New-York tribune., 1915-02-21
rvneriences of Veteran in
showing and Selling the
HorseleSs Carriage,
FAIRLY STEAMERS A
PUZZLE TO DEALERS
c,ude ForerunnerS of Modern
Motor Car Furnished
Many Thrills.

Il
-. 'r,ass regularly Ia the sale Of n, "herse-
80 carriage
~ i-Bv THEODORE L. SCHULTZ.
=. ia long way back-longer than |
"a 10 think of-to the days when
w. Workers, then accustomed TO
s.5ri,r thousands Of bicycles every
fogT, began 10 see the two-.wheelers
- ~, on the streets 20 the crude
md elu-isy "horseieSs carriage" that
80 5eyelored so wonderfully into the
rodern motor car. The firm OF Homan
= schultz. consisting OF Frank ID.
gonsn and myself, was IN the bicycle
tgs,pess 3, lO4th Street and what is
,sv Broadway when, IN the fall Of
les. We began 20 realize that the self
,-ope.lca vehicle might become worth
ybile. and Sc decided to get into the
he Stanley brothers, who later de-
,,loped into rather important figures
!, tbe industry, were at that time
sr;lsjng a steam car. IL had no name
Eevsrvthing that ran on four wheels
vitbout horses was called a locomobile,
gbs,her il was built by Smith. Brown
a, Jones We got q car for demon
,,rs,ing and made a selling arrange
ren;. but that year We found no Gus
toners.
In 1899 the Stanleys split up their
tusiness in such a way that the Bar
lours. Of asphalt fame, and John Bris-
lsn Walker, Of Tarrytown, were build
i5r variations Of the machine they had
gsyeloped. Early in that year also
tsne our first customer-an engineer
in the Crotoa pumping station uptown
who was enthusiastic about the pos
,blities Of self-propelled vehicles. We
,old him what we called a mobile, but
must confess il hardly lived up to
Ne name Immobile would have been
better.
Ne hadn't been able 10 make our car
ac; right Il would sputter and back
sssh and stop on US Just at the wrong
time because we couldn't get con-
,inuous draft This man cared little
for looks and he rugged smokestack
On the back OF the machine and got
rretty good results On the street,
hovever. il was q weird looking outfit
We sold six other cars of the same
Kind that year and began to think we
Eere big business men.
Avoided Big Hills.
In demonstrating the early steam
ors we simply gave the prospective
uctim a run of few blocks, providing
the car didn't die on our hands. If he
wanted speed we could get up to twen-
ty-fye OF twenty-eight miles an hour
for block or two, and then we would
talk 10 him and get his mind of the
machine until the steam pressure was
rrewed II would climb hill, but we
U6ded the big ones.
Some fresse was required in demon
rrsting the hill-climbing ability Of the
old steamers. The general scheme was
to approach the hin and stop while we
explained what a wonderful thing II
would be for a machine 20 60 right
% under It's own power. That gave US
chance TO get up steam. and lust be-
fore il would begin blowing off-b!ng.
No hill seemed easy We seemed 70 get
barely over the crest IN the last gasp.
Gssolene cars also began 20 be heard
u in 1899. but compared with the
steamers they were experiments and
we're hardly considered as commercial
Possibilities Ny recollection is that
the first gaso,ene car ! ever saw was
the 0skUaD, which was handled by
Pete Fisher IL had two high wheels
II the rear and two low ones in front
and was a scream. The next was the
National jno relation 10 the present car
o. that name, and then the Haynes
Apperson, the Duryea and the Winton.
About 1900 Europe began 20 send
over some cars. tho first ] saw, as !
remember, being d Panhard, owned by
Dr. j. Grant Lyman. ] don't think
ever saw a car that was harder to con-
t.c1 i aff rt for
bnck piles and telegraph poles, and
never seemed 20 get anywhere without
getting into trouble The De Dion fol-
owed, and a company was formed to
build then down near Coney Island.
4 Daring Demonstration.
We took the agency for the De Dion,
our first gas car, and sold quite a few
Of them They were one-cylinder and
had two speeds, low and high, OF
course. II q customer wanted re-
verse gear he had 20 pay extra for 1t.
be most daring form of demonstra-
non vas TO offer TO take q customer 10
Gfants Tomb and back on high. We
rsyer felt sure the car would even get
the'e, much less back, and when the
round trip Was made successfully II
vas the signal for a week of idleness
70 give chance 20 tell everybody
y am inclined to think that our firm
was the tr-, 70 actually engage IN the
selling OF automobiles in New York,
bul ! am certain we were the first TO
ta!ld a garage That was in 1900 and
u was az l00'1 Street and the Boule-
Nard Up % that time owners OF horse
less carriages had stored them wher-
ever they could hnd space, and some
TINES L was difficult to get place.
The brakes on the early cars worked
only when the wheels were going for
ward. Running backward they were in
operative, and we used a sprag, which
0pld be dropped in the rear One had
y DO some close figuring when car
asd on a hill, because the sprag had
be dropped just az the right moment
as the car stopped and before IL had
eegun 20 start backward. II IL had
started the spraR would sink into the
ground, the rear of the car would lift
soout three feet in the air, and then,
fireman, save my child" That was
he life.
:. The oldtime Automobile Row, in
Inirty-elghth Street, started in 1901,
Sheh Smith & Mabley moved into the
aes Auto Exchange, between Broadway
Ao seventh Avenue, and Banker Broth-
.fs built the Auto Palace. Every one
opened salesrooms around there then,
snd every week saw new make or
car on sale We thought some Of them
we're the last word, mechanically, ana
N appearance. Some Of them made so
much noise that they could be heard a
mile away.
In 1901, or early in 1902, Ray Owen
cane 20 New York with the curved
eash Oldsmobile, which he had been
selling in the Middle West. He came
% as, as representative dealers, and
We asked him TO take US TO Grants
Tomb and back. lie did il in way