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Vintage Automobile Club of Ocean County Historical & Classic Cars |
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Baker Electric
The logo for our club is the Baker Electric
and, from what I have been able to determine,
it is a 1913 Brougham, which could carry 5
passengers and had an 88-inch wheelbase.
The Baker was produced from 1899 to 1916
in Cleveland Ohio. The unusual suspension
of this car consisted of attaching the wheel
shafts directly to the frame, on top of which
was mounted a body on springs. A lever next
to the driving seat controlled its speed. The
Baker Electric was introduced at the National
Automobile Show in 1900 and had two
speeds - 6 and 12 mph. In 1902 Walter
Baker built two special submarine-shaped
racecars to demonstrate how fast an electric
car could go. The first reached nearly 77
mph at a speedway in Staten Island and then
crashed into the crowd killing two spectators.
Baker tried again with the “Torpedo” which
attained 104 mph at Ormond Beach, FL. At
the time, it was fastest speed yet attained by
man. Employing Edison batteries, a stock
Baker Electric set a then world record by
traveling 244˝ miles on a single charge.
Thomas Edison’s first car was a 1902 Baker
and other notables who owned one are
“Diamond Jim” Brady and the King of Siam.
“The Aristocrat of Motordom” is how Walter Baker referred to his Electric. The advertisement
on the left
shows a 1913 Baker Electric Victoria.
When World War I broke out, auto production ceased and Baker went on to design and produce
the world’s first industrial truck (fork lift), which was, naturally, electric powered and
started a
whole new industry. The company still exists today as the Linde Lift Truck Corporation.