Columbia Automobile Company

The Columbia Automobile Company was a leading early Hartford, Connecticut, United States manufacturer of automobiles.

The Columbia Automobile Company was created as a joint venture of the Motor Vehicle Division of the Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, and the Electric Vehicle Company in 1899.

At the turn of the Twentieth century they were producing and selling hundreds of vehicles a year under Pope's Columbia brand name, while most gasoline engine automobile manufacturers had made only a few dozen.

In 1908, the company was renamed the Columbia Motor Car Co. and in 1910 was acquired by United States Motor Company.

Electric models

The 1904 'Columbia Brougham' was equipped with a tonneau. It could seat 4 passengers and sold for . Twin electric motors were situated at the rear of the car. Similar 'Columbia' coupes, 'Columbia Hansom' cabs, or hansoms, were also produced for the same price. They could achieve . A 'Columbia Victoria Phaeton' was priced at , but was based on the same design.

The 'Columbia Surrey' and 'Columbia Victoria' were more traditional horseless carriages. Both used the same power system as the larger cars, with twin electric motors, but cost much less at and , respectively.At the bottom end of the range was the 'Columbia Runabout' car. Priced at just , it used a single electric motor, with an Exide battery and Concord springs.

Columbia's basic runabout was typical of the time, resembling a horseless carriage, and was steered via a...
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