Milburn Electric Model 27 Brougham

There really are some people in the world who believe, that Tesla invented the electric drive for automobiles. Although it is true that the American company has some breakthroughs in this area, they are by no means the inventors of this concept. On the contrary, some readers may be aware of various developments of European manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Citroën and others, which ran with electric motors. But in general, the history of electric cars goes back more than 100 years. While in today’s Austria a certain Mr Ferdinand Porsche invented an electric motor for the wheel hubs, in the United States of America they drove and produced more electric cars than vehicles with gasoline – and that until the market launch of the Ford Model T! Only the ‘Tin Lizzie’ was cheap enough to give the US customers the rash for the gasoline and against the electric drive.

Until then, there were some automakers who had only silent vehicles in their program. In addition to Detroit Electric and Ohio Electric, these included Milburn Electric. George Milburn founded his coachbuilding company already in 1869. After moving from Mishawaka/Indiana to Toledo/Ohio in 1875, it became the world’s largest manufacturer of farm wagons through mechanization of the production process. At that time, Milburn already made his vehicles mostly by machine and only needed workers to operate those machines. Until about 1910, he only made bodies for the electric cars of Ohio Electric. Two workers in the Milburn company and at Ohio Electric at that time were the brothers Frederich Holmes Dodge and Henry Dodge. F.H. Dodge even became chief of Ohio Electric. Incidentally, both are not related to the Dodge brothers who founded their own car brand in Indiana, which is today part of the Fiat Chrysler group. After the Dodge brothers had some merger plans for Ohio Electric and Milburn, which failed, they went their separate ways with F.H. Dodge staying at Ohio Electric and Henry Dodge leading Milburn. He and his workers at Milburn believed that electric cars could be made lighter, lower and cheaper by using their in-house capabilities. In September 1914 they also entered this market and produced their first own electric vehicle.

This original Milburn Electric was designed by Karl Probst, who later drew the famous Army Jeep. In addition to the Model 15 called Coupé and the Model 151 called Roadster there was from 1916 the Brougham and from 1917 the Town Car with open driver’s seat and covered rear seats, as well as a light transport vehicle with cargo area behind the front seats. With a starting price of 1,485 US$, the Model 15 was the cheapest electric car of its time. As a Coupé, the car reached up to 15 mph, as a Roadster up to 19 mph, while the range was at least 50 miles. Between 1914 and 1923, more than 4,000 copies were produced – despite a major fire that destroyed big parts of the factory and various vehicles in the manufacturing process in 1919. In February 1923, General Motors bought the fabrications of Milburn, which by then had already produced several bodies for the GM brand Oldsmobile. Ultimately, however, they didn’t need the additional manufacturing capacities and offered the factory halls for sale as early as August 1923. The Millburn brand, meanwhile, still made some vehicles from leftover stocks and then closed their doors.

If you are interested in an early electric vehicle for your car collection, you will have the opportunity to buy one on October 11. RM Sotheby’s offers a Milburn Electric Model 27 Brougham from the collection of Richard L. Burdick, who purchased it in the mid-1980s, during their auction event in Hershey. Burdick’s mechanics restored the car, painted it in carmine and dove grey and made a technical change to use it with modern 12-volt batteries. RM Sotheby’s expects a hammer price between 25,000 and 35,000 US$.

Images: RM Sotheby’s