This handsome dark green and black, nickel-trimmed Overland Model 79T was purchased new from Sundance, Wyoming dealer C.H. Sackett’s Sundance Garage by James S. Tutty of Spearfish, South Dakota, great-grandfather-in-law of the present owner. A sheep rancher and future minister, Mr. Tutty paid $1,075 plus shipping for the car, the first automobile in his family, which his great-grandson Orlo Gilbert later recalled “must have made him the man of the town in Spearfish... It had all the fancy trimmings: an electric starter, electric lights—it even had a dashboard light.” It is believed that the 62-year-old Mr. Tutty used the 35-horsepower Overland primarily for errands, including delivering postal packages to his neighbors.

By the 1920s the Overland had been outmoded for everyday use and was retired to the Spearfish ranch of the Gilberts, whose son Guy had married Mr. Tutty’s daughter Gertrude. Orlo Gilbert, the next generation to love the car, recalled first seeing it as a four-year-old in 1943, as his older brother attempted to take him for a ride in it. Mr. Gilbert pulled it out of the ranch shed in 1961 and got it back into running condition, in which it remained until a complete, documented restoration was undertaken from 2008 through 2011. At its completion, the Overland was shown at an Antique Automobile Club of America meet in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, winning its First Senior award. Since that time, it has been garaged on display at the Gilbert home, in climate-controlled comfort when not out for an occasional “exercise run.”

Now offered for the very first time by the family of its original owner, this treasured heirloom is an impressive machine indeed, suitable for continued showing or very enjoyable participation in any number of Brass Era tours all over the country. Small wonder it has been kept in good hands for well over a century.