page_title: Columbus Buggy Company
section_title: Branching into automobiles
hierarchical_section_title: Columbus Buggy Company / History / Branching into automobiles
caption_attribution_description: English: Firestone-Columbus advertisement from 1911
context_page_description: The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and automotive manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913.
  Begun by three business partners, the company set up its manufacturing facilities in what is today the Arena District producing inexpensive buggies and dashboards, and quickly saw success. At its height it employed 1,200 people and was producing 100 buggies a day which were sold in every state in the United States. The company was one of the city's major employers and a significant portion of the city's buggy manufacturing economy. After the turn of the century it oriented itself toward production of electric vehicles and, later, of automobiles. Crippled by the Great Flood of 1913 and unable to compete with cheaper alternatives like the Model T, the company eventually went bankrupt in 1913, reorganized, and closed its doors a few years later.
  It influenced the early automobile industry production methods and several notable employees, including Eddie Rickenbacker and Harvey S. Firestone. The company buildings, after some time empty, have since been re-developed as office space in the Arena District.
context_section_description: With the advent of the automobile, Columbus Buggy Co. found itself at a competitive disadvantage to companies in Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago, which had a greater access to steel. In 1903, though, it opted to produce an electric vehicle to compete with these new and increasingly popular vehicles.
  The 400 Dublin Road facility began producing its first electric coupe in 1903, the Columbus Electric Model No. 1000. This would be one of several models of electric vehicle the company produced in larger scale beginning in 1905. The company advertised the vehicles as easy to operate, targeting women, and that they were quiet. But the vehicles were limited by a top speed of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h), limited range and a need to recharge batteries for several hours. Powered by Willard batteries, this car sold for about $1,000. It produced several models including the No. 3003 Firestone Motor Buggy: a light motor buggy, which it also marketed to physicians as a medical phaeton, as well as the Columbus Station Wagon No. 1102, which was to be driven by a chauffeur while its passengers rode in an enclosed compartment. In 1907, it bought the Springfield Automotive Company of Springfield, Ohio which had been manufacturing the Bramwell, a gasoline powered automobile.
  In 1909, the company hired Lee Frayer to design a full-sized car, with Eddie Rickenbacker as his assistant.  The Firestone-Columbus, a gasoline-powered car geared toward families, began production in 1909. About 500 of the vehicles sold in the first year and it was generally well received in the market. Improvements were made to the vehicles continually as they were produced, as opposed to creating successive model years. There were a few different variations on the vehicle, including the model 76-A, an intermediate sized vehicle that could carry four passengers. The Columbus-Firestone was reported to be the first car with its steering wheel on the left side of the car.
  Introduced at the 1909 Chicago Auto Show, it became popular and sold 2,000 units a year, all made at the 400 Dublin Road plant. By 1912 there were more cars of this brand than any other in Columbus and the company was producing 2,000 a year. But it also struggled to compete with cheaper competitors, notably the Ford Model T.
  The company built a special racing buggy, the Red Wing, which it entered into the 1911 Indianapolis 500, designed by Frayer and Rickenbacker and driven by Frayer. Though the car didn't finish the race, it was credited with finishing 13th in the race. They subsequently entered a car into the 1912 Indianapolis 500, this time driven by Rickenbacker. It finished 21st.
caption: An advertisement for a 1911 "Mechanical Greyhound" automobile produced by Columbus Buggy Co.
exif: {}