Business & Finance: Old Timers

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Along Washington's Constitution Avenue last week chugged a strange procession of autos. Spectators gawked at their acetylene lamps, buggy whips and duster-clad drivers. The parade of 212 ancient chariots, lovingly preserved by old-car buffs, was the American Automobile Association's way of celebrating its golden jubilee, and its growth from just nine motor clubs in 1902 to today's 750 clubs and 3,700,000 members. Among the standout cars:

¶The first Cadillac, with a one-cylinder, watercooled engine. It sold for $850 in 1903, less than a Ford at the time.

¶The 1903 Oldsmobile, with a snappy curved dashboard that made it a smash hit. The first automobile to be mass-produced in the U.S., it sold for $650 f.o.b. Lansing, Mich., is said to have inspired the song In My Merry Oldsmobile.

¶CJ The belching Stanley Steamer. Legend had it (wrongly) that if the driver had the courage to keep the throttle wide open, it would accelerate indefinitely, because steam pressures would constantly build up.

¶The American Underslung, so named because its frame was hung from beneath its axles, making the all-aluminum body not much higher than the huge (41½ in.) wheels. Designed by Harry C. Stutz, whose later Bearcat was the sportiest roadster of the '20s, the four-cylinder Underslung cost about $4,000.

¶The Crane-Simplex, which in 1915 cost $30,000 and was guaranteed for the life of its owner. Designed to look like a luxurious yacht, it sported brass funnels and a propeller in the rear to hold on two spare wire wheels. The wooden trim and running boards were teakwood. Yet for all its wonderful nautical absurdity, it could do 75 m.p.h. Unfortunately for the guarantee, the company folded a few years after it started.

¶The German-made, four-cylinder 1906 Mercedes, which towers 8 feet high, could do 60 m.p.h. in its prime, cost $13,000.