Smith Automobile Company

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This 1902 Smith is one of only a few still in existence.

The Smith Automobile Company of Topeka, Kansas was an early United States automobile manufacturing company which produced the Veracity, Smith, and Great Smith lines of automobiles from 1902 to 1912. They were the first automobiles made west of the Mississippi River. The company's first automobile was designed by Terry Stafford. However, lacking operating capital, he gained financing from the artificial limb manufacturing brothers Anton and Clement Smith. The company the brothers financed bore their name.

The Great Smith of 1907 was priced at US$2500 with a 318 in3 (5213 cc) (4.5×5-inch, 114×127mm) watercooled four, four-speed sliding gear transmission (three forward, one reverse), multi-disk clutch.[1] It featured 34×4 in (86×10 cm) spoke wheels and a 107 in (2718 mm) wheelbase.[2]

In 1908, a Great Smith became the first automobile to make it to the top of Pikes Peak.[3]

The Kansas Historical Society has a red and black Great Smith on display.

See also

  • Brass Era car
  • List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers

References

  1. ↑ Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.54.
  2. ↑ Clymer, p.54.
  3. ↑ McConnell, Curt (1995). Great Cars of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3163-6

External links

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