Previously it was thought that the 1911 Palace Touring was the oldest Cole car to still survive. Well, in December of 2018 a 1909 Cole High Wheeler Model D was identified. The Cole High Wheeler was made by the Cole Carriage Company and you can find out more about the High Wheelers at this section on the site. Here is a bit more information about the newly discovered Cole High Wheeler.
I received an email from a gentleman saying “How would you like me to bring the Cole car that none are know to exist to the owners meet in May?” As you can imagine my curiosity rose to a very high level! Car number 78 is a 1909 Cole High Wheeler and it will be unveiled at the Cole Meet up in May. There were no known surviving Cole High Wheelers from the Cole Carriage company out of the 170 that were made.
This car is in Kansas and a gentleman that was the owner recently passed away at 95 years old and this was in his barn. The man purchased the car when we was in high school as a car to work on and play with. Over the years it did have some modifications made to the seating and other various components. The man didn’t even really know what kind of car it was and he just loved it for what it was. In the 90’s he did write to the Horseless Carriage Research Foundation and sent them pictures and information about the car and they came back that it was a 1909 Cole Solid Tire High wheeler. The person that is doing work on the car for the family will be bringing it to the Gilmore and doing a talk on the car at the event. I am not going to share pictures of it now, except a teaser shot of the two cylinder engine. The tank and oiler are wrong on it and are being changed out, but the actual engine, exhaust, and transmission matches up perfect to the photos from the sales catalog.
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It will be great to unveil this wonderful automobile at the Cole owners meetup in May, 2019.