1912 White Model Thirty Touring

Thomas White, known for the White Sewing Machines that were built under his name, purchased a Locomobile Steamer for use and determined the steam boiler was very unreliable. His son, Rollin, set out to improve the boiler. After some success in improving the boiler, Rollin and his brothers convinced their father to use a part of the sewing machine plant to start producing Steam Generated cars, this was in late 1900.

White proved very successful in building and marketing White Steam cars thru 1910 when the internal combustion 'gas car' engine emerged in the market. In 1911 they started to produce gas cars using both 4- and 6-cylinder engines.

White Company built over 8,000 cars from 1900 to 1913, while most were steam before 1900, most survivors are gas cars.

This 'gas car' example is a 1912 White with a 4-cylinder engine with 30 horsepower. It is one of the last right-hand cars built by White. It has a four-speed transmission to move it along at 35 to 40 mph. 1912 was the first year for an Electrical System, the 18-volt starter-generator is almost as big as the engine.