1912 Sears Runabout

edited by David Barth, 15 March 2009.
Courtesy Antique Car Museum of Iowa at 860 Quarry Road, Coralville, Iowa, 52241 USA.
Photos were taken in March 2009.

Sears automobiles were made in Chicago, Illinois between 1908 and 1912. This particular model was sold through the Sears catalogue as number 21R333. It has a 10 horsepower, two-cylinder, air-cooled engine, friction transmission, a double chain drive, and 37 x 1 1/2 inch solid tires. The 1908 model was sold for $395 and had solid tires on wooden-spoke wheels. The original cost of the this 1912 model was $445.

The Sears car became too costly to produce, and Sears got out of the automobile business in 1912. In the 1950s, Sears briefly returned to selling cars with the Allstate.

This is a 1912 model which has a longer wheelbase of 87 inches as opposed to the standard wheelbase of 72 inches. It came with two seats in the front and room in the rear for another seat or cargo. Not the tiller steering on the left side of the vehicle.

This car was found in an enclosed grain bin of a grain storage facility along the Texas-Oklahoma border. Around 1947 it was used in a parade, and then stored in the grain bin and not discovered until the buildings were torn down in 2003 following the ranch owner's death.