Did You See The Pope At Pebble?

The Pope was on the lawn this year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance!  Actually, not the Pope, but eight Pope automobiles in all their brass-era glory from what was once the largest car manufacturer at the turn of the century. Amongst a sea of highly coveted, more expensive and more well known (foreign) cars, the Pope cars offered attendees a chance to appreciate early American elegance.

Once the largest employer in New England, Albert Pope’s Columbia bicycles were his original claim to fame. In 1895 this was also the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the entire world, but bicycles were not so great outside of the American cities where dirt roads populated the countryside. A better solution was needed.

Pope began with electric cars, gasoline was not yet as easy to come by. Columbia cars rolled off the assembly line in and were offered for sale in 1897.  The beauty of building bicycles were many bike innovations were easily transferable from two wheels to four.  All was going well at the turn of the century when Pope sold his interests to what became the Columbia and Electric Vehicle Company.

Pope headed west to try silver mining in Leadville, Colorado. (Shocking, we’ve actually been there – on a Porsche tour.) He was back in Hartford by 1903, automobiles were still on his mind. Pope Motor Car Company was born, but now the cars relied on gasoline.  Remember, in 1901 oil gushed in Texas and gasoline began to replace electricity in cars.  With facilities throughout the country Pope was making a splash in the car world.

• Pope-Hartford (Hartford, CT)
• Pope-Tribune  (Hagerstown, MD)
• Pope-Toledo  (Toledo, OH)
• Pope-Robinson (Hyde Park, MA)
• Pope-Waverley electric (Indianapolis, IN)

These early American cars with their 2 or 4-cylinder engines, in numerous different models cranking out between 6 and 50 horsepower were really something.

This 1911 Pope-Hartford W Pony Tonneau, is one of 693 built in 1911 thought to be owned by Thomas Watson, the IBM founder.

Yes, some also made their mark as race cars. The lime green one above, 1911 Pope-Hartford Model W Portola Roadster, was created as a celebration of winning the Portola Road Races in 1909 and 1911. A Pope-Toledo competed in the first Vanderbilt Cup race and in the final Bennett Cup (France). Ready for a shocker?  In 1905 a Pope-Toledo won the world’s first 24-hour endurance race, in of all places, Columbus, Ohio!  Pope-Hartfords competed at Daytona Beach and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

By 1907 financial difficulties were mounting, and in 1908 only Pope-Hartford was left.  They struggled until bankruptcy ended their run in 1913. For ten years, there were a lot of Popes running around.