1911 Pope-Hartford Model Y Roadster

Colonel Albert Pope invested his bicycle wealth in the manufacturing of electric vehicles, entering the automobile business in 1896. He is credited with being the first manufacturer to mass-produce automobiles; convinced that electric cars were the way to go, he produced over 500 of these vehicles in 1899. He also dabbled in building cars with internal-combustion engines, and soon after the turn of the century, he established several divisions, including the Pope-Toledo and Pope-Waverly. The longest-running of these was the Pope-Hartford, located in Hartford, Connecticut. By 1909, the Pope-Hartford was a well-regarded luxury car with a reputation built on endurance racing.

This Pope-Hartford is a rare 6-cylinder model, one of four known to survive. It was originally owned by a physician in Alameda, California, and then was acquired by Mr. T. C. Wohlbruck, a San Francisco school photographer, for his private collection of more than 100 vehicles. Following Wohlbruck's death in 1937, most of his collection was sold to The Henry Ford museum. But this Pope-Hartford, eleven other vehicles, and a number of period costumes displayed with them were donated to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The car was fully restored by museum curator Jim Zordich and his staff between 1970 and 1972.