Thomas White was an old-line Cleveland manufacturer, primarily of sewing machines, but his company also produced roller skates, phonographs, kerosene lamps, and machine tools. This allowed him the luxury of an automobile, and he bought a Locomobile steamer before the turn of the 20th Century and was unhappy with both its quality and reliability. His son, Rollin, was a Cornell engineer and was interested in the new-fangled automobile. He perfected a water tube steam generator that fixed the most basic problems with the Locomobile and patented it.

Rollin and his brother Windsor began making White steamers in a corner of the sewing machine factory. They were so successful that they spun off from the original company and had their own plant by 1906. Three years later the company was so well established that William Howard Taft selected a White as the first official automobile of the U.S. President, a publicity coup.

However, steam was running its course in the U.S. auto industry and the internal combustion engine was becoming the standard. White had to bow to public taste. After careful research, White decided to license the design of a Delahaye engine, and built a “gas car” in 1908. However, before steam production ended in 1909, White had built more steamers than any other manufacturer.

By the beginning of World War I, White had already concentrated on light and heavy trucks and after the war they became a major truck manufacturer for decades. Their earlier automobiles were of a very high quality and the production of the internal combustion cars was limited.

The White in the sale is a 1910 GA 20 horsepower four-cylinder Tourer. It has many signature items from the brass age, including wood spoke wheels, oil lamps, right hand drive, crank start and a gravity-fed fuel system. The interesting body has two doors at the rear, and a step-through design in the driver’s compartment. Maroon coach lines mirror the maroon buttoned leather seats. A beautiful period clock dominates the dashboard. The windshield is huge and upright and brass outriggers run from the leading edge of the top to the frame rails.

This White is a relic of a time when Cleveland was the sixth largest city in the nation and was attempting to become the automobile capitol of America. White Motor Company was an integral part of that history. This splendid Tourer is ready for the most famous of American tours, the AAA Glidden Tour, or any other the new owner might choose for this luxury Brass Age jewel.

Without reserve