COLUMBUS

Columbus Buggy Co. (1907-1908)

Columbus, Ohio

This is a Columbus Buggy emblem (1907-1908)    mjs
Size: 48mm diameter    MM: None

The Columbus Buggy Company was a successful company and by 1892 was the largest manufacturer of buggies in the world and was producing 100 vehicles and 1,500 carriage dashboards a day. The company entered the automotive field in 1903 with an electric car called the Columbus Electric, which continued in production until 1915. 

In December 1905, the Columbus Buggy Company took over the Bramwell gasoline automobile business (see Bramwell) and hired C. C. Bramwell to design the first Columbus gasoline car. This was an air-cooled 10 hp two-cylinder highwheeler buggy with rope drive. The car was referred to as the Columbus or the Buggymobile.

The Columbus was successful but, in 1909, the company had dropped highwheelers in favor of a larger four-cylinder automobile to be called the Firestone-Columbus, named after company president Clinton D. Firestone (see Firestone Columbus).

Emblems

The Columbus Buggy Company's horse drawn vehicles carried a small maker's tag, usually located at the rear of the vehicle, see example tag below. This maker's tag carried the name of the company president, C. D. Firestone.

This is a Columbus Buggy tag showing the name C.D.Firestone (c1900)    mjs
Size: 75mm wide 19mm high 

The gasoline powered Columbus or Buggymobile carried a metal emblem, which may have been painted, see example above at the top of this post. The Columbus did not have a radiator, so this emblem was probably used as a hub emblem, but I cannot confirm this. This Columbus emblem is very rare.

The Columbus name was also most clearly displayed on the sill plates, see example below. Original Columbus sill plates are rare.

This is a Columbus sill plate (1907-1908)     mjs
Size: 310mm wide