1917 Detroit Electric Model 68 Brougham
Anderson Electric Car Company had been building horse-drawn vehicles since 1884, and the Model 68 Brougham carries that heritage openly. Its tall, two-door greenhouse, curved-glass windows all around, and aluminum roof pressed from a single sheet are drawn directly from carriage architecture.
Detroit Electric was one of the "Big Five" early American electric makers and indisputably the longest-lived; the conservative body sold in 1917 looked much as it had a decade earlier.
Deep-buttoned diamond-pattern upholstery covers the interior, and both doors open wide for unimpeded entry in formal attire. Two hand levers handle all driving: the long one steers, the short one governs speed through five forward settings and five in reverse.
The Elwell-Parker 80-volt motor (commonly rated around 4 to 6 horsepower, though often advertised higher) was fed originally by heavy lead-acid cells split between front and rear battery boxes beneath the body (occupying the compartments a gasoline car would reserve for its engine and fuel tank).
This example runs on modern batteries connected through the original charging socket. Period advertising cited 20 mph and about 80 miles of range per charge.
No clutch, gearshift, or starter crank were needed, which defined the car's market: wealthy women and physicians who found early gasoline alternatives noisy and demanding. New pricing ran from $1,175 into the mid-$2,000s when a Ford Model T cost under $500.
Detroit Electric built around 13,000 cars from 1907 through 1939, a longer run than any other American electric maker of the period.
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