Haynes: the world’s first collector car?

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Haynes, until recently known in our little world for its workshop manuals, was not only a publisher from the west of the United Kingdom. Decades earlier, the Haynes Automobile Company was a pukka motor manufacturer from Kokomo, Indiana, at least that's what we learned after coming across this lovely picture of a Haynes two-seater.

Haynes Automobile Company

Founder Elwood Haynes had already built his first car in 1894, which he called the Haynes Pioneer. The company’s own factory magazine was given the same name and the headline in 1916 read: ‘The 1897 Haynes "Horseless Carriage" Again Becomes Property of the Haynes Company’. That must have made it one of the world’s earliest collector cars!

Hang on, Mister Haynes had surpassed that himself, or so we learned when we dug a little more into the subject. From the Smithsonian Collection: “This 1894 automobile, known as the Haynes ‘Pioneer’, was donated to the Smithsonian in 1910 by Elwood Haynes, its designer. Haynes (1857-1925) was president of the Haynes Automobile Company at the time he donated his car to the Institution. The car was built in Kokomo, Ind., in 1894. According to The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography's entry on Haynes in the Automobile Industry, 1896-1920, written by Ralph D. Gray, ‘to the delight of the builders, the engine caught at once (having no crank initially, it was push started), and the car moved off under its own power, reaching a speed of 7 to 8 mph’. Elwood Haynes claimed the ‘Pioneer’ was the first American automobile well after it was clear that there were other, earlier automobiles ― including the Duryea which is in the museum's collection”.

Over to the order of the day: our lovely little Friday Lady with what must be another rare Haynes automobile: a so-called Special Speedster from 1920 with a nice M1 number plate. Certainly collectable now. Could it survive?

Words Jeroen Booij. Pictures Indiana Archives Digital Index Records.

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