1909 Simplex

edited by David Barth, 30 January 2009.
Courtesy The Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Photos were taken in January 2009.

Simplex is the Latin word for simple. However, the Simplex was not a "simple" car. It was the first American car to combine both power and elegance.

This 90-horsepower double roadster was the most powerful car available to the 1909 consumer. Each car was guaranteed to go at least 90 miles per hour in an era when speed limits were generally about 20 miles per hour. However, Broesel wanted to produce a car that was more than a racing machine. Fine coach builders, such as Holbrook, were commissioned to make the bodies for his cars. The result was this powerfully elegant car, perhaps the 1909 version of today's Corvette.

Simplex never made many cars in any production year because of the specialized nature of their product. The company began to fail after Broesel's premature death in 1912 and was sold to new owners in 1914. The new company produced the "Crane-Simplex," a high-quality but more mundane touring car. In 1917 the company entered war production work and ceased making automobiles.

Model: 90 HP
Body Style: 4-passenter Tourabout (Double Roadster) by Holbrook
Original Factory Price: $6,200
Brake Horsepower: 90
Displacement: 671.6 cubic inches
Bore: 6 1/2 inches
Stroke: 5 3/4 inches
Cylinders: 4, cast in pairs
Manufacturer: Simplex Automobile Company
Location: New York, New York, USA

This car is a museum purchase and is sponsored by Robert Graham.