Built by electric car pioneer Andrew L. Riker, the car won three of America's first car races, and was exhibited alongside the famous Lohner Porsche at the 1900 Exposition Universalle Internationale in Paris, winning the Gold Medal.
Riker was a co-founder and inaugural President of the Society of Automotive Engineers, with Henry Ford as his Vice-President. After selling his electric car company to transport magnate Albert Pope, he moved to Locomobile, where he designed the company's first production gas-powered car.
It will sell at the Pacific Grove Auction on August 15, 2019 during Monterey Car Week
As documented by the November 8, 1898 edition of The Horseless Age, Riker entered his creation into the Motor Carriage Exhibition at the Mechanics Fair at Charles River Park in Boston, where he won First Place in a competitive race. Later, in 1900, he took the car across the Atlantic, to the Exposition Universalle Internationale in Paris, where it was awarded a gold medal. Amazingly, photographs survive of the car at both of these events.
Upon its return stateside, the Riker Electric was entered by its builder in the very first race held by the New York Automobile Racing Association, held at Aquidneck Park in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 6, 1900. Before a large crowd, the Riker succeeded mightily, winning the event by covering the distance in 13 minutes, 5 seconds; it finished third in the Championship Race, won by none other than William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. That same year, the car won a race held on Long Island, a 50-mile jaunt from Springfield to Babylon, New York, and back again, on April 14th. This was reportedly the first 50-mile road race held in the United States.
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