1920 Locomobile Model 48 Series 7 Landaulet

and F. O. Stanley.

The light, $600 steam car they named “Locomobile” quickly became the hit of the day, selling, by 1901, some 2,200 cars annually. Its stardom, however, faded by 1903 when its sales were overtaken by the curved-dash Oldsmobile. Locomobile had hired a brilliant young engineer, Andrew L.

Riker. Riker set to work designing a gasoline-powered car, a four-cylinder front-engine machine with stamped aluminum body. Fully equipped, it sold for $4,000.

A twin-cylinder car joined it briefly, but the four won out and by 1905 was the sole model, built in four sizes. While the steam car had proved a volume seller, Locomobile took a different tack with the gasoline cars. Riker’s philosophy was to build the best car possible, and this did not suit itself either to volume or low price.

The year 1904 had shown a profit on production of just 200 gasoline cars; in 1905 the most expensive Locomobile sold for $7,500. In 1911, Locomobile introduced what would be the most significant and long-lived car in its history, the 48-hp Type M. A T-head six of 429 cu.

in. , its cylinders were cast in pairs, and the balanced crankshaft had seven main bearings. Uncommonly powerful and smooth, the “48” grew to 525 cu.

in. and wheelbases to 142 inches. By 1914, four-cylinder cars had been dropped and a smaller six became the entry-level Locomobile.