New Britain herald., 1927-10-15
1902 AUTO PARADE
 THRILLED CITIZENS
Cars Dashed Along Main St. at
 IA Miles an Hour

The prospects of seeing = auto mobiles on Main street drew large crowd of people 10 that thorough ,are on the morning of October 10, 1909, and the hundreds Of people who lined the street were reward ed by seeing cars of practically every make and design then known go chugging by at the stately speed of fl miles per hour. The occasion was the New York-to-Boston relia- bility road race, in which every automobile maker in the country entered his product in friendly com petition with the others. The con ditions under which the race were run could never exist today and seem too Imaginable to have been true. yet but a quarter-ccntury ago they were considered marvelously advanced.
 Do You Remember These?
 Twenty-two manufacturers agreed 10 hold the race under the auspices of the New York Automobile club as T means of arousing public in- terest in the gasm obiles, most of the makers entering several ma chimes apiece. The White Sewing Machine Co, anxious 10 make bet ter records for it's famous White steamer" entered five of the cars which were among the first to seize the popular fancy. The Ohio Auto mobile Co. entered five of its large and heavy Packard gasoline mo- liles. The Locomobile Co.,. oi Bridgeport put four cars into the fray. and three of the then ne" Rikers from the Overman factory entered the lists,
 Other makes included the Foster | tthree gasoline and one stcam), thf popular Olds car, KnoXmobiles 1 Haynes-Appersons. Auto-cars, Di. l Dion Bouton. Gorut. Fournier ! Scarchmont, Darracq, Winton, Lane Ward, Leonard. Pierce, Stevens, Fl 1 more, Long Distance Fredonia, anc Apperson Bros. A few of thes' rames have survived to the prcsen day, but most of them have fol years been nothing but memories. | Three of the cars were delivery wagons There was only one electric | car In the 7S starters. a Neftel car wing an 8 1-2 horsepower engine | to generate electricity applied tf ! the vehicle through a storage bat l tery and thus recharCe the dynamo on route. Three classes competed ac. cording to weight, there being one | contest off those under 1,o0t 1 pounds. one for those over o.00G and the third for the inter.l ediatf | cars.
 if Mile Speed Limit
 As it was 2 reliability test anC not 2 race. a speed limit of 14 miles an hour was set as the maximum pace for the compotitors-a speo' W hich at least one entrant violated
 in New Britain. An observer rod'
 in each carriage to check up it record, the idea being that th
 wheels must not stop except al doS lgnatf6 resting 0IaC'S-fNdl was p'
 fore the days of the stop-and-g'
 signs The first night was spent Il
 New Haven. and on the soCon'
 morning the cavalCado set on
 for Hartford. making a slight stol
 at Meriden for the steamers to ob
 tain cool water.
 New Britain excitemont-se seeker
 had been advised in advance tha
 the first car would appear abon I'll o'clock. and for some time II
 advance of that hour the street
 Were lined as if for q circus parade
 Almost half an hour before the ap
 pointed time one automobile wen
 through at what was then a break
 neck pace-about 25 miles an hour
 shortly after came the balance Q the parade, and New Britainites ha
 their first real opportunity to se
 the autom otiye Hast word"
 -