Pope-Toledo

1904-1909 Pope Motor Car Company, Toledo, Ohio.

The Pope-Toledo was the successor to the Toledo, made in steam and petrol forms by the International Bicycle Company, another of Colonel Pope's enterprises. Two models, both petrol-powered, were offered for the 1904 season, a 14hp twin and a 24hp four. The latter won several races on the West Coast in November 1903, earning itself the name "The Mile a Minute Car". A Pope-Toledo finished third in the 1904 Vanderbilt Cup, America's most important race at the time. The twin cylinder car was dropped for 1905 and thereafter the pope-Toledo grew in size, price and prestige, reaching a peak with the 50hp limousine of 1907 which sold for $6000. Chain drive was retained up to 1908, which was the last full year of production. The last cars were made under receivership, and in January 1909 Richard D. Apperson, vice president of the American National Bank of Lynchburg, Virginia and no relation to the car making Appersons of Kokomo, Indiana, said that he would take over manufacture and sell cars under the name Toledo. This never happened, and the factory was sold to Overland for the production of a very different kind of car from the lordly Pope-Toledo.