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| 1902 Toledo gasoline touring car (photo credit C.L.) |
I saw this picture hanging in the garage of a friend and thought I'd share it. It appears to be a 1902 Toledo gasoline touring car made by the International Motor Car Company of Toledo, OH. The detail in the picture is fantastic and shows a professional driver with his passengers - note the gentlemen in the back carrying golf clubs. This car is monogramed (though I can't make out the initials) and has a very unique pattern of holes pierced in the hood. The location of the photo and names of the individuals shown are unknown to me.
The story of the company starts with the departure of the Lozier company for New York, leaving an empty factory in Toledo, OH. The American Bicycle Company (ABC), one of many in the industrial empire of Albert Pope, would fill the space. ABC would build a steam carriage, named the Toledo, in late 1900. By 1902, the ABC company had divested itself of its last bicycle holdings and changed its name to The International Motor Car Company. That same year, the company began building a gasoline powered car - the car we see here. A three cylinder engine of 16hp, the car had three forward speeds and reverse.
The following year (1903), the company discontinued their steam car and renamed their gasoline car the "Pope-Toledo". See my earlier post for more on the Pope-Toledo: http://vintagemotoring.blogspot.com/2013/05/1904-pope-toledo.html
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| photo credit: Horseless Age, August 20, 1902 |
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| photo credit: Horseless Age, July 23, 1902 |
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| photo credit: Horseless Age, December 31, 1902 |
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