About Quiz: #431. 1902/03 gasoline Toledo

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Probably we just gave enough clues this time as the good answered popped in one after another. We better leave the word to the judges who concluded it is a 1902/1903 Toledo with 16 or 18 HP gasoline engine. Bob Swanson, Fried Stol, Ariejan Bos. Still there was one competitor who came up with a very interesting discussion. And as we only suggested Toledo in our original question without having a rocksolid evidence we like you to see that's the whole isssue is soemwhat complicates.  See Leon's (far too long so not winning but most interesting answer below). 

" The car is most likely a 1903 18 h.p. Toledo Gasoline Touring car, built by the International Motor Car Co. of Toledo, Ohio, and advertised in journals like the Horseless Age in early 1903. Toledo had previously built steam cars.
      Beware, however, that the car may be something entirely different. The American Bicycle Co. (often referred to by the press of the day as "The Bicycle Trust" - in the nastiest possible way) was formed in 1899 by clever, rich people involved with the bicycle industry to try to salvage something from the catastrophic crash of the industry in the late 1890s. The ABC was doomed from the beginning: almost all the businesses that joined the trust wanted payment in cash rather than shares in the new company. Some companies making cars were caught up in the ABC, and these were organised, within the ABC into the International Motor Car Co. Elsewhere in the ABC motorcycles were produced from 1902. Exactly the same machine was marketed under no fewer than SEVEN brands (Columbia, Crescent, Tribune, Imperial, Monarch, Cleveland, Rambler). In 1903, Rambler, Crescent, Imperial and Monarch motorcycles were completely different beasts, sourced from a different manufacturer, while the Columbia, Tribune and Cleveland stuck to the 1902 design.
      In late 1903, Col. A. A. Pope (who had sold his companies to the ABC in 1899, been a director of the ABC, quit as director, bought back in to the ABC, and acted as Receiver for the ABC) finally bought the rubble of the ABC at a tiny fraction of the 1899 capitalisation. Sound dodgy? Mmm... In September 1903 Pope had formed a new Pope Mfg Co, and ordered all ex-ABC businesses to change the branding to "Pope Mfg Co" as soon as practically possible. Thus Pope-Toledo from late 1903.
     This may explain why there are Toledo Gasoline cars that look NOTHING like our quiz car, and why we shouldn't rule out that our quiz car carried another of the ABC/International Motor Car Co. brands."

This weeks winner is Sandra Miller, with a most efficient and correct answer. Congratulations Sandra! 
Special thanks to Ted Olsen and to Ariejan Bos who provided us with information and contemporary car-magazine copies. Interestingly the openings on the side of the bonnet are small in the 1902 picture shown in the Motor World. No openings seen on the photo of The Automobile Review. And never as much as with our car... Did they experiment with 'louvres' due to cooling issues. 

Next week another quiz at PreWarCar.com. Today a new challenge at PostWarClassic.com 

(photo collection editor)

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