1914 Detroit Electric Model 97 in Newport, Rhode Island

Chassis No. 6367
Engine No. 11915
Controller No. 10574

Billed as "Society's Town Car," The Detroit Electric brand from the burgeoning Anderson Electric Car Company focused on modern enclosed family transportation, offering a comprehensive six-model range by 1914. A sporting outlier within that range, the Model 46 was marketed as a "Gentleman's Roadster," providing an open-air alternative to the company's more practical offerings.

One of only three known to exist today, this particular example, chassis number 6367, is an exceptionally rare numbers-matching example documented by Galen Handy. Handy, well known to those with interest in America's pioneering electric automobiles, conducted a full build and ownership report based on factory ledgers. Originally finished in Blue over Blue, the car was commissioned by Robert Liddle of Pasadena, California and sold through California Electric Garage for $2,400. The thorough report records decades-long ownership by the Claberg family of Oxnard before it was acquired in the mid-1960s by William Harrah, forming a very early part of Harrah's Automobile Collection in Reno, Nevada. Following the sale of much of the Harrah Collection, it later joined the Imperial Palace Collection in Las Vegas.

Shown during 2000 Pebble Beach Car Week at the Blackhawk Exposition, this Model 46 Roadster later found a home at the noted Off Brothers Automobile Collection in Hickory Corners, Michigan. Following their ownership of the car, the report cites successive ownership by John McMullin, James Cousens, and John O'Quinn. In 2016, the exceptionally rare Roadster became the subject of a full and comprehensive restoration at Classic & Exotic Services of Troy, Michigan, a Pebble Beach-level restoration house known for its attention to detail to the most heralded American classics, from Duesenberg to Tucker.

At the time of cataloging, the Roadster retains its original serialized Weston Meter (10668) and Elwell-Parker Style 33 Controller (10574) and is equipped with a Warner speedometer and a Waltham eight-day clock, among the instrumentation within the passenger compartment, which features full black carpeting and an oxblood leather button-tufted bench seat that appears more suited to a living room than to an automotive interior. The passenger compartment is finished in maroon, while a black lower body, battery compartments, and fenders feature inset maroon pinstripes matched to a maroon-painted leaf-spring chassis. Light red pinstripes effortlessly offset the upper body-color wooden artillery-style wheels and doors. A folding windshield with nickel-plated brightwork and a fresh black-upholstered cape top provides excellent eye appeal and welcome protection when the weather turns.

It goes without saying that the Detroit Electric Model 46 Gentleman's Roadster sits in rarefied air among today's vintage electric automobiles. Considering that the remaining two are located at the National Automotive Museum in Reno, Nevada, and at the Rockefeller Estate Kykuit in Tarrytown, New York, it is unlikely either will emerge on the open market in the near or distant future.