1935 Electric car?

[hillbilly]

I was chatting about electric bicycles with a 94 year-old friend of my mother's when she told of seeing a two-seater electric car in Great Falls, Montana between 1935 and 1939. She believes it might have belonged to the famous western artist and Great Falls resident, Charles Russell. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I told her I'd try to learn more about this car, so it would please her greatly if you could offer us further clues.

thanks!
Carl

 

[amberwolf]

It's certainly possible. There have been electric cars for at least a century, off and on.

 

[TylerDurden]

"Acceptance of electric cars was initially hampered by a lack of power infrastructure, but by 1912, many homes were wired for electricity, enabling a surge in the popularity of the cars. At the turn of the century, 40 percent of American automobiles were powered by steam, 38 percent by electricity, and 22 percent by gasoline. 33,842 electric cars were registered in the United States, and America became the country where electric cars had gained the most acceptance. Sales of electric cars peaked in 1912."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car#1830s_to_1900s:_Early_history

Little reference to the Detroit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Electric

Also oddly, there is no reference in the article to the Citicar, the largest selling electric car in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citicar

 

[StudEbiker]

Edison designed an electric car for Studebaker in 1903.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Electric

 

[torker]

Maybe if you could access state records for the time you could see what cars were registered. Be a lot less records to go through than today. Of course you may want to narrow it down to a single year.

 

[amberwolf]

Also, there is probably a museum dedicated just to his works/life there, so you might want to check with them to see what info they might have on it. It's possible there are papers describing it or at least noting it's purchase, sale, or maintenance.

 

[TPA]

Jay Leno!

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/jay_leno_garage/4215940.html

 

[torker]

http://www.mtgenweb.org/

I found the list of casualties for Custers last stand but no auto registrations :?