Economy Motor Buggy Frage

I was in the building five years ago. It is owned by an older gentleman, and he has it full of Studebakers oddly enough. It has always struck me as funny that a building that used to manufacture cars really long ago is full of parts from a different car manufacturer from just sort of long ago.

This Economy Motor Buggy is in the Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC and was on display as of 3/36/22

A photo of me in front of my buggy.

The Economy that was sold in 1998 by Sandra Lee to Belgium is now in Australia. We have put some effort in keeping it original but putting it back on the road to operate in a satisfactory way. Wider new tires which grip much better on any surface are available and retightening the wheels on the machines made for the job 100 years ago is available also. Adjusting the rear drive chains affects the adjustment on the steering chains on an Economy. The front wheels can fowl the car when turning on full lock. Driving an Economy at speed is pretty hopeless without all this in place as we have found with our machine. It now handles the rough roads quite well with you hanging on to the steering wheel of course.
Jon I am surprised to encounter a previous owner via the forum. Great to hear you talk of your Economy ownership. Do you have any further info. on it's early history. Were you long term owners and where was it found or who owned it before you. It looks to have always been cared for. Any info will be kept with the car and appreciated. Any early photos.
Economy advertised in the Thresherman farming magazine. We have attached an add for the model C which is much the same as the model B but the engine is bigger.

We owned a 1908 Economy some years ago. It was sold to Europe, Belgium I seem to recall. Neither of those pictured are the car we had. The air-cooled opposed twin was a sweet running engine. Economy probably bought them from the engine builder but I don't know who that was. There were two big failings of the Economy that were closely related. First was the center pivot steering, like a buggy. Control was by the chains you can see leading from the front axle back under the car. The other problem was the very short wheelbase, something about 76 or 80" if I recall. The combination of the short wheelbase and primitive steering rendered the car quite difficult to maintain a straight line, especially on rough roads. At one time in the life of our car, a prior owner had lengthened the wheelbase in an effort to make it more drivable, with dubious improvement. Other than that and a 1930' repaint, our car was totally original. It ran beautifully and drove terribly.

Nancy:

I'm your guy on for the Economy. I have my great, great grandfather's 1909 Model G, made in Joliet, IL (AACA Repeat Senior Grand National & 2010 AACA Cup). Your model is either a B or C made in Ft. Wayne, IN. My great, great uncle bought that model along with my great, great grandfather when they went to the factory.

David Lyon also had an Economy Model E which is currently in the Joliet (IL) Historical Museum. He has done exhaustive research and wrote an article some years back on the make in the Horseless Carriage Gazette. I also have bunch of history on the make when in Ft. Wayne. Note, the factory still stands in Joliet, IL with "ECONOMY MOTOR BUGGY" head stone above the entrance.

Mechanically, I know my car inside and out. Your's is not much different.

There is good YouTube video a guy did at show I attended, search for 1909 Economy and it will come up.

Happy to help anyway I can.

Thanks,

Brady Mann

The best story on the Economy you will find in the Standard Catalog of American Cars by Kimes and Clark. The Economy Motor Buggy Company wanted to base their success on the Success highwheeler. Sued by the Success Company for patent infringement they tried to escape conviction by moving elsewhere, however without success: the Success Company found them again and bankruptcy followed soon … A picture of the Success buggy shows the similarity with the Economy copy.

Looks like a Tudhope-McIntyre Co. of Orillia Ontario, Motor Buggy. If so, as the base model in their fifteen-model range, which included Surreys, passenger wagons and vans, it cost $550 in 1908-9.