1903: The Launch of an Automobile Company During the Brass Era

December 9, 1903

The American Automobile and Power Company was incorporated in the city of Sanford in southern Maine. The eight officers selected at the time for that company included Boston resident Henry D. Long, who became the president; and Sanford native Ernest M. Goodall, who was appointed to serve as the treasurer. 

The automobile produced by the American Automobile and Power Company was the American Populaire (depicted in the above image); a prototype of this vehicle that been built in a shed in Lawrence, Massachusetts, was publicly introduced in March 1904 at the Boston Automobile Show. During that year and the next, the models of this automobile that the company produced and sold would include an $850 roadster; and a $1,000 touring car known as the Cape Cod Tourer. 

The American Automobile and Power Company existed during what is called the automotive Brass Era, a period of car manufacturing that roughly covered the years of the early 20^th century up until the time World War I took place. The vehicles built and sold by the American Automobile and Power Company, like many others produced during the Brass Era, were characterized by the prominent brass fittings used for such features as radiators and lights. 

The American Automobile and Power Company’s senior management evidently had high expectations for its products. Long even boasted, “We could sell one thousand cars in three months if we could make them.” As it turned out, however, the company ceased producing new automobiles altogether by April 1905 and its factory was subsequently taken over by the Maine Alpaca Company.  

Image Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the American Automobile and Power Company, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Automobile_and_Power_Company