Most of the early automobiles in America, and in the cradle of the Midwest in particular, were of the type known as high-wheelers, with tall, spindly carriage-style wheels and very simple engineering, making them well-suited to the deeply rutted rural farm roads and to easy repair and maintain by their owners. One such offering was the Columbus Buggy Company, in the Ohio capital city of the same name, whose Autobuggy, powered by an air-cooled 10-horsepower twin-cylinder engine and double-chain drive, owed part of its development to Columbus’s engineer and salesman, one Eddie Rickenbacker—later to become America’s most successful fighting ace of World War I, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a pioneer of modern commercial aviation. The Autobuggy was produced for only two seasons, before new investors rolled out a new, more luxurious model, the Firestone-Columbus.

The Autobuggy offered here was formerly part of the well-known collection of Jack Frost, exhibited at his namesake museum in Washington, Michigan, and in his care was restored by the noted early restorer Walter Heater of Dearborn, likely in the late 1960s. It was later acquired along with many other automobiles from the Frost Museum by the Imperial Palace Auto Collection of Las Vegas, and in 1994 was purchased from the Imperial Palace by Frank Spain for his own new museum in Tupelo, Mississippi. There the Columbus was exhibited for 25 years, at which point, in 2019, it was happily acquired by Clive and Janet Cussler.

Displayed in the Cussler Car Collection since acquisition, the Columbus is still very attractive, with its restoration, itself now very “antique,” nonetheless holding up well, with a fine and appealing patina, and retaining such wonderful authentic touches as the chassis number stamped into the wood structure of the tail.

This is a very appealing early American automobile, with wonderful spirit—a true charmer, be it for the Rickenbacker admirer, the high-wheeler enthusiast, the Columbus native, or all three.