In 1899 the Locomobile began as a steam-powered car. With inventor
\nand electric car manufacturer Andrew Riker\u2019s development of a
\nnew gasoline-powered engine for the company, Locomobile was soon one of the
\nmost popular cars in the world.\u00a0 The \u201cNumber 16\u201d car pictured above
\nwon the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup, clocking in at an astonishing 64.38
\nmph. Locomobile was called the \u201cbest built car in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bridgeport, CT factory stood on the west side of the harbor, where oil
\ndrums stand today. The factory lay in sight of the famous Seaside Park,
\nand Locomobile cars were often taken for fast drives on gravel pathways
\nthat had been designed for stately horse drawn carriages.<\/p>\n
The Locomobile had the distinction of being the first car not designed to
\nlook like a \u2018horse and buggy.\u2019 Andrew Carnegie and Charlie Chaplin took
\npride in owning one, and a young Walter Chrysler took apart and put
\ntogether a Locomobile to learn about cars. During World War I, the company
\nsold the Riker Truck to the British army, contributing more vehicles to
\nthe war than any other American company.<\/p>\n
The brand became a watchword for quality automobiles, catering
\ntoward a luxury market.\u00a0 Tiffany and Company even supplied the cars\u2019
\nsilver fittings. However, with the increasing use of autos by the
\ngeneral populace, and the cheap, accessible cars now produced by Ford
\nMotor Company and GM, Locomobile began to lose importance and customers.
\nThe Great Depression sounded the final death knell for this fabled
\nBridgeport car company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1899 the Locomobile began as a steam-powered car. With inventor and electric car manufacturer Andrew Riker\u2019s development of a new gasoline-powered engine for the company, Locomobile was soon one of the most popular cars in the world.\u00a0 The \u201cNumber 16\u201d car pictured above won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup, clocking in at an astonishing 64.38 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,44,45],"tags":[86,111,147,178,181],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","category-north-end","category-south-end","tag-bridgeport","tag-factory","tag-locomobile","tag-seaside-park","tag-south-end-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12469,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions\/12469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}