1901 Knox Model A

This light 'runabout' was the first standardized American automobile and was developed between 1897 and 1900. This three-wheeled vehicle illustrates the technical links between the bicycle, the horse-drawn carriage and the infant auto industry. The running gear of this machine reflects bicycle technology; the body is typical of carriage construction with the horse removed and replaced by a motor, an innovation that made runabouts popular and trendy. However, many people felt they resembled awkward, unfinished horse carriages.

Rather than a steering wheel, the 1901 Knox Model A Runabout was guided by a tiller. Few American automobiles adopted the steering wheel in 1900 because its practical advantages were not yet generally appreciated. The steering wheel was thought to be an 'affectation' of contemporary European cars, where it was already a universal automobile element by 1900.

The manufacturer of this vehicle was Harry A. Knox. As a young graduate of Springfield Technical Institute, Knox met J. Frank Duryea, the builder of America's first successful gasoline-powered automobile. Duryea encouraged him to develop experimental cars, and this led to the formation of the Knox Automobile Company in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1889. The factory produced 15 of the three-wheeled runabouts in 1900 and a phenomenal 100 the following year. Knox resigned from his company in 1904 over a management dispute, but his company continued to build motorcars until 1914.

Source - The Frick Car and Carriage Museum