1907 Matheson Four Runabout

The Matheson Company produced automobiles in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, from 1906 through 1912, and only four surviving examples exist. This particular example is a 'Big Four' with a 50 horsepower four-cylinder engine with a single overhead cam and fully exposed valve gear. It has a 490 cubic-inch displacement and powers the rear wheels via a three-speed manual transmission. Rear drum brakes provide the stopping power.

Waynes Leonard purchased a Matheson 'Big Four' chassis and engine in the 1970s. Don C. Boulton purchased another 'Big Four' chassis from California as the basis for his own car. With help from Ted Davis, castings and patterns were made off Leonard's car's original engine, machined, and installed into a running engine on the Boulton chassis by Art Bergstrom and Charlie Trotman.

It is believed that the bodywork used was by the J.M. Quinby Company of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Herb Singe, Sr., of New Jersey, owned a Palmer-Singer with Quinby coachwork in very similar fashion to the original Matheson design. Exact measurements were taken and allowed for the recreation of an original Quinby body by Stan Francis on the newly completed Matheson chassis and engine. The work was completed in the late 1980s. The car was built to concours standards. It was given Solar model 898 headlamps and side lamps, and a Neverout acetylene generator. To make operation easier, an electric starter was discretely added.

In 2004, the car was shown at the Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2019