Car Atlas Horseless Carriage 1898 for sale

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To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' The Hershey Auction event, 7 - 8 October 2026.
Offered Without Reserve | $15,000 - $25,000 USD

Powered by an air-cooled two-cylinder engine
Displayed in the early 1960s in Fred Hurst’s Iona, Ontario museum
Later owned and restored by Brian Bussell of Georgetown, Ontario, Canada
Acquired by the Hadfield collection in approximately 2005
Featured in an Old Autos article on Monday, 7 January 2013

The early days of the automobile were full of creativity and experimentation, as carriage-builders, industrial concerns, and independent inventors all tinkered with the then-novel concept of the self-propelled vehicle. Here is a fascinating high-wheeler created during that exciting historical epoch.

This unusual motor car’s known history can be traced to the mid-20th century, when it is said to have been discovered in Port Huron, Michigan and later acquired in February 1961 by Canadian Fred Hurst, as noted in the February 1961 issue of Klaxon magazine. A pioneer in the stewardship of vintage automobiles in Canada, Hurst opened a car museum in Iona, Ontario in 1957, and he is said to have traded “a couple LaSalles” for the privilege of adding this high-wheeler to his collection. It was displayed at Windsor’s first Antique Autorama in 1961 at the Riverside Arena, sponsored by the Historic Vehicle Club.

The vehicle is later understood to have been displayed in a Saginaw, Michigan museum. When the museum closed it was brought back to Canada and eventually purchased by antique car and tractor collector Brian Bussell of Georgetown, Ontario circa 1980. Bussell, who owned Action Collision in Oakville, restored this car twice under his ownership, with the second restoration completed in approximately 1992. Under Bussell’s ownership the metal-banded wheels were swapped out in favor of leather belts for a smoother and quieter ride.

Speculation about this high-wheeler’s origins has been ongoing for over half a century. Hurst posited in the 17 November 1962 issue of The Weekly Star of Toronto that it was built in Saginaw, Michigan, and dubbed it the “Atlas.” Perhaps because of this, some have tied it to the Atlas Buggy Works of Indianapolis, Indiana, though there is little to support this aside from the name. It has also been suggested that Port Huron Buggy Works constructed the vehicle. Still others have put forth the theory that it was built by a Michigan blacksmith given the industrial-sourced “jobber” components from which its running gear is comprised.

While the Canada Carriage Company of Brockville, Ontario has also been attributed as this car’s maker, this firm did not begin making gasoline-powered cars until 1912, when the Brockville Atlas Motor Company was formed. The so-called “Brockville Atlases” built at that later date were modern in design and construction by the standards of the day, with little resemblance to the earlier high-wheelers, and were powered by conventional inline-four-cylinder engines. Given the hundreds of automakers that came and went in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of which remain poorly documented, it is hardly surprising that the full history this particular vehicle has yet to be fully researched and uncovered.

The motor car was acquired by the Hadfield collection of Milton, Ontario in approximately 2005. The motor car is equipped with a candle headlamp, as well as a traditional steering wheel on an angled steering column—an item which significantly postdates this car’s believed construction. It features an air-cooled, horizontally opposed two-cylinder engine with a Lunkenheimer oiler (a Cincinnati, Ohio based company). The engine is of unconfirmed origin, but a similar unit is found in the sole known surviving example of the Miamisburg, Ohio-built 1907 Hatfield Buggyabout. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a large chain to a cog and knob configuration. The motor car had a reported top speed of 25 miles per hour.

Run and shown under Hadfield ownership, and featured in an Old Autos article on 7 January 2013, this is a unique and captivating artifact from a thrilling early chapter in the history of the automobile.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/hf26/.