Rare Rides: The 1927 Locomobile Model 90 Sportif, American East Coast Luxury

Today’s Rare Ride hails from a brand your author hadn’t heard of before this writing. A preeminent luxury car firm in its day, Locomobiles were built for power, longevity, and reliability.

Let’s check out a very rare 90 Sportif.

Locomobile Company of America was founded in 1899 as one of the earliest car manufacturers. Located in Watertown, Connecticut, the firm moved house and produced cars in nearby Bridgeport almost immediately thereafter. The founder of the company was John B. Walker, editor and publisher of Cosmopolitan magazine at the time. He purchased a car design from twin brothers by the last name of Stanley. Walker formed a partnership with paving contractor Amzi Barber to run Locomobile, but it was short-lived. Parting ways, Walker formed his own car company – Mobile Company of America – to build steam cars. It was out of business four years later. Barber moved Locomobile to Bridgeport and hired the twin brothers who’d created the Locomobile as his managers. Brothers Francis and Freelan Stanley were none too happy to continue working for Locomobile and started the Stanley Motor Carriage Company by 1902 to compete against the Locomobile they’d designed.

Initially a builder of affordable steam cars, Locomobile was committed to quality and precision manufacture in the days before Ford’s assembly line. The steam car idea never really took off and ended up fairly unreliable, so in 1903 Locomobile switched tack started to produce expensive luxury cars of internal combustion variety. Their first ICE car was the Touring Car of 1904, which had a base price of $2,000 (as opposed to $600 for their steam cars). They introduced an inline-six powered Model 48 in 1911, which proved the most popular car Locomobile ever offered.

The company continued to build expensive large cars which erred on the conservative side, powered by straight-six engines. The Locomobiles were considered among the best in the world for quality, which showed in their pricing. But expensive cars didn’t mean finances were healthy at Locomobile. The company’s value was quite low due to its financial situation, and in 1922 Locomobile was purchased by the ousted founder of General Motors, William Durant. His brand, Durant Motors, kept the Locomobile name intact for its most expensive cars as he aimed to take on Packard and Lincoln.

Durant allowed the 48 to continue as Locomobile’s main offering and added the new 8-66 Junior Eight in 1925, That car was more modern than the old 48, and had a straight-eight engine. It was also cheaper than the 48. The company’s final few years saw the single year 1926 Junior Six (the brand’s cheapest car) and the straight-six Model 90 which ran from 1926 to 1929. Locomobile offered another take on the straight-eight in the late Twenties, in the more expensive 8-70 which replaced the 8-66. Throughout the company’s history, it developed its cars entirely in-house and did not use parts or technology from other manufacturers.

But it was Great Depression times, and things were bad. Durant closed Locomobile in 1929, and folded itself by 1931, as William Durant didn’t find success in his second big car venture. He went on to open a bowling alley and restaurant in Flint, Michigan.

Today’s Model 90 is an excellent example of a touring phaeton. The dual split windshield is what makes it a Sportif, and is believed one of two in existence. In the past 93 years, it’s had three owners. Notably, its first owner was Russel Durant, son of William, who specially ordered the car and worked at Durant Motors. It sold recently for around $89,500.

[Images: Locomobile]