1910 Maxwell Model AA Runabout

Jonathan Maxwell was a trained machinist and engineer whose resume included working at Olds Motor Works and Detroit's Northern Manufacturing Company. In 1904 he was invited to join industrialist Benjamin Briscoe in a new automotive venture. Leaving Detroit, they took over the factory of the Mobile Company of America, a defunct steam-car manufacturer, at Tarrytown, New York. Much of the start-up capital for the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company was provided by John D. Rockefeller,

The early Maxwell was powered by a water-cooled twin-cylinder engine with mechanical intake valves. There was a two-speed planetary gearbox with shaft-drive. Sales were strong, with the runabout priced at $750. During its inaugural year, nearly 1,000 examples were built. To promote the car, sales manager Cadwallader Washburn Kelsey persuaded Alice Huyler Ramsey to drive three female friends across the country to San Francisco in a Maxwell, becoming the first woman to make the journey by car. That was the same year that Maxwell placed third in industry sales.

The 10hp Maxwell Model A became the 11 hp AA in 1910, gaining four inches of wheelbase in the process.

This particular Maxwell Model AA Runabout is finished in red with black fenders and broad accent striping. The seat is upholstered in diamond-pattern black buttoned leather. There is a varnished wood dashboard with a single instrument, an eight-day jeweled-movement clock. Power is from a horizontally opposed, water-cooled twin-cylinder engine which is ignited by a Splitdorf ignition system. The lighting comprises a Maxwell No. 4 script brass taillamp and No. 27 acetylene headlamps, fueled by a carbide generator on the left running board.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2020