1908 Stanley Steamer Model K Semi-Racer

The Stanley twins, Francis and Freelan, made their fortune by inventing and manufacturing dry photographic plates and later selling their firm to Eastman Kodak. In 1897, they found their second great success by producing Stanley steam-powered 'motor carriages.' Two years later, the brothers sold the car company to the publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine, who named the car the Locomobile. The Stanleys soon re-entered the auto industry, naming their new car the Stanley Steamer.

Built by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company of Newton, Massachusetts, this is one of only three surviving Model Ks in the world and the only one that has been carefully preserved. It is the road-going version of the famous 1906 Stanley that set a land-speed record. On January 26, 1906, at Ormond Beach, Florida, the rocket-shaped Stanley broke the two-miles-in-one-minute barrier at a speed of 121.6 mph. In the one-mile trials that followed, the car did the mile in just over 28 seconds at 127.66 mph. The steam-powered Stanley Rocket held the record as 'The Fastest Car in the World' from 1906 to 1910 when Barney Oldfield broke the record in a gas-powered Mercedes. Stanley built 25 of these 30-horsepower Semi-Racers, which sold for $1,800 each.

This Stanley Model K Semi-Racer is one of three remaining of the 25 built by Stanley from 1906 to 1908. While the other two have been restored, this one is in its original condition.

Model Ks cruise at today's top highway speeds and have been timed at 90 mph uphill as recently as the 1990s re-enactment of the Dead Horse Hill Climb races in Worcester, Massachusetts.