Editing Winton Motor Carriage Company (section)

===1896–1903===
In 1896, [[Scot]]tish immigrant [[Alexander Winton]], owner of the Winton Bicycle Company, turned from [[bicycle]] production to an experimental [[single-cylinder]] automobile before starting his car company.<ref name="100 Years" />{{efn|Winton owned a large lakeshore estate in [[Lakewood, Ohio]].<ref>[http://www.historic-structures.com/oh/cleveland/winton_motor_company.php History of Winton Automobile Company] at historic-structures.com</ref> In the mid-1960s, the home was demolished, and an upscale high-rise condominium was constructed aptly named Winton Place.}}

The company was incorporated on March 15, 1897. Its first automobiles were built by hand. Each vehicle had painted sides, padded seats, a leather roof, and gas lamps. [[Goodrich Corporation|B.F. Goodrich]] made the tires.<ref name="Hedgbeth">{{cite web |last=Hedgbeth |first=Llewellyn |title=Winton: The King of Cars |url=http://www.secondchancegarage.com/classic-car/winton-the-king-of-cars-1.cfm |work=secondchancegarage.com |access-date=16 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216075408/http://www.secondchancegarage.com/classic-car/winton-the-king-of-cars-1.cfm |archive-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>

By this time, Winton had already produced two fully operational prototype automobiles. In May of that year, the 10&nbsp;hp (7.5&nbsp;kW) model achieved the astonishing speed of {{cvt|33.64|mph}} on a test around a Cleveland [[horse track]]. However, the new invention was still subject to much skepticism , so to prove his automobile's durability and usefulness, Alexander Winton had his car undergo an {{cvt|800|mi|km|adj=on}} endurance run from Cleveland to [[New York City]].<ref name="Hedgbeth" />

On March 24, 1898, Robert Allison of [[Port Carbon, Pennsylvania]], became the first person to buy a Winton automobile after seeing the first automobile advertisement in ''[[Scientific American]]''.<ref name="Hedgbeth" /> Later that year the Winton Motor Carriage Company sold 21 more vehicles,<ref name="100 Years"/> including one to [[James Ward Packard]], who later founded the [[Packard]] automobile company after Winton challenged a very dissatisfied Packard to do better.<ref name="Clymer 1877">{{cite book |last=Clymer |first=Floyd |title=Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 |location=New York |publisher=Bonanza Books |year=1950}}</ref>{{rp|58}} This is the [[Lamborghini#Origin|same mistake]] that [[Enzo Ferrari]] would make with [[Ferruccio Lamborghini]].

Winton sold his first manufactured semi-truck in 1899. More than one hundred Winton vehicles were sold that year,<ref name="100 Years">{{cite book |title=100 Years of the American Auto |edition=Millennium |year=1999 |publisher=Publications International, Ltd.}}</ref>{{rp|23}} making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered automobiles in the United States. This success led to the opening of the first automobile dealership by Mr. H. W. Koler<ref name="wintonfamily">{{cite web |title=The Family of Winton |url=http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/directory/family_of_winton.htm |access-date=2012-05-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601061036/http://www2.thesetonfamily.com:8080/directory/family_of_winton.htm |archive-date=2013-06-01}}</ref> in [[Reading, Pennsylvania]]. To deliver the vehicles, in 1899, Winton built the first automobile hauler in America.<ref name="Hedgbeth" /> One of these 1899 Wintons was purchased by [[Larz Anderson]] and his new wife, [[Isabel Weld Perkins]].{{efn|The vehicle is displayed at [[Larz Anderson Auto Museum]] in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]].<ref name="Hedgbeth" />}}

Publicity generated sales. In 1901, the news that both [[Reginald Vanderbilt]] and [[Alfred Vanderbilt]] had purchased Winton automobiles boosted the company's image substantially. Models at the time were a two-passenger Runabout with a one-cylinder engine (8&nbsp;hp) and a four-passenger Touring and Mail Delivery Van, also with a one-cylinder engine (9&nbsp;hp).<ref name="Kimes 1996">{{cite book |last=Kimes |first=Beverly |title=Standard catalog of American Cars 1805–1942 |year=1996 |page=1556 |publisher=Krause Publications |isbn=0-87341-428-4}}</ref> That year, Winton lost a race at [[Grosse Pointe]] to [[Henry Ford]]. Winton vowed a comeback and win. He produced the 1902 Winton Bullet, which set an unofficial [[land speed record]] of {{cvt|70|mph}} in Cleveland that year. The Bullet was defeated by another Ford by famed driver [[Barney Oldfield]], but two more Bullet race cars were built.

In 1903, Dr. [[Horatio Nelson Jackson]] made the first successful automobile drive across the United States.<ref name="Clymer 1877" />{{rp|156}} On a $50 bet (equal to ${{Inflation|US|50|1903|fmt=c}} today), he purchased a slightly used two-cylinder, {{cvt|20|hp}} Winton touring car and hired a mechanic, Sewall K. Crocker (April 7, 1883 – April 22, 1913), to accompany him. Starting in [[San Francisco, California]], ending in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City, New York]]. The trip lasted 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, including breakdowns and delays while waiting for parts to arrive (especially in Cleveland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Ralph |title=The American Automobile |url=https://archive.org/details/americanautomobi00stei |url-access=registration |publisher=Random House |year=1971}}</ref>) The two men often drove miles out of the way to find a passable road, repeatedly hoisted the Winton up and over rocky terrain and mud holes with a [[block and tackle]], or were pulled out of soft sand by horse teams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_24.html |title=Winton touring car |website=SI.edu |date=2 November 2016 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]}}</ref> In 1903, there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country, all inside city limits. There were no road signs or maps. They once paid the exorbitant price of $5 for five gallons of gasoline ($178 in 2024 dollars). Jackson and Crocker followed rivers and streams, transcontinental railroad tracks, sheep trails, and dirt back roads.<ref>{{cite AV media |first=Ken (Director) |last=Burns |title=Horatio's Drive; America's First Road Trip |year=2003 |medium=Documentary film}}</ref>{{efn|Jackson's Winton is part of the collections at the [[National Museum of American History]].}} The car is now part of the permanent collection of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Museum of American History]] after Jackson himself donated the vehicle to the museum where it can still be seen on display. <ref name="Duncan">{{cite book |last1 = Duncan |first1 = Dayton |url = https://archive.org/details/horatiosdriveame00dunc |title = Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip |last2 = Burns |first2 = Ken |publisher = Alfred A. Knopf |year = 2003 |isbn = 0-375-41536-X |edition = 1st |location = New York |url-access = registration |name-list-style = amp }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="190px">
File:Winton auto ad car-1898.jpg|1898 Winton Motor Carriage Company's first automobile ad
Image:1899Winton.jpg|1899 Winton [[Stanhope body|Stanhope]]
Image:1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy. Athy, Ireland. Alexander Winton in the Winton Bullet 2.jpg|[[Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing|1903 Gordon Bennett Trophy]], [[Athy]], [[Ireland]]; [[Alexander Winton]] in the ''Winton Bullet 2''
Image:HoratioJacksonNelson.jpg|1903 [[Horatio Nelson Jackson]] in his two-seat Winton [[touring car|tourer]], "[[Vermont (automobile)|The Vermont]]", drives across America
</gallery>