1904 Haynes-Apperson Model F

Sold for $190,400 at 2019 Bonhams : Amelia Island.
Elwood Haynes, one of the Apperson Brothers of Kokomo, Indiana, liked to claim that they built America's first automobile. This was not the case, however, but they did build a very early U.S. 'horseless carriage' in 1894. (John Lambert had built a gasoline-powered car in 1891.) Near the close of 1893, Edlwood purchased a single-cylinder two-stroke Sintz marine engine. The Apperson brothers owned a machine shop where they soon built a vehicle that had a friction differential, tiller steering, and a spur gear transmission with three forward speeds. It made its first journey down the streets of Kokomo on July 4th of 1894. The production Haynes-Apperson followed in 1897 with three examples being built. They built 248 vehicles in 1902, followed by 237 in 1903 and 233 in 1904.

By 1904, the Haynes-Apperson company offered both a two-cylinder and four-cylinder model, with the 2-cylinder resting on a 76-inch wheelbase and the four-cylinder having a 93-inch platform.

This particular is a Model F rear-entrance tonneau powered by an opposed twin-cylinder engine rated at 12 horsepower. It has a three-speed manual transmission, three-quarter elliptical front and semi-elliptical rear suspension, and rear-wheel drum brakes. It is one of two surviving examples of the 1904 Model F.

In the late 2000s, this car was acquired by Don C. Boulton from Carl Leonard of Loveland, Colorado, as a partially completed restoration, retaining its original sheet metal, engine, and drivetrain. Currently, the car is finished in burgundy with black fenders, burgundy trim, yellow striping, yellow wooden wheels with black striping, and dark red chassis and suspension. The interior is upholstered in tufted black leather and overseen by the canopy top, with its 'skeleton wood' headliner. Accessories include wicker side baskets and a wicker parasol holder, a Phinney-Walker clock, and a Stewart combination speedometer/odometer.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2019