VIII gasoline runabout. In 1904, there were 22 separate electric models and three gasoline cars. Gradually the gasoline models surpassed the electrics in production, and the Selden Patent cash cow was slain by Henry Ford, the one “outlaw” manufacturer wealthy enough to take on the Electric Vehicle Company. In 1911 the patent was ruled valid, but it was found that existing gasoline manufacturers were not infringing, since no one used the type of engine on which Selden had based his “invention.” The company name had been changed again, to Columbia Motor Car Company, but its time was short. In 1910 it became part of Benjamin Briscoe’s United States Motor Company, a failed attempt to emulate General Motors. The Columbia car expired in 1913, by which time more than 27,000, both gasoline and electric, had been built.

Purchased from the James Cousens Cedar Crossing Collection in 2008, this Mark XXXV Columbia is believed to have been the sole example built with a three-position top. It is further believed but not documentable that following completion it was sent to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey for testing and was then used in transit service in New York City, carrying officials and their guests.

Subsequent oral history holds that it was acquired by a wealthy plantation owner from Charleston, South Carolina, who had it transported south by train. After a few years of use, it was retired to storage, in large measure because of the difficulty in recharging. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, even major cities were not fully wired for electricity, and in rural areas it was all but unknown. This “infrastructure gap” hindered the popularity of the electric car prior to about 1912. Even after electricity became more readily available, improvements in starting and operation of gasoline cars rendered them more convenient to use for travel of any significant distance.

This Columbia was discovered in a Charleston carriage house in 1976. It was in need of restoration, which was subsequently carried out by Bruce Amster’s Hyannis Restorations in Massachusetts. The restoration was meticulous, and while it is now some years older, it has held up well. The body is painted gloss black, with extensive red moldings and striping matching the bright red leather interior. The running gear is black, with red striping on the springs and wheels. It runs on solid rubber tires. An imposing car, it is an extraordinary piece of engineering from the turn of the 20th century.

[Édité pour sauvegarde des infos/photos avant disparition de l'annonce]
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fredo333
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Enregistré le : ven. 25 05 , 2007 9:14
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Message par fredo333 » ven. 29 07 , 2011 7:28

Le véhicule est estimé en fourchette base à 250 000 dollars...Je ne suis pas certain d'avoir les moyens de partciper aux enchères...:-D

Par contre, je lègue mon solex à mes futurs petis-enfants....Je ne sais pas combien ils pourront en tirer.
"La seule révolution possible, c'est d'essayer de s'améliorer soi-même, en espérant que les autres fassent la même démarche. Le monde ira mieux alors." Tonton Georges

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Citro
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Message par Citro » ven. 29 07 , 2011 8:28

8) Quel superbe véhicule:
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L'electricité, c'est LA solution.

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Citro
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Re: Columbia Electric Landaulet de 1899 aux enchères

Message par Citro » ven. 29 07 , 2011 8:30

[Édité pour sauvegarde des infos/photos avant disparition de l'annonce]
:oops: Le modo a été plus rapide que moi.
L'electricité, c'est LA solution.

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vehiculeselectriques
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Message par vehiculeselectriques » ven. 29 07 , 2011 9:00

Bonjour,

modo en vert, admin en rouge :wink:

elle est superbe cette voiture :D
à+
Phil
C1793art35 "Quand le gouvernement viole les droits du peuple,l'insurrection est,pour le peuple et pour chaque portion du peuple,le plus sacré des droits et le plus indispensable des devoirs"

ptitphoque
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Enregistré le : sam. 08 03 , 2008 22:08
Localisation : FR-44-Nantes / Saxo Citroën / Scoot'Elec / EVlite

Message par ptitphoque » ven. 29 07 , 2011 13:33

Merci pour l'edit de ce post, je n'y avais pas pensé :)

Il y a peu de chance de pouvoir l'observer un jour sur route. J'espère que son acquéreur saura et osera l'utiliser de temps à autre, même si ce n'est que dans des rassemblements élitistes de voitures anciennes.

Après le nouveau RAV4 EV, les Américains ont vraiment de la chance en matière de VE.

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