The launch of the Pullman motor car in 1905 was well received, and by the next year its manufacturer, the York Motor Company of York, Pennsylvania, offered four models of four-cylinder cars priced from $1,850 to $2,500. The future looked promising, but after the Panic of 1907, the company fell on hard times. Additional capital was required, and two New York financiers, Thomas O’Connor and Oscar Stevenson, responded. They did not, however, get along with company president Samuel Baily or general manager James Kline. Kline left, and soon Baily followed, forming a new company in York that would build the Kline Kar.

O’Connor and Stevenson then reorganized the York Motor Car Company into the Pullman Motor Car Company. There were some great successes, including a win in the 1910 Fairmount Park Race in Philadelphia and three gold medals at the 1911 Russian Exposition at Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. However, success sometimes hinders caution, and in the effort to boost production, some corners were cut and sales suffered. More capital, this time from a syndicate of local businessmen headed by John Schmidt, arrived late in 1915. Engineer E.T. Birdsall was enlisted from White in Cleveland to design a lower-priced line, but it was all for naught. Bankruptcy came in December 1916.

Fred Rosenmiller, York historian and collector, bought this car from Thomas Zedlovich in Flushing, New York, and returned it to its place of manufacture. Prior owners included a gentleman in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and Messrs. Clyde Kleindinst and Gerald Bury, both of whom tried their hand at restoration but never finished.

It was restored over an 11-year period, the final three seasons overseen by Jeff Hammers at his Penn-Dutch Restoration Services in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. The ground-up restoration was completed in 1992 and won its AACA First Place Junior Award that May at Newark, Delaware. It was accorded Senior status the following year. The current owner’s father purchased it from Mr. Rosenmiller.

Although now an older restoration, the car presents well. Its medium yellow paint is highlighted with delicate black pinstriping; upholstery is done in brown buttoned leather. The paint is generally good, but has been touched up in spots. The leather, while showing some use, is unmarked, unscuffed, and untorn. Brass headlamps and side-lamps are augmented by a center-mounted spotlight on the cowl.

Instrumentation consists of a Stewart 60 mph speedometer, a clock, and a radiator-mounted MotoMeter. A monocle windscreen is mounted to the steering column, and a Boa Constrictor bulb horn is fitted on the driver’s side fender.

Of 23 known surviving Pullman cars, this is the only Model O. It truly represents the only opportunity to buy one today.