1906 Pope Waverley Victoria
Phaeton and 1907 Victor High Wheel Electric Runabout
The concept of
electric-powered automobiles isn’t a state-of-the art epiphany, as these
contraptions were with us ever since the beginning of the automobile. As a
matter of fact, you can buy two centenarian electric vehicles right now.
"Those who cannot remember
the past are condemned to repeat it", said the Spanish-American
philosopher George Santayana, although with the new breakthroughs in battery
technology the electric cars will probably stay with us a long longer than at
the beginning of the 20th century.
Built in the USA roughly 100
years ago, the 1906 Pope Waverley Victoria Phaeton and 1907 Victor High Wheel
Electric Runabout are immensely rare right now, but at that time – among the
100+ battery-powered car makers and their products – these cars weren’t very
successful. Moreover, the advances in the internal combustion engine and the
mass production of cheaper petrol vehicle quickly ended the electric
horseless-carriage movement.
The Pope Waverley Victoria
Phaeton had a US$ 1,600 price tag when it was new, but now, fully restored and
featuring a leather-lined hood with the additional sumptuous comfort of
complementary leg covers, it will set you back an estimate of £ 30,000-£ 40,000.
It also has electric coach lamps, making it fully capable of nighttime
“expeditions”, but the vehicle is in its element in a summer’s day with the
roof lowered.
The Victor High Wheel
Runabout was build one year later in Indianapolis, and it spent many years on
display in an American Museum. The automobile (if you can call it that)
recently underwent an overhaul, receiving contemporary batteries and charging
system – along with a repaint of both the chassis and bodywork.
Estimated between to fetch
between £ 30,000-£ 40,000, the Victor is running silently, but it also comes equipped
with a large bell on the driver’s side used to alert pedestrians of the
vehicle’s presence. Both vehicles will go on sale on June 11th at the Historics
auction in the UK.
