BACK in the early 1920s a car called the Colonial would presumably have been British and aimed at the many markets the Empire controlled worldwide.
But no, it was an American brand – and there was not one, but five of them.
Seems that trademark law barely mattered at the time, since there’s no record of any one suing the other — and anyway, all five of them were short-lived.
Most important was the 1921 Colonial Straight Eight four-door touring sedan, the first car in the US and probably in the world, to have hydraulic brakes on all four wheels.
It also had DeDion independent rear suspension.
Another innovation was its convertible body: Its hardtop was designed with windows that could be rearranged to convert the car into either a sedan or a tourer, plus it had twin divider rear glass.
It was built by MDC, the Mechanical Development Corp of San Francisco, and was the first car built on the nation’s west coast.
MDC financed engineer William Rider to produce the car.
Initial advertising described it as ‘a car that promises to produce a sensation equal almost to that created by the first automobile.’
The car ran on disc wheels and carried two extra spares on the side.
The 60 hp (44kW) Straight Eight had an estimated sales price of US $1800, and would deliver both 28 mpg (8.4L/100km) and 2000 miles (3200km) to a gallon (4.5 litres) of oil.
Considering its big straight-eight engine with twin Zenith carburetters and the car’s overall size, those claims seemed rather optimistic.
However, so certain was the company of the Colonial’s success that it planned to produce about 12,000 of them a year in a massive plant they’d build in ‘Frisco.
The Colonial was part of a trend of luxury and performance cars in the 1920s that used straight-eight engines which were powerful, smooth-running and just the job for the high-end vehicles of the time.
The first production car to use one was Italy’s Isotta Fraschini in 1919.
The design also saw great success in motor racing, with cars from Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and Duesenberg winning numerous races throughout the 1920s and 30s.
Such powerplants became popular in premium American cars, such as those from Packard, Cord, Hudson, and Buick.
But in Colonial’s case, Sod’s Law intervened. Things did not go to plan and the prototype, lauded as a forerunner of an all-new model to be built, was the sole example to ever be produced.
It eventually ended up as part of the Nethercutt Collection, one of America’s finest automotive museums.
It went on sale in October when Nethercutts became cramped for space and decided to sell off some cars they’d owned for more than 50 years.
So the 1921 Colonial Straight Eight went on auction, with no reserve and some lucky chap got it for US $34,775 (about $53,000).
It had covered just 7152 miles (1144km) in its 104 years and was still wearing its original tyres and upholstery and carpeting and in the boot was its comprehensive tool kit.
“Out of all the cars being offered, this one-off Colonial is by far the rarest,” Cameron Richards, vice president of The Nethercutt Collection, said.
“It is the only known Colonial to ever be produced out of San Francisco. It would be a true dream to see this car purchased and restored back to its very rare, former glory.”
The images show the car without headlights, but they were included in the sale.
They’d been removed and were being properly restored before passing on to the car’s new owner.
Of the other Colonials of the era, there was an electric-powered one with tiller steering that could be had as a roadster or a five-seater sedan, the latter with a cut-glass vase for flowers – and a toilet seat.
It was built in Detroit by the Colonial Electric Car Company, switched on in 1911 and plugged out in 1912.
In 1917 the Colonial Automobile Company fired up in Indianapolis and built touring models with six-cylinder engines.
It shut shop in 1921 and was one of 98 (yes, 98) car manufacturers in Indianapolis from 1896 to 1994.
Another Colonial emerged from Boston, Massachusetts in 1921 as a neat sports car with a six-cylinder Beaver engine and a promise to build 100 cars a year. But only 10 were known to have ever been completed.
Also in 1920, the Shaw Livery Co of Chicago, a major supplier of taxis, built a variety of cars with Rochester-Duesenberg engines and in 1921 badged the products as Colonials before being taken over by the Yellow Cab Company.
So, many a Colonial motor enterprise, none successful, none of them linked to the British Empire.
Only the 1921 Colonial Straight Eight, the one and only of the lot, still survives and its unidentified owner can lay claim to having one of the rarest cars on Earth.
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