Steinmetz car gets prominent spot at Union College

Publication Date

Daily Gazette

The College recently held a ceremony celebrating the new home of a 1914 “Duplex Drive Brougham” Detroit Electric automobile that once belonged to Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the great electrical engineer and inventor.

Found rotting in a Glenville field 40 years after Steinmetz’s death in 1923, the car was purchased by the College in 1971. For the next 10 years, it was painstakingly restored by Union faculty and engineering students.

Used sparingly for campus ceremonies, the vehicle has been on display at a number of places, including the Saratoga Auto Museum and the Edison Tech Center. Mostly, it has been stored in off-campus garages.

To help celebrate Steinmetz’s 149th birthday, the College Wednesday christened the car’s new permanent display in the first-floor corridor between the Wold Center and F.W. Olin building.

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