Ex Roy Monsen, Bellm Auto Museum, Coburn Benson
The earliest known Stanley Steamer

1901 Stanley Steamer Runabout

Two-Cylinder Steam Engine
6bhp
Direct Acting with Chain Final Drive
Single External Drum Brake

*Historic piece of motoring history
*Unbroken history going back to 1933
*Highly complete with original bodywork
*The only known 1901 Stanley

THE STANLEY

The story of F.E. and F.O. Stanley, the ingenious identical twins from Kingfield, Maine, is fairly well known. Having made a small fortune in photographic plates, they turned their talents to automobiles in 1896. But before they had built more than a few cars they sold the business to outside investors. Within a few years they bought the company back at a fraction of the sales price and began production of a completely new model. For decades, however, the design of the first new model has remained a mystery. This car, the missing link in Stanley history, fills in the gaps.

By the autumn of 1897 the Stanleys had built their first steam car. Over the next year they built several more, in their dry plate factory at Newton, Massachusetts. In November 1898, they were invited to enter one of their new cars in a "motor carriage contest" at Charles River Park, a bicycle racing track, in nearby Cambridge. Competing against twelve other vehicles, steam, gasoline and electric, the Stanleys' car won the hill-climbing competition, and circling the oval track it covered a mile in two minutes, 11 seconds, by the Stanleys' account setting a world record. The response of the crowd was so enthusiastic that within two weeks they had reportedly received orders for 200 cars and decided to begin manufacturing them.

They had hardly begun, however, when a visitor arrived at the Stanleys' plant. "I am John Brisben Walker," he said, "and I have come to buy a half interest in your automobile business." The Stanleys did not wish to sell, so they quoted him what they thought was an astronomical price: $250,000 for the whole business. To their surprise, Walker, publisher of The Cosmopolitan magazine, accepted the deal. Although, he had yet to raise the money. With the backing of Amzi Lorenzo Barber, "The Asphalt King" who had made millions paving the nation's cities, Walker took over the Stanleys' business, engaging the twins to act as "general managers." The Stanley car became the Locomobile, immediately popular and for a time the best-selling car in America. But Walker and Barber soon took to quarreling, and the Stanleys found they didn't like working for others. By September 1899 they were "rusticating in the Maine woods," according to one account, and waited out the one-year period during which they had agreed to refrain from the manufacture of steam cars.

"During the interval between 1899 and 1901 we were not idle," wrote F.O. Stanley many years later. "We had designed a car far superior to any before made." However, the development of the Stanley car from the time the twins left Locomobile until they marked their formal return to the industry is not well recorded.

There was great fanfare in the automotive press in January 1902, when new models were announced, and it is this type of car that is frequently seen today. Abandoning the Locomobile pattern of a transverse front spring, the new car used full-elliptic springs, oriented longitudinally on all four corners. The wheelbase had grown to 70 inches, and there was a front seat which allowed carrying two more passengers. Their feet rested on a toe-board that doubled as a toolbox cover when closed. The front of the car had a stylish double curve, a feature that was further streamlined in 1903.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

It falls to this car then, believed to be the oldest surviving post-Locomobile Stanley, to demonstrate what the brothers were up to in 1900 and 1901. Most noticeable is the upright and concave, single-curve front panel, a characteristic that had vanished by 1902. It has a Crosby steam gauge with the legend "Stanley Brothers," the type used on Locomobiles from 1900. Significantly, it has the early type oil pump, a ratchet design that requires resetting each time the car is filled with water. The Lewiston Journal recorded in August 1901 that "yesterday Mr. Stanley drove a yellow car with black stripes with the new oil pump and new all-ball-bearing engine..." This then, was the milestone of the automatic oil pump, dating this car's construction prior to that date. The pressure bottles for the fuel system are also of the earliest pattern.

Pioneering Chicago area collector Roy Monsen discovered this historic Stanley in the earliest days of the hobby. A photograph taken in 1933 shows Roy aboard his historic machine. The Stanley is remarkably intact and preserved and looks nearly identical to its current appearance. This makes this car one of the earliest collector cars in the hobby that has grown so large today.

The Stanley next surfaces on display at the former Horn's Cars of Yesterday in Sarasota, Florida, in the 1960s. It remained there when Walter Bellm bought the museum and changed the name to his own in 1968. Noted Stanley expert Coburn Benson bought it prior to the Bellm dispersal auction that took place in the 1980s, recognizing its significance in Stanley history. It remained in Benson's collection until 2010.

Under new ownership, the Stanley has been subject to extensive and much needed cosmetic restoration work including a complete repaint in correct period colors, high quality diamond tufted leather upholstery, and many parts are freshly nickel plated. An appropriate new 14-inch boiler by the Bourdon Boiler Works of Woodstock, Vermont and a matching burner has been fitted to the car. The fuel system needs some assembly, but all the necessary parts are included. Cosmetically, the car presents beautifully but a certain amount of plumbing and string is necessary to run the machine. Thankfully, an early Stanley is one of the simplest steam systems to work on.

The engine is an early Mason unit, of the type used by the Stanleys and Locomobiles in the period. The car's serial number tag has long been lost; it is currently titled by the only number found, a faint "48" stamped into the engine's steam chest cover. The car has the 70-inch wheelbase of post-Locomobile Stanleys, and rides on 28 x 3-inch all-white tires. This is one of very few early Stanleys that retains its original chain drive. Most cars were converted to gear drive as a means of side-stepping some patent infringement litigation, which the Stanleys eventually won.

This is a wonderful example of the Stanley twins' return to motor manufacture more than a century ago. It is surely one of the most important survivors in Stanley steam car history.