1913 Cole Series 60 Roadster

Joseph Cole was an enterprising “dabbler” in the budding era of automobiles.  He owned a shop in Rockford Il that sold any manner of modern things such as lawn mowers, wheels, and even automobiles.  Around 1909 he decided he too could play in the “manufacture” of an automobile with a minimum of investment through the “assemble” method.  This is where you view a car as an assemblage of major components (engine, transmission, rear end, etc.) and then purchase the pieces from trusted manufacturers and plug them together like Legos and call it a Cole!  The result was a pretty good machine with tried-and-true components leaving the R&D cost to others while he could put the money into a marketing budget.  This approach also allowed him to make any number of models of varying sizes based on his perception of what the market was looking for. 

In 1913 Cole offered 3 models of different wheelbases and horse powers.  Being 1913, this car has a rather conventional self-starter and is adorned with electric lighting and all the brass components are now plated in nickel that required far less frequent polishing.  This car is a series 60 which had a 6-cylinder 40HP engine strapped into an enormous 132-inch wheelbase chassis.  Note the HUGE trunk space in the back of this 2-passenger car.  (Also note how utterly inaccessible it is).

The Cole was a somewhat above average quality car with a slightly above average price tag ($2500).  I knew the owner of this car prior to it being here in the museum and I was honored to play chauffer on a handful of occasions.  This is a strong running, reliable and rather fast machine being comfortable at 50 MPH.  For a 1913 car, that is impressive.

The company continued the assemble approach until their demise in 1925.  They produced a wide variety of models and though Cole was not an innovator in the industry, it maintained a strong following until the end.