1902 Covert Runabout

Sold for $44,000 at 2014 RM Auctions - Hershey.
Byron V. Covert & Company was founded early in 1902 in Lockport, NY, ostensibly to produce a steam car that Covert had designed earlier. But in the meantime, he had come up with a 3-horsepower chain drive gasoline runabout, and this is the model he ended up taking to market. This example is probably the only one left; its original owner was a law school librarian from Michigan.

The engine is a water and air-cooled DeDion one-cylinder type capable of producing three horsepower. The factory price when new was $600.

This car was originally purchased by Miss Gertrude Woodard of Ypsilanti, Michigan, who evidently was worried about starting it. In a letter from Byron Covert, he wrote: 'We are pleased to inform you that we have succeeded in equipping your rig with a starting arrangement that we feel sure will fully equal your expectations. Instead of putting a 24-tooth sprocket on the transmission shaft, we put on a 28-tooth sprocket, and this, in connection with a 7-tooth sprocket on the motor, causes the starting crank to come in the same position each time. This allows you not only start it readily, by hand, but also allows you to start it by pushing on this with your foot.'

Sold for $44,000 at 2014 RM Auctions - Hershey.
Ypsilanti's first woman driver was Miss Gertrude E. Woodard. She worked as a librarian in the Law School Library at the University of Michigan and drove a Covert Motorette to-and-from work. She purchased the car in 1901 when she visited the factory at Lockport, N.Y., and drove it until 1911.

Miss Woodward cranked the vehicle on the left side and the driver sat on the right. A bar was used for steering and a bell on the dashboard warned of the car's approach. The top speed was in the neighborhood of 18 miles an hour. For after-dark driving, a flickering carbon light provided illumination.

Ownership of the Covert later passed to the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan, where it was acquired by Mr. Moir. Over the course of his ownership, Mr. Moir acquired extensive documentation of its ownership history. Since new, the car has been treated to a restoration.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2014