Now that’s something you don’t see every day!
I was coming back from an attempted trainspotting expedition (Tri-Met has started running test trains on the new i205/Clackamas line, and I spotted two trains when riding out to Rugg Road this morning. Alas, by the time I went back to trainspot they’d stopped for the day) and was rolling down Flavel towards 39th when I rolled past this electric car sitting quietly in a driveway. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one in the flesh (there were only 3500 made, and the last one rolled out from the works in 1923) but I have seen one or two offered for sale on various “EV for sale” websites, and I recognised it quickly enough to put the bicycle into a skid when I stopped to take this picture.
It’s an American made EV from 1921 (and made by a company that was purchased by GM, which means that the EV-1 was at least the second EV design that was killed by that horrible company.) I wonder if it’s still street-legal?
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Yes, it’s street legal and it gets driven to various events each year. It’s a 1920 Milburn Light Electric and there are approx. 50 of the roughly 5000 originally built from 1915 to 1923/24 still around. Also, another 300 or so other early electrics still are out there. If you are interested in owning an early electric like this one or similar, there are always a couple for sale—and right now there’s a pretty cherry 1922 Milburn in Florida that is available for antique car prices. It’d be great to see another Milburn in the Rose city. In 1915 there were at least 3 electric dealerships in town and 3 charging garages. Wish we had that today in 2009.