Pope-Toledo
{{Infobox company
| name = Pope Motor Car Company
Pope-Toledo
| logo = Pope-toledo 1905 logo.jpg
| logo_size = 120px
| logo_caption = The Mile-a-Minute Car
| image = Pope Motor Car Company, Toledo, Ohio, 1905 - DPLA - 8295ec7f5fa2ce83e96f9eaab47dd1af.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| image_caption = Pope Motor Car Company factory, Toledo, Ohio
| former_name = International Motor Car Company
| industry = Automotive
| founded = {{Start date and age|1903}}
| defunct = {{end date and age|1909}}
| fate = Bankruptcy, factory sold to Overland
| hq_location = Toledo, Ohio
| hq_location_country = United States
| key_people = Albert A. Pope
| products = Automobiles
| production_year = 1903-1909
}}
File:Pope-toledo 1906 logo.jpg
{{short description|Defunct American motor vehicle manufacturer}}
The Pope-Toledo was the luxury marque of the Pope Motor Car Company founded by Colonel Albert A. Pope, and was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Toledo, Ohio between 1903 and 1909. The Pope-Toledo was the successor to the Toledo of the International Motor Car Company.{{Kimes-USCars3rd}}
History
The 1903 Pope-Toledo was a four-wheel, front-engined, two-seater open car. It was powered by a straight 3 cylinder 182 cubic inch (2983 cc) engine with the then unusual feature of a detachable cylinder head. Valve operation was mechanical and the engine speed was governed at 600 RPM. Drive was through a 3-speed gearbox with chains to each rear wheel. The chassis was mainly wood with a steel sub-frame carrying the main mechanical components. The car had a wheelbase of {{convert|7|ft|5|in|m}} and a track of {{convert|4|ft|8|in|m}}. It was entered in the first Vanderbilt Cup (1904), but lost its steering and hit a tree.P. Roberts (1973). A Picture History of the Automobile, Ward Lock Ltd, London, UK. {{ISBN|0-7063-1301-1}}.
The 1904 model was a larger touring car. Equipped with a rear entrance tonneau body, it could seat 5 passengers and sold for $3,500, {{Inflation|US|3500|1904|fmt=eq}}. The vertically mounted water-cooled straight-4, situated at the front of the car, produced 24hp (17.9kW). A 3-speed sliding transmission was fitted. The channel steel-framed car weighed 2350lb (1066kg). This modern Système Panhard car had spark and throttle levers on steering wheel, a novelty at the time.
In 1905, a Pope-Toledo owned by C. Edward Born was driven 828.5 miles before a crowd of 15,000 to win the world's first 24-hour endurance race in Columbus, Ohio. Piloted by brothers George and Charles Soules, the car was protested by runners up as being a special factory-owned "ringer". This protest was rejected by the Columbus Driving Park officials.{{cite news| last = Knapp| first = Michael| title = The World's First 24-hour Automobile Race| work = The Columbus Dispatch| date = 1979| url = http://www.motorsport.com/history/news/the-world-s-first-24-hour-race/| accessdate = 2014-08-10 }} In 1908, Bobby Sheldon brought a 1906 Pope-Toledo down the Yukon to Fairbanks, the first car brought to Alaska.{{Cite news| issn = 0002-4562| volume = 83| issue = 4| pages = 79| last = Friedman| first = Sam| title = Willy Vinton| work = Alaska| access-date = 2021-09-04| date = May 2017| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1896347167| id = {{ProQuest|1896347167}}}}
By 1907 the company models included limousines and seven seat cars. In 1909 the company was taken over by Richard D. Apperson of the American National Bank of Lynchburg, Virginia (and no relation to Apperson of Kokomo). The Apperson deal failed and the Pope Motor Car Company receivers sold the factory to Overland.
Production models
- Pope-Toledo Type X{{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.105712459&seq=93 |title= Pope-Toledo Type X |date=1905-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1905) |access-date=2025-03-07}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XII{{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022474673&seq=170 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XII |date=1906-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1906) |access-date=2025-03-11}}
- Pope-Toledo Type VIII {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.105712459&seq=94 |title= Pope-Toledo Type VIII |date=1905-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1905) |access-date=2025-03-07}}
- Pope-Toledo Type IX {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.105712459&seq=95 |title= Pope-Toledo Type IX |date=1905-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1905) |access-date=2025-03-07}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XV {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022474681&seq=41 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XV |date=1907-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1907) |access-date=2025-03-13}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XVII {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022474699&seq=112 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XVII |date=1908-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1908) |access-date=2025-03-16}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XVIII {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015022474699&seq=111 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XVIII |date=1908-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1908) |access-date=2025-03-16}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XXI {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036836156&seq=201 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XXI |date=1909-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1909) |access-date=2025-03-22}}
- Pope-Toledo Type XXII {{cite web|url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036836156&seq=204 |title= Pope-Toledo Type XXII |date=1909-01-15|publisher= Hand book of automobiles (1909) |access-date=2025-03-22}}
Gallery
File:Pope-Toledo 1904 Rear-Entrance-Tonneau on London to Brighton VCR 2008 (2997444072).jpg|1904 Pope-Toledo Model Rear Entrance Tonneau
File:Concours d'Elegance (20452262578).jpg|1904 Pope-Toledo Type IV
File:Year book - photo flashes showing Toledo's phenomenal progress, thriving industries and wonderful resources - DPLA - ac95c5ef8efd2394c21e2b6edcd01d94 (page 18).jpg|1904 Pope-Toledo Factory
File:1905 Pope-Toledo Model VII (16572180888).jpg|1905 Pope-Toledo Model VII advertisement
File:Herbert Lytle on a Pope-Toledo - 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup.jpg|1905 Pope-Toledo with driver Herbert Lytle for the Gordon Bennett Cup
File:1906 Pope-Toledo with poodle - Flickr - rich701.jpg|1906 Pope-Toledo Model VI
File:Gustaf Ericssons Automobil 9.jpg|1906 Pope-Toledo VI - Gustaf Ericsson
File:Stahls Automotive Collection December 2021 028 (1907 Pope-Toledo Type XV Touring).jpg|1907 Pope-Toledo Model VII
See also
- Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly (January, 1904)
- [https://www.conceptcarz.com/view/model/1246/pope-toledo.aspx Pope-Toledo at ConceptCarz]
- [https://www.fountainheadmuseum.com/fountainheadauto/2012/12/the-toledo-automobile-of-quality.html Fountainhead Museum - The Toledo - "An Automobile of Quality"]
- [https://toledosattic.org/exhibit-themes/labor/97-exhibit-themes/commercial-indistrial-history/176-earlyauto-essay?start=2 Toledos Attic Article - Toledos early automobiles]
- [https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25219/lot/247/ Bonhams - 1906 Pope-Toledo]
- [https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25219/lot/260/ Bonhams - 1904 Pope-Toledo]
{{Commons category|Pope-Toledo vehicles}}
References
{{reflist}}
Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Ohio
Category:Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Category:Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Category:Defunct companies based in Ohio
Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1903
Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1909