Model 82. 4.3 hp, 84-volt DC motor, direct shaft drive, solid front axle and live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and two-wheel mechanical brakes. Wheelbase: 100"

- Offered from the Estate of John O’Quinn

- Late electric car with faux radiator

- Delivered new to Mrs. Margaret Gray of Chatham, Ontario

- Formerly in the James Cousens Cedar Crossing Collection

- One of about 95 Model 82s built and very few survivors

Over the course of its 30-some year lifespan, the Detroit Electric Car Company produced more electric automobiles than any other American passenger car manufacturer. As the golden age of the American electric car faded, Detroit made some attempts to follow modern fashions. By 1920, Detroit Electrics were available with a dummy front hood with a false radiator, resembling a Fiat. The upright bodies remained, however, and this series of bodies was built by H&M Body Corporation of Racine, Wisconsin.

This particular car was formerly in the James Cousens Cedar Crossing Collection, where it was restored and kept company with some of the most desirable electric vehicles in history. According to a report from Galen Handy in the car’s file, it was initially built as serial number 12678 but then reassigned 12578 shortly before being shipped to the Gray-Dort Motor Co. of Chatham, a short distance over the Detroit River in Southwestern Ontario. More specifically, and as evidenced by extensive original correspondence in the car’s file, the car was built for Margaret Gray, the matriarch of the wealthy Gray family in Chatham, whose husband Robert Gray ran Gray-Dort Motors, a motor car builder from 1915 to 1925 after Robert secured the rights to manufacture the Flint, Michigan-based Dort automobile in Canada.

Although the family produced thousands of gasoline-powered motor cars, Mrs. Gray preferred electrics, much like Clara Ford, who apparently had three Detroit Electrics over her lifetime. This car was one of only about 95 Model 82s built, and oral history in Chatham confirms it to have been the first electric car in town. The Gray family owned the car for many years, finally selling it in “perfect shape” (according to William Gray’s letter) in 1952 to Joe Gest when Mrs. Gray had turned 90 years old. In about 1967, it was acquired by Louis J.M. Gravel of Montreal and in 1994 joined the John Gambs Collection in Indiana from where it was acquired by Mr. Cousens.

Today the car is presented in restored condition, finished in beige with an elegantly upholstered interior. Delivered new to a prominent family that could afford its substantial price tag, this is a fascinating electric car with Canadian-American history.