1916 Rauch & Lang

I know that I have said this before, but I just love the clucky kind of quality to these old motorcars and thought that this was a marvelous little vehicle.

When my family went to the Auburn Museum we found this interesting little motorcar. This is actually one of the first electric cars, which I thought was really neat.

One the world sort of established that they could make these great automobiles, various companies tried to establish what sort of engine would work the best: electric, steam, or gas, just to name off the main types. Although the electric engine worked like a dream, there were slight problems when it came down to actually operating the motorcar.

Look Ma, no hands. This car actually operates with a literal backseat driver. That sort of stick that is at the left hand side is where the driver would steer the vehicle. This was common to most early motorcars, although by 1916 most motorcars had regular steering wheels. Sorry about the odd ghost of the reflection off of the glass.

 Since the car also had to carry both its passengers and a huge battery to power it, the motorcar went very slow down the road. So, this particular motorcar was quite ahead of its time, it was just too inconvenient for many modern motorists that had become accustomed to the reliable internal combustion engine. This was soon taken off of the shelves and was a mere footnote in panels of motoring history.

Sorry about this being a bit blurry.

I thought that it was still a brilliant little car.