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1902 Knox Model R

Runabout
Chassis number: SR 188

This 1902 Knox, SR #188, was driven by Harry Knox in a race from New York City to Boston, MA, and back in October of 1902 and received two awards for its performance. The car was then purchased by Henry Ford and placed in the Ford Museum in Dearborn in 1924. The car was sold at auction to Charles Lemaitre in Massachusetts. The current owner bought it from him in 1994. It was in beautiful, unrestored condition having about 2,000 original miles on it.

A tour was planned to take 50 pre-1916 cars to Bermuda. The car was shipped to Bermuda for the tour. Due to a death in the family, the owner was unable to attend the event but told his friend to use the car. In the middle of the fourth day, it swallowed the intake valve. Using the engine as a brake down the hill, it blew fire out of the carburetor, and the fire broke the glass fuel bowl dumping two gallons of gas on the motor. Three small fire extinguishers were unable to contain the fire. The flames were 35 feet in the air and the wind blew the fire to one side. The fire department arrived and put the fire out.

All of the parts were collected and brought home. The wind blowing the fire to one side destroyed it, but the other side was intact. It was used as a pattern to build a new body. The fire caused damage to the engine and chassis and a rebuilt engine and chassis were necessary. The rebuild was completed in 2010.

Harry Knox was a graduate of the Springfield Technical Institute. After graduating, he worked for the Overman Wheel Company in Chicopee Falls, building three prototype cars. His friend and automotive pioneer, J. Frank Duryea in Springfield, Massachusetts, encouraged him to create a company and produce automobiles. The result was the Knox Automobile Company, with the first vehicle design being a three-wheel runabout, of which 53 were built in 1900.

By 1902, Knox was producing four-wheel cars, all powered by the Knox hallmark 'porcupine' engine having an air-cooled design. It used spike-like pins on the cylinder instead of cooling fins. The engine was positioned low in the chassis and fitted with a transverse crankshaft and cylinders extending fore and aft. The early models had a sloping front dashboard. Several years later, they were given dummy hoods that had become fashionable in the industry.

In 1904, Harry Knox left the company to build the Atlas car across town. Even after the founder left, the Knox Company expanded to build five models, with one to four cylinders, by 1906.

In 1908, a water-cooled model was added to the lineup.

The F-4 model sold for $1400 in 1906. Two years later a Model G limousine sold for $5,000.

by Dan Vaughan