The high wheeler was an early car body style virtually unique to the United States.
It is typified by large-diameter slender wheels, frequently with solid tires, to provide ample ground clearance on the primitive roads in much of the country at the turn of the 20th century. For the same reason, it usually had a wider track than normal automobiles.
High wheelers were derived from horse-drawn wagons, and often, in fact, were just conversions of these. So, they shared many details like similar wood-spoke wheels, suspensions or, often, the boxy wooden bodies.
These cars were available in many body stiles; most usual were utility vehicles and runabouts/roadsters, some also with detachable tonneaus. Sometimes, 2-seaters were also called Buggy, Auto Buggy or Motor Buggy.
Before gasoline engines became widely available, high wheelers were powered by electric motors or steam engines. The decline of the high wheeler began when the standard automobiles became more sophisticated and inexpensive. Final cut came with the rise of the Ford Model T, which adopted the wide track for the same reason as the high wheelers did.
The last ones were built around 1910.
• = also made non-highwheeler automobiles